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circumvented city politics. This legacy was significant for the form and content of Baltimore’s
EZ program. Although Baltimore residents had no more trust in government than did citizens in
Atlanta, they hoped to use quasi-public corporations to assure citizen control of the EZ initiative.
This created an interesting difficulty: Can an organizational form that historically has been used
to limit popular participation in redevelopment policymaking facilitate community control of the
Empowerment Zone initiative?
Atlanta’s Strategies and Programs
Atlanta’s strategic plan “is built around four major principles: establishment of a village
center, stabilization of local institutions, improvement of natural and man-made environments,
and acquisition of better services and service delivery.” These principles were woven into four
priority areas included in Atlanta’s strategic plan.
1. Expanding Employment and Investment Opportunities. Atlanta proposed using $32.5
million of its $100 million in EZ block grants for programs and activities that would
promote economic development. According to Atlanta’s strategic plan, “at the core is
priority 1: Increase the number of meaningful jobs and community-based businesses.”
The activities within this category focused on job creation, retention and expansion by
increasing capital for business development and expansion, and providing community
members with greater access and control over that capital. In addition, the plan called for
investing in human capital “to increase residents’ abilities to obtain and hold jobs and to
improve the job opportunities for employed residents.”
2. Creating Safe, Livable Communities. Five priorities were listed in the city’s strategic
plan covering activities in the areas of public safety, the environment, and infrastructure.
The major barriers that the EZ initiative intended to overcome in this area are “a lack of
resources and a mindset.” The strategic plan notes: “there is general widespread
community distrust of government, and of public safety and law enforcement officials
specifically.” Activities listed in the EZ budget in support of these priorities were
allocated $10 million of the city’s $100 million in EZ funds, with the vast majority ($8.0
million) earmarked for community policing.
3. Lifting Youth and Families Out of Poverty. The opening section of this chapter of the
strategic plan details the “pervasiveness and depth of poverty” in the Empowerment Zone
neighborhoods. It adds that “a breakdown in the traditional family unit and supporting
social framework has contributed to a dysfunctional culture,” and “this dynamic is
compounded by impoverished physical surroundings.” The strategic plan notes that
“while Zone residents have emphasized that creating economic opportunity is an essential
component of empowerment, they have also placed a high priority on improving the
human condition,” The plan adds that “another contributing factor to the low quality of
life is an underfunded, disconnected and often overwhelmed human services delivery
system.”
Convention