Martin Luther King Corridors Initiative to Hold Planning Meetings

The New Britain Martin Luther King, Jr. Corridors Economic Development Planning Initiative will be holding two upcoming meetings as part of its work.

The Initiative will hold a May 30, 2019 meeting for community input and to receive reports from sub-committees. That meeting will be at 4:00pm at the Center of Excellence at 57 Fern Street

On June 6th the Initiative will hold a Town Hall meeting. The Town Hall meeting will also be at the Center of Excellence. That meeting will be at 6:00pm.

The website for the New Britain Martin Luther King, Jr. Corridors Initiative says its mission,

is a response to adverse conditions in neighborhoods in Connecticut containing Streets named after Dr. King. The initiative develops an effective and achievable redevelopment plan through an intentionally inclusive and comprehensive planning process with primary focus on Economic Development, Education, Housing and Workforce Development.

The New Britain Martin Luther King, Jr. Corridors Initiative was announced in January by the Black Ministers Alliance of New Britain and a coalition of other organizations in the state to make Connecticut, “the first state in the nation which creates a statewide effort to identify and stimulate the economic health of urban centers where the Nobel Prize Winner’s name adorns street signs and neighborhoods.”

The Initiative is sponsored by the state departments of Banking, Economic and Community Development, Housing and Labor, the Community Economic Development Fund, Key Bank, Liberty Bank and the Connecticut Fair Housing Center.

Chaired by Mayor Erin Stewart and Suffragan Bishop Dale I Shaw Sr., the New Britain Initiative is a collaboration between the City of New Britain, Black Ministers Alliance of New Britain and Freedom, Inc.

Similar initiatives are underway in Norwalk and Middletown.