City of Austin

Contact:                Sara Hartley, Communications Manager, (desk) 974-1444, (cell) 560-4267                                

                                Sara Krause, Program Coordinator, (desk) 974-7182  

AUSTIN, Texas—Ground was broken today on the City’s first Neighborhood Partnering Program project. St. Elmo Road will receive safety and aesthetic improvements in the form of two landscaped pedestrian islands, crosswalks, and bicycle lanes. This is part of the City’s partnership with Foundation Communities, a non-profit whose mission is to empower low-income families by providing high-quality housing in a service-enriched environment. 

Foundation Communities and local residents wanted to address safety issues along St. Elmo for children and adults alike.  To do so, it obtained a grant for the project through the Still Water Foundation, and worked with the local neighborhood and the Austin Community Design and Development Center to create a pedestrian-friendly, community-oriented streetscape concept along St. Elmo Road. The City assisted the Foundation with the final design and will manage the project. 

“Through the Neighborhood Partnering Program, we wanted to empower neighbors to make positive changes in their communities, and this is exactly the kind of project we wanted to promote,” said Council Member Bill Spelman.  “It builds strong ties among neighbors, creates safe and appealing neighborhoods, and promotes collaboration between residents, businesses and the City.  I am proud of this program and look forward to seeing more projects break ground all across the city.”

"Foundation Communities is excited to work with the St. Elmo neighborhood to create a safer place for children to learn, play and grow.  These street improvements will calm the traffic and make both sides of the street feel more like a neighborhood.  We are grateful to the Still Water Foundation and to the City of Austin for their investment in our work in the St. Elmo neighborhood,” said Walter Moreau, Executive Director of Foundation Communities.

Foundation Communities provides free after school care at its Sierra Ridge apartment complex for its own residents as well as local children referred by St. Elmo Elementary officials. The Foundation serves approximately 150 children per day during the school year, and estimates that when the renovations are complete at its newly acquired Sierra Vista complex, about one half of St. Elmo Elementary attendees will be Foundation Communities residents. 

"Creating a safe beautiful streetscape with crosswalks for families to walk together and the community to flourish in the St. Elmo neighborhood is exactly the kind of project I envisioned with the Neighborhood Partnering Program. I am grateful to the leadership of our Public Works Department, the Still Water Foundation, and Foundation Communities for planning this project together, sharing resources and talent, and improving this neighborhood," said Mayor Pro Tem Sheryl Cole.

Construction on St. Elmo is expected to begin early July and last 2-3 weeks.     

Project location: Google map link to project site

City of Austin – Public Works Neighborhood Partnering Program

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