Next Steps

UPP has made great strides in the Main South neighborhood, but there is still work to be done. UPP's latest project involves transforming one of the most distressed areas of the neighborhood back into a thriving community. The Gardner-Kilby-Hammond Street Revitalization Initiative is UPPšs most ambitious endeavor yet. The result of a unique collaboration among the Main South CDC, Clark, the Boys and Girls Club and the City of Worcester, this project involves extensive land acquisition, remediation of industrial brownfield sites and the demolition of old facilities. What was once a 30-acre parcel of blight, will soon become a neighborhood again, a place where children play, families gather and businesses open their doors.

This $40-million initiative includes the following:

• Approximately 60 new home-ownership opportunities and affordable rental properties managed and/or offered by the Main South CDC.
• A new $8 million Boys and Girls Club to serve children in Main South. The new building will accommodate 400 children and serve up to 5,000 young people. The new facility will include a gymnasium, learning center and Olympic-size swimming pool.
• New athletic fields, owned by Clark. The fields will be used by Clark intercollegiate and intramural teams, as well as the Boys and Girl Club and the community.
• And a Center for Community Revitalization to serve this area of Main South.

In addition, the partnership between Clark and the Boys and Girls Club will provide more opportunities to bring Clark students together with neighborhood children.