City Receives National Award For Villages At Roll Hill

Audrey Nelson Award Celebrates Partnerships In Community Development

The City of Cincinnati has been honored with a national community development award for its contribution to massive renovations of the Villages at Roll Hill.

The Audrey Nelson Community Development Achievement Award, presented by the National Community Development Association, recognizes exemplary uses of the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program and the partnerships between local governments and non-profit organizations to assist low- and moderate-income persons. The award has been expanded in recent years to include projects funded with the HOME Investment Partnerships (HOME) Program, Neighborhood Stabilization Program, and other funding sources.

The Villages at Roll Hill, formerly Fay Apartments, underwent a $36 million renovation and is considered the largest green renovation of an affordable housing development in the country. Developer Wallick Hendy's renovations included reducing the number of units from 893 to 703, upgrading security, demolishing 17 buildings, adding new landscaping, tree installation, and new playgrounds. Wallick Hendy is seeking LEED® Silver certification.

"Ever since the renovations were completed, residents have told us about how much better the community is -- there's a lot of pride there. The Cincinnati Police Department has also noticed a decrease in criminal activity nearby. It just goes to show that strategic partnerships to invest in quality affordable housing can improve the city as a whole," said City Manager Milton Dohoney, Jr.

"The City’s Department of Community Development is proud that our successful public private partnership has resulted in making positive transformational change in the Roll Hill community," said Cincinnati Department of Community Development Director Michael Cervay.

The City contributed a $3.19 million HOME loan to the project. U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan was in attendance for the December ribbon-cutting, calling the Villages at Roll Hill "a model of what we should be doing all around the country."

About The National Community Development Association

The National Community Development Association (NCDA) is a non-partisan national non-profit membership organization that represents local governments departments across the country that administer federally-supported community and economic development and affordable housing programs. NCDA is an association of people committed to assist local governments to achieve high quality, locally-responsive programs for making communities better places in which to live and work, particularly for low- and moderate-income people.

About Audrey Nelson

Audrey Nelson was the first Deputy Executive Secretary of NCDA. She grew up in an inner city Chicago neighborhood which was a target area for the local Model Cities Program. Her intense commitment to her neighborhood, her local program efforts, and her drive to serve low-income people was cut short by death from cancer at the age of 29. NCDA is proud to honor the memory of Audrey through these awards.