On October 19, 1998, the City of New Haven, together with the City of West Haven made a successful application to the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development with respect to creation of the Empowerment Zone; a portion of the application’s intent was to develop a response to address the development of twelve Brownfield sites located within the Empowerment Zone communities.

A "Brownfield Site" refers to real property which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant (i.e gas stations, laundry mats, etc). Through this initiative, Empower New Haven, Inc. seeks to assist in the remediation and redevelopment of the twelve designated developable sites by building state and local capacity through both funding and technical assistance.

These effective partnerships with state government, local municipality and community based organizations support a collaborative effort to clean up these Brownfield sites, which in turn will remove obstacles to redevelopment and involve affected communities in increasing the number of viable businesses within the EZ.

Resources

National Brownfields Association
United States Agency for Environmental Protection
Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection

Partners and Affiliates

1000 Friends of Connecticut
Beulah Land Development Corporation
Greater Dwight Development Corporation
Regional Growth Partnership
St. Luke's Development Corporation