The Alvis Brooker building.
HISTORY of GDDC
The Greater Dwight Development Corporation (GDDC) is a tax-exempt social enterprise formed in 1994 that invests in the social and economic life of the Dwight community and as a result, in the City of New Haven.
Founded by four women, GDDC evolved out of the Dwight Central Management Team (DCMT) which was formed to implement the city’s community based initiative. It started with a meeting in the community police substation with the community, members of the Saint Raphael hospital and New Haven police. This was also the birth of community policing which would help define a safer profile of the Dwight district. Serious social pressures of the 1980s and 90s that led to abandoned housing, unemployment, crime, lack of quality early childhood education led to the need of comprehensive innovative solutions. This effort also included an unprecedented partnership with Yale University, the City of New Haven and the Dwight community. Their mission; to build a safe, strong, and vibrant neighborhood. Over the last twenty years, these stakeholders have helped the neighborhood create the infrastructures and secure the resources needed to implement their vision as published in the Greater Dwight Neighborhood Plan.
The Greater Dwight
Neighborhood Plan
Dwight historic district.
The first neighborhood plan was completed in 1996, supