AECF.ORG was redesigned and expanded based on feedback from visitors like you. It was here at St. John s Church on East Broad Street where Patrick Henry issued his famous ultimatum give me liberty or give me death. And in some parts of the community, there are architecturally significant 19th-century homes that have been painstakingly restored. But there are also many boarded, vacant homes in the East End, which has some of the poorest neighborhoods in Richmond. Four of the city s seven major public housing communities are located there, and about 40 percent of the neighborhood s residents live in poverty.
Drug dealing and violent crime are problems in many parts of the area.
As with many low-income neighborhoods, the residents of the East End have high rates of hypertension, diabetes, and other chronic conditions that are either preventable or controllable with good primary care. In the absence of such care, children and families frequently find themselves in hospital emergency rooms. Responding to the economic, health, and other challenges of the community, the City of Richmond established the East District Initiative in 1993. Seeking to bring services closer to the people who need them, the East District Initiative includes a satellite city hall as well as housing and economic development programs. The goal of the initiative, says Cynthia Newbille, is to reinvent the ways services are delivered to the community.