Click here to hear more from UDA’s Megan O’Hara about the community and the transformation of Will Rogers Courts and the Westwood Exchange neighborhood.
In 2023, the Oklahoma City Housing Authority (OCHA) was awarded a Choice Neighborhoods planning grant, which supported two years of work with residents to develop a vision for the future of Will Rogers Court, the Stockyards, and South Rotary Park.
At the beginning of the UDA-led planning process, only a handful of residents were interested in participating – so building trust with the community was the top priority. OCHA recruited resident ambassadors, who talked to their neighbors to notify and encourage them to join the process. Ambassadors selected specific meals to serve at resident meetings based on crowd favorites (spaghetti was definitely the winner!) and brainstormed events and celebrations that would entice residents to get involved. Slowly, engagement grew – and neighborly bonds strengthened. At one meeting, the resident ambassadors led a raffle for a new air fryer. The resident who won the air fryer kindly donated it to another resident, a young mother; exemplifying what it means to be a great neighbor.
Kids love to get involved, too. During the Community Design Workshop, UDA assembled a scale model with wooden blocks and shared sketches and three-dimensional digital models to help envision the future of the neighborhood. The kids shared their ideas with the planning team and got a window into the careers of urban design, planning, and architecture.
From being isolated and siloed to caring for each other and sharing ideas, Will Rogers Court residents grew as a community through this planning process. They didn’t just participate – they led engagement and decision-making about their futures.
Three years into the planning process, OCHA and the City applied for the HUD Choice Neighborhoods Implementation Grant and were awarded $15 million, which leveraged over 238 million dollars of investment to bring new housing, parks, and services to the community.
Oklahoma City has excelled at investing in their community early – they weren’t waiting around for the Implementation Grant. Residents identified a parking lot in South Rotary Park as a place to transform into a community gathering space. SW 15th Street cuts through Will Rogers Court and drivers regularly speed through – in one meeting, one resident shared that her son was hit by a speeding car there and seriously injured. On nights and weekends, outsiders would line up their cars to do burnouts and donuts in the parking lot while pouring bleach and lighting fireworks, releasing toxic fumes and startling noise. Residents didn’t feel welcome to use the park.
So, OCHA and the City took action. They partnered to invest over $700,000 to support:
Redesigning and repaving the lot to have a green gathering space in the center;
Configuring the lot for activation for mobile service providers (mobile clinics, food, and clothing distribution) and food trucks;
Renovating a vacant building across the street from the Lilyfield Landing Resource Center – where Lilyfield, Community Action Agency, and the Westwood Community Collaborative provide holistic case management and service coordination to support families and individuals;
Installing Westwood Exchange Neighborhood banners; and
Adding a new crosswalk and speed cushions to slow down traffic.
The power of partnership showed up everywhere – in one early meeting, local community organizations talked about how the neighborhood didn’t have a name or unifying identity. After brainstorming the idea of “Westwood Exchange,” they realized that they could formalize their partnership to address other needs. Within a few weeks, they formed the Westwood Community Collaborative and mobilized to apply for and win a $500,000 grant from the Oklahoma City Community Foundation’s Breakout Challenge to address generational poverty and community needs. That grant allowed Lilyfield and the Communication Action Agency to start providing on-site services to the residents of Will Rogers Court and the neighborhood.
Community Action Agency and Lilyfield went on to become the official People Lead for the Choice Neighborhoods Implementation grant and will continue to provide comprehensive case management and track Will Rogers Court residents’ progress over the coming eight years.
The City has also shown up as a partner in a big way – with financial commitments, by leveraging its Strong Neighborhoods Initiative program, and through dedicated staff and elected officials who participated in every step of the process. OCHA and Brinshore have anchored the process as the lead grantee and housing partner, respectively.
UDA is thrilled to be a part of the team that facilitated the community’s vision. Thanks to resident leaders, enthusiastic partners, and hundreds of millions of dollars in funding and leverage, the vision for a brighter future at Will Rogers Court, the Stockyards, and South Rotary Park is beginning to take shape.