Episode 27: Houston’s Complete Communities
We’re joined by Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner. He describes the city’s Complete Communities program and why he has made it a priority.
Topics:
Tags:
Houston is a dynamic, growing city (the fourth largest in US), but as in many cities, some neighborhoods are not advancing as strongly as others. Turner, who became Mayor in 2016 and was re-elected in 2019, set up the Complete Communities program to channel resources into areas that have been “under-resourced for decades.” The program began with five neighborhoods and has since added five more. The intent is to focus on a particular geographic area to have the greatest transformational effect in the shortest period. “If we try to do everyone at the same time,” Turner says, “we spread limited resources and have an incremental rather than transformational effect.”
As Turner notes on the podcast, the program first works with the community to set the priorities for action. Taking action involves aligning a range of city departments around the goals and working with outside partners, including financial institutions, developers, faith-based organizations, nonprofits, endowments, and federal programs. “No one group feels like they are going by themselves.”
Find out on the podcast the city departments involved, the kinds of issues neighborhoods identified, and action so far.
“We want to see people who have lived in these communities remain, but we want to see improvements: grocery stores, quality parks, sound, good infrastructure. . . . We want to see the quality of neighborhood schools improve. And see people returning to neighborhoods where they were born and reared.” – Mayor Sylvester Turner