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Business View Magazine
them for little or nothing. It’s giving ownership of the
community back to those who have a vested interest
in it. We launched that program, this year, and we have
close to 50 applicants. And we’re looking forward to
being able to receive additional properties as they are
reverted to the City, so that we can put them back into
the hands of their neighbors.”
Another one of Jackson’s redevelopment programs is
called “Greening the Gateway.” “The City of Jackson
has a number of different gateways,” Davis says. “One
important gateway is the Capitol Street Gateway which
has an economic engine, our Jackson Zoo. So, what
we’re looking at doing is putting our resources, our
CGBG (Community Development Block Grant) funds,
into that particular community to beautify it from a
streetscape standpoint as well as enhancing the hous-
ing stock in that immediate area.”
Jackson is also a recipient of a “Greening America’s
Capitals” grant, a project of the Partnership for Sus-
tainable Communities between the U.S. Environmen-
tal Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Department of
Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and the U.S.
Department of Transportation (DOT) to help state capi-
tals develop an implementable vision of distinctive,
environmentally friendly neighborhoods that incorpo-
rate innovative green building and green infrastruc-
ture strategies. “That grant will help us enhance the
central business district, downtown, to make it more
of a walkable community, using different inter-modals:
walking, bus, bike, and car,” says Davis.
“We’ve also been noted as one of the many TechHire
cities,” he continues. TechHire is a national initiative
built through a network of communities, employers
with IT hiring needs, training institutions, and other
