It’s an all-too-familiar script: A historic Black neighborhood is abandoned by the majority of its younger residents, leaving the community to either be gentrified or petrified (encrusted into a near-lifeless shell of its former self).
But Houston’s Fifth Ward has had an institution since 1989, fighting to ensure that such a fate does not befall that historic community.
In fact, the Fifth Ward Community Redevelopment Corporation (Fifth Ward CDC) has been busy growing the neighborhood into a bustling destination for young families, businesses and organizations of all kinds.
“The Fifth Ward CDC is a 35-year-old organization that focuses on the revitalization and comprehensive redevelopment of Houston’s Historic Fifth Ward,” said the organization’s President and CEO Kathy Flanagan-Payton.
Located just northeast of downtown Houston, the Fifth Ward CDC operates with a laser focus on areas that can enhance the quality of life for current and future family and business residents.
Areas of focus
“We operate and perform what we call lines of businesses with the primary one being real estate development, where we offer affordable housing opportunities, both for sale and rental opportunities, as well as commercial development. We also have homeownership promotion and preservation.
“We educate consumers on the importance of protecting their credit, understanding their budget, managing their financing and all the things that it would take for them to afford housing here in Houston and Fifth Ward,” shared Flanagan-Payton, whose organization wants to make sure they don’t over commit Fifth Ward families and create housing burdens for them.
The Fifth Ward CDC impacts its community and the city in other ways, including promoting the arts.
“We are Houston’s first African American cultural arts district that spans down the Lyons Avenue quarter. So, we promote arts health through the management of the Deluxe Theater, but we also bring programming to the community that is in multiple forms and multiple genres,” said Flanagan-Payton.
The Fifth Ward CDC also focuses on economic development. It founded the Fifth Ward Business Chamber and is currently developing a business and technology facility.
This is personal
If it sounds like the “redevelopment” of Fifth Ward is personal to Flanagan-Payton, that’s because it is. She was born in Fifth Ward’s St. Elizabeth Hospital and has been a member of the neighborhood’s anchor institution, Pleasant Hill Baptist Church, her entire life.
“Because my family grew up here, I wanted to be able to demonstrate to others that we didn’t have to leave community to have impact. So, I am ecstatic that today I can sit as the CEO and proudly boast that we own the St. Elizabeth Hospital and have repurposed that facility into mixed-income housing for the residents of the City of Houston.”
But Flanagan-Payton is not alone in advocating for Fifth Ward and her organization.
Denise Morales, the Fifth Ward CDC’s outreach coordinator, is excited about the entity’s ability to meet serious community needs.
“Some of the households can’t afford food, can’t afford clothing, much less internet access,” said Morales. “We decided to provide different central hubs around Fifth Ward that would expand internet service for them to freely get connected to the internet.”
That effort allows residents of three area apartment complexes to benefit from the technology programs installed by the Fifth Ward CRC through a partnership with Internet Society and Truist Bank.
Keeping legacy alive
Fifth Ward has a long line of history-makers in politics and the arts. Many called it the “entertainment headquarters of the South.”
The Fifth Ward CDC keeps this legacy alive through events at the Deluxe Theater and the organization’s many community-facing programs and activities, like the annual Lyons Avenue Renaissance Festival on April 12.
“We are actively engaged in community building and engagement, uh, to make sure that the programs and opportunities that we offer can respond as best they can to the needs of the community,” added Flanagan-Payton.
