Many cities are looking for solutions to the issues caused by gentrification and displacement. One emerging strategy is ‘withintrification,’ where the changes and investment are driven by the current residents instead of outside developers, planners, consultants, and politicians.

While common thought is that displacement is inevitable as revitalization occurs, Jacksonville, FL’s Eastside neighborhood is working to become the latest example of withintrification that suggests otherwise. Platted in 1869, the Eastside attracted freedmen after the Civil War with its working-class housing and employment opportunities at sawmills and docks along the St. Johns River. The recipient of discriminatory public policies over the years, the neighborhood just outside of downtown has become an increasingly popular destination for infill mixed-use development projects and real estate speculators. A designated Opportunity Zone and in need of economic stability and job creation, the Eastside is embracing the trends that have traditionally erased many communities with a similar history.

Through a collaboration being spearheaded by two nonprofits, the Historic Eastside Community Development Corporation (HECDC) and LIFT JAX, we’ve provided withintrification consulting services that retrofit systemic discriminatory public policies and guide public and private development in a pattern that tackles a variety of community needs, including historic preservation, affordable housing, economic development and preserving the neighborhood’s cultural heritage, character and sense of community and place. Withintrification services CPC has provided to the Eastside community include the neighborhood’s designation to the National Register of Historic Places and Florida Main Street Program. Ongoing efforts include the development of a culturally appropriate zoning overlay and a community benefits agreement.

Similar services are being provided for the revitalization of Jacksonville’s LaVilla and Durkeeville communities, two of Florida’s oldest and largest historic urbanized multicultural communities.