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RIGHT NOW ON MATTER OF FACT. PALM BEACH COUNTY, FLORIDA IS UNDERGOING A RAPID CHANGE. IT’S SEEING AN INFLUX OF PEOPLE AND BUSINESSES. FOR INSTANCE, VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY IN NASHVILLE RECENTLY ANNOUNCED PLANS FOR A $520 MILLION GRADUATE CAMPUS IN WEST PALM BEACH. IT’S PROJECTED TO CREATE 35,000 JOBS OVER 25 YEARS, AND BILLIONS IN NEW ECONOMIC ACTIVITY FOR THE AREA. AND THE CENSUS ESTIMATES THAT THE CITY’S POPULATION GREW NEARLY 9% FROM 2020 TO 2024. WHILE THIS DEVELOPMENT BRINGS NEW OPPORTUNITY, IT ALSO INEVITABLY DRIVES UP THE COST OF LIVING AND INCREASES THE POTENTIAL FOR DISPLACEMENT OF LONGTIME RESIDENTS. OUR CORRESPONDENT JESSICA GOMEZ HAS THE STORY OF A CONCERTED EFFORT TO KEEP ONE COMMUNITY IN THE HANDS OF THE PEOPLE WHO’VE LIVED THERE FOR GENERATIONS. SOMEBODY ASKED ME ONCE WHY I RIDE MY BIKE EVERYWHERE. URBAN PLANNER RAPHAEL CLEMENTE ON HIS WAY TO WORK. YOU SEE THINGS THAT YOU WOULD NOT SEE FROM YOUR CAR. CLEMENTE ROUTE THROUGH DOWNTOWN WEST PALM BEACH, WHERE CRANES DOT THE SKYLINE. DEVELOPMENT. HERE IS BOOMING SINCE THE PANDEMIC. THE NUMBER OF MILLIONAIRES LIVING IN THE AREA HAS INCREASED MORE THAN 90%. AS MUCH AS I HAVE BEEN IN IT AND EVEN PLAYED A ROLE IN IT IN ITS RENAISSANCE. STILL SHOCKS ME. THE CHANGE, LIKE CLEMENTE, IS HEADED NORTH TO THE HISTORICALLY BLACK COMMUNITY OF COLEMAN PARK. HIS LATEST PROJECT AS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE NONPROFIT PALM BEACH VENTURE. PHILANTHROPY. THE HISTORY OF COLEMAN PARK AND NEIGHBORHOODS LIKE IT IS A RICH HISTORY, A HISTORY. NELLY COOPER REMEMBERS FONDLY THE 85 YEAR OLD STILL IN THE HOME. HER FATHER AND UNCLE BUILT IN 1949. THAT USED TO BE MCKINNEY’S PHARMACY. THAT USED TO BE A GROCERY STORE. WE HAD EVERYTHING THAT WE WANTED IN OUR NEIGHBORHOOD, LIKE WE HAD OUR OWN MOVIES, WE HAD OUR OWN SCHOOL, WE HAD OUR OWN PARKS. A STOP ON THE NEGRO BASEBALL LEAGUE CIRCUIT, COLEMAN PARK ONCE HOSTED PLAYERS LIKE JACKIE ROBINSON AND HANK AARON. IT WAS A VIBRANT AND THRIVING BLACK, MIDDLE CLASS COMMUNITY. ROOSEVELT HIGH SCHOOL, AT THE CENTER OF IT ALL, NELLIE COOPER IN THE CLASS OF 1958. IT BRINGS TEARS TO YOUR EYES TO SEE IT LOOKING LIKE THIS. TODAY, ROOSEVELT IS A SHELL OF WHAT IT ONCE WAS. AFTER DESEGREGATION, MANY LEFT THE NEIGHBORHOOD AND THEN THE DRUG EPIDEMIC. THEY PROMISED US THAT EVERYTHING WAS GOING TO BE CLEANED UP. WE GET MORE POLICE PROTECTION. WE HAVE BETTER SCHOOLS. BUT NOTHING WAS DONE UNTIL NOW. ROOSEVELT WILL SOON BE TRANSFORMED INTO A VOCATIONAL SCHOOL AND MUSEUM, REPLACING THE OLD BASEBALL FIELD, A COMMUNITY CENTER ABOUT TO OPEN ITS DOORS. THERE’S ABOUT 4000FT OF NEW