A Brief History

Louisville Community Design Center & Center For Neighborhoods

• Founded by a group of architects in 1972 as Louisville Community Design Center

• Serves as a medium for civic engagement and empowers citizens to improve the quality of life in their neighborhoods

• Works in collaboration with neighborhood and civic organizations; homeowners associations; small cities, community development organizations; public agencies and philanthropic institutions.

• Supports neighborhoods with a three-tiered approach: leadership education, neighborhood planning and resident organizing.

• Center offers the Neighborhood Institute, a 12-week leadership education seminar

• Neighborhood Institute celebrates over 400 graduates from virtually every city neighborhood, many small cities, and adjacent counties and from Southern Indiana.

• Recent land use planning efforts conducted in Smoketown, Shelby Park, South Louisville, Belknap, Old Louisville and Limerick, Irish Hill, Crescent Hill, Portland.  Neighborhood Assessments conducted in Belmar, Portland, St. Joe’s, Phoenix Hill, and Schnitzelburg.

• Part of the Making Connections Network, a partnership of residents, local leaders, faith-based organizations, government, schools and others working together to connect families to one another and to opportunities in the Smoketown, Shelby Park, Phoenix Hill and California neighborhoods

• Instrumental in creating “traditional neighborhood zoning district” in Old Louisville & Limerick – the such district in Kentucky – to support and accelerate restoration and economic revitalization in historic urban residential neighborhoods

• Neighborhood support provided by a staff and a volunteer board of directors

• Center does not advocate for any issue or cause except for democratic processes that effectively involve residents in the life of their neighborhood and community

• In 2003, Metro United Way commissioned the Louisville Community Design Center to explore the creation of a center that would house the resources needed for residents to learn the art of creating positive change in their neighborhoods.  The LCDC became the Center for Neighborhoods in September, 2005.