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‘I Am Cyrunk’ fellowship builds a community‑led road map to revitalize Fort Lauderdale’s northwest corridor
Summary
A two‑and‑a‑half‑year national fellowship worked with residents, business owners and partners to produce a community‑centered economic roadmap for the Cyrunk corridor, collecting more than 10,000 data points and 900 direct responses and recommending near‑, mid‑ and long‑term actions to boost local businesses, workforce alignment and cultural identity.
The city’s economic development office presented the results of the ‘I Am Cyrunk’ fellowship at the June 16 conference meeting, describing a community‑first planning process that produced a roadmap of near‑term actions, mid‑term programs and long‑term strategies to stabilize and revitalize the northwest Cyrunk corridor.
Economic recovery fellow Siola Frasier (fellow assigned to the corridor) said the program prioritized listening and community creation: her team collected more than 10,000 data points and some 3,000 touchpoints, with roughly 900 resident responses and six public events (surveys, a summit and community talks). Participants identified recurring priorities: easier access to capital for small businesses, clearer navigation of city programs, workforce and training alignment, and a stronger cultural identity for the corridor.
Frasier and national partners — including the National League of Cities’ Center for Municipal Strategies — described a participatory “ALIGN” framework (advancing local impact through growing neighborhoods) that puts community voice at the center of economic development, then turns priorities into implementable activations and partnerships. Local partners, including Invest Fort Lauderdale, the CRA, the Urban League, and neighborhood associations, agreed to take ownership of follow‑up actions.
Invest Fort Lauderdale said it is ready to partner to advance affordable housing and capital‑access work streams. Community leaders at the meeting urged a citywide approach to scale lessons learned and to ensure the corridor’s cultural identity and equity goals are preserved.
Next steps: staff recommended authorizing phased implementation and directing departments to evaluate citywide application of the ALIGN framework and the roadmap’s near‑term projects, with continued partner engagement.
