Workforce and Transportation Drill Downs of HUD Renewal Communities, Empowerment Zones, and Community Development Block Grant Neighborhoods:

Abstract

In the past, descriptions of business activity in HUD Community Renewal areas have been difficult to assess at a geographic level necessary for planning and implementation purposes. This place-of-work and transportation analysis offers a first-time examination of existing jobs in the Renewal Community area, the location of jobs held by central city workers, and an analysis of commuters coming to the Community Renewal area. The place-of-work data are based on responses to the 2000 U.S. Census long-form questionnaire, provided to 1 in 6 households. The Employment and Training Institute has previously examined the purchasing power and workforce opportunities in dense urban neighborhoods and the damage caused by marketing companies' false and damaging stereotypical portrayals of these communities. The relative advantages of dense urban neighborhoods can now be examined using a unique application of the 2000 census place-of-work data bases, showing whether residents work outside the neighborhood and where commuters to the neighborhood live.