There are spots along trails in the Rio Salado Restoration Area near south Central Avenue where the effects of redlining, disinvestment and urban planning policies are clear as day. The riverbed in Phoenix is a line of demarcation of social and economic injustice that disproportionate toll on low-income and predominantly minority communities.

If you look north, you see a skyline of high rises signaling growth and prosperity. The view to the south? Not so much.

That, by no means, means there is nothing there. On the contrary. South Phoenix is rich in culture and community despite what has been done to it for generations. For many reasons, including the Central Avenue extension of Valley Metro light-rail from downtown Phoenix to near Baseline Road, there are new opportunities for equitable community and economic development.

Patterns of development and biased policies that destroy neighborhoods and widen opportunity gaps, such as the ones that have negatively impacted south Phoenix, occur throughout the Phoenix metropolitan area. Residents and small business owners are working hard to revitalize neighborhoods and to preserve what works to make them healthy communities where there are jobs, education and workforce development opportunities, grocery stores, park and cultural amenities and access to health care.

Improving commercial corridors and leveraging their economic development potential is a key component of neighborhood revitalization. Just like some residential areas, several commercial corridors face pressures from gentrification and the displacement and erasure that often brings. (Remember what happened to Roosevelt Row?) LISC Phoenix is committed to revitalizing commercial corridors for the benefit of current small businesses and the local residents who support them.

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