Evaluating the potential of mixed-use community development

Frontlines Practicum was proud to collaborate with Consuella Hopkins to evaluate the potential of a mixed-use community development to serve as a catalyst for revitalization along the Lincolnway West Corridor in South Bend, Indiana. This project is rooted in Blakeonomics: dignity restored, wealth shared and a future built together as part of a vision for a Black Cultural & Entertainment District.

Specifically, the target location for this project is located on Lincolnway West, between College and Wilber. This part of South Bend has suffered declining population, poverty and crime. There is currently no community space for professionals to gather and enjoy. However, this leaves an opportunity to build something for the community.  This initiative, The Village, seeks both financial sustainability and social impact through a community cooperative model. The project envisions a mixed-use building that combines retail and residential spaces, providing opportunities for both community-driven development and long-term neighborhood stability.

The team's research and findings highlight both the promise and the complexity of The Village: a project that must honor community voice and empowerment, innovate around financial accessibility, address neighborhood-level safety and development challenges, and ultimately serve as a replicable model for community-driven economic revitalization.

The structure of The Village is unique in that it could potentially be a hybrid of 3 distinct cooperative types: housing cooperative (residents), worker cooperative (employees of tenants), and consumer cooperative (community members). While this multi-stakeholder model deepens community participation and economic resilience, it also adds complexity in both the financial and governance components required to launch the entity and maintain its mission and success long-term. Our team compiled proposed tenant and non-tenant partners and ownership structure recommendations that could support The Village it its efforts to reimagine community-driven development on South Bend’s West Side.