RECENT COMMENTS

Challenges and promise in the East End

John Sarvay writes about a recent tour of the northern end of the area and some of the area service providers, including Peter Paul Dev Center, Better Housing Coalition, and Richmond Community Hospital:

I spent part of today touring Church Hill with the staff of Peter Paul Development Center. Our 20 minute bus ride probably never went more than two miles from the center itself, but along the way we passed through four of Richmond’s public housing communities (seven, if you consider each section of Mosby separately). Which is to say we passed through the highest concentration of poverty in the Richmond region.

The four public housing communities — Mosby, Whitcomb Court, Fairfield Court and Creighton Court sit in a semi-circle bounded by I-64, Nine Mile Road and Shockoe Bottom. Between them, they house more than 2,000 families with an average income level below $10,000 a year. The sizable minority of the residents in the East End live well below the poverty line (39%) and live in single-parent households (46%).