Business View Magazine - November 2016

140 Business View Magazine - November 2016 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