RETAIL SPACE COMING TO THE NEIGHBORHOOD, AND CREWS WORKING ON AFFORDABLE HOUSING AND COMMERCIAL UNITS ON TAMARIND AVENUE. ONCE THE ECONOMIC HUB OF COLEMAN PARK, CLEMENTE’S VISION FOR THE STREETS. SO THAT IS GOOD NEWS. STARTED IN A BOARDROOM. HIS NONPROFIT, BORN FROM THE QUANTUM FOUNDATION, WHICH OPERATES AN ENDOWMENT FOCUSED ON IMPROVING THE HEALTH OF LOCAL COMMUNITIES. WE’VE GOT TO THINK DIFFERENTLY ABOUT THE WAY PHILANTHROPY HAS WORKED. AT THE HELM, ERIC KELLY, WHO GREW UP IN A COMMUNITY JUST LIKE COLEMAN PARK. WHILE WE CONTINUE TO FUND FOOD BANKS AND FREE CLINICS, WE ALSO HAVE TO THINK ABOUT THE GROCERY STORE THAT’S NEEDED IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD. WE ALSO HAVE TO THINK ABOUT THE JOB THAT’S NEEDED. SO QUANTUM, WHILE BACKING MUCH OF THE DEVELOPMENT HAPPENING IN COLEMAN PARK, IS CHANGING ITS STRATEGY. IT WILL BECOME A DESTINATION, PUTTING MUCH OF ITS FINANCIAL WEIGHT BEHIND NEIGHBORHOOD BASED GROUPS LIKE RICE, COLEMAN PARK COLEMAN PARK IS RIGHT AT THE PRECIPICE OF EITHER BEING GENTRIFIED IN OR TAKING CONTROL OF WHAT THAT WOULD LOOK LIKE. PEOPLE ARE COMING. THEY’RE COMING FAST AND FURIOUS TO WEST PALM BEACH. IF WE CAN ENGAGE RESIDENTS TO UNDERSTAND WHAT THEY’RE SITTING ON AND TO BE PART OF IT, THERE’S A WIN WIN FOR, FOR FOR THE COMMUNITY TO KNOW THAT THOSE CRANES ARE NOT GOING TO PUSH THEM OUT. WHILE INVESTING IN EFFORTS TO ATTRACT NEW BUSINESSES AND PEOPLE TO COLEMAN PARK, THE PRIORITY KEEPING LEGACY RESIDENTS HERE IF THEY WANT TO STAY, HELPING THEM WITH HOME REPAIRS. HEY, HOW Y’ALL DOING? COME ON IN. AND FUNDING EFFORTS LIKE THOSE OF THE LEGAL AID SOCIETY OF PALM BEACH COUNTY. 1938 HERE, WHICH HELPS RESIDENTS SORT THROUGH HEIRS RIGHTS AND HOME TITLE ISSUES THAT MAKE THEM VULNERABLE TO OUTSIDE INVESTORS. OUR MAIN GOAL IS TO HELP FOLKS STAY IN THEIR HOMES, PROTECT THEM, MAKE SURE THAT THEY CAN PASS IT ON TO WHOM THEY WISH. SHAKEMA GLOVER’S HOME HAS BEEN IN HER FAMILY FOR NEARLY A CENTURY. I CAN REST A LITTLE BIT KNOWING THAT, OKAY, NOBODY’S COMING TO YANK ME AND SEND ME SOMEWHERE ELSE PACKING. IT’S ABOUT THE MEMORIES. IT’S ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE THAT YOU BELONG TO SOMETHING. AS THE REVIVAL IN COLEMAN PARK TAKES ROOT, IT’S EXACTLY WHERE NELLY COOPER SAYS SHE BELONGS. I GET CALLS EVERY DAY. I PAY CASH FOR YOUR HOUSE. I THINK ABOUT HOW MY DAD AND MY UNCLE BUILT THIS HOUSE. I THINK ABOUT THE THINGS THAT WE DID IN THIS HOUSE AND THE MEMORIES MEANS MORE THAN MONEY. IN WEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA. FOR MATTER OF FACT, I’M JESSICA GOMEZ. THE QUANTUM FOUNDATION IS PLANNING TO INVEST $10 MILLION IN COLEMAN PARK OVER THE NEXT FEW YEARS, AND TO RAISE ANOTHER