Andre McEwing brings developers to urban villages

 

Andre McEwing is currently a CEO of the Southeast Fort Worth, Inc. This is a nonprofit organization. The goal of his organization is to enhance the economic development in the southeast part of Fort Worth, by attracting new investors and creating jobs within this area. The organization constructed a10 year plan for achieving the following tasks: creating 8000 new jobs for the southeast residents, opening 25 new restaurants and services, and building single family residential homes.

Andre McEwing believes that sustainability starts with taking care of the environment. In his opinion, people have freedoms but do not know how to use them. One of the freedoms is a chance to work on the projects toward building sustainability in small and, sometimes, abundant places. Andre McEwing feels responsible for communities that lack of opportunities for a better life. He says that not every individual or every family has enough financial means to move to bigger cities. Not every person wants to leave his hometown in search for a better job opportunity. However, everyone deserves to enjoy freedoms offered by his community or town.

Therefore, Andre McEwing is constantly working on raising funds and bringing developers to urban villages. The major challenge for him begins with managing different expectations. Andre McEwing talks to communities to get to know their needs and wants. Not everyone may like the idea of building a new infrastructure or a big store like Wal-Mart in his or her neighborhood. However, no one can deny the benefits of job creations and the convenience offered by Wal-Mart. Andre McEwing states that local businesses also benefit when Wal-Mart is introduced to small cities. Many local business owners rely on Wal-Mart in buying their supplies.

Another challenge is to convince developers to invest in small cities or urban villages. It is very crucial to provide them with a good plan, so they will have a visual aid to evaluate the investment opportunity. In addition to a good plan, investors have to be informed about all benefits they will acquire from investing in a specific project. For example, Tax Incremental Financing (TIF) is a subsidy that is offered to developers for investing in infrastructure or other community-developing projects. There are currently 11 TIF locations in Fort Worth area. TIF program is probably the main incentive for investors to finance the development projects in small cities or urban villages. At the same time, with the aid of TIF, there is an obvious increase in job creation, construction of new buildings, and, thus, the economic growth in towns and urban villages.