Welcome to the Southside Hillcrest Area Revitalization Project (SHARP) blog for Wilmington, North Carolina

…Or, you can just call this SHARP-Wilmington, NC (www.sharp-wilmingtonnc.org).

SHARP is the launch of a long-term effort to revitalize the Southside part of Wilmington, specifically, the Dry Pond neighborhood (see map).  What we mean by “revitalization” is the building of a more vibrant, safe, attractive, family-friendly community where residents feel connected and have access to the goods and services necessary for living, working, and playing.

Figuring out how to accomplish this will take a lot of collaboration from the City of Wilmington, neighborhood residents, local businesses, and community organizations.  The Wilmington Housing Authority (WHA) is a particularly strong partner since it owns a large property in the neighborhood, called Hillcrest.  Hillcrest is old, very distressed, and needs a lot of attention.

WHA recently received a grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to help plan the revitalization of Hillcrest and  the surrounding neighborhood.  The grant will pay for urban planners, architects, and other professionals to help guide the community through this process.  More to come on what the grant is, how the HUD program works, and how you can get involved!  Stay tuned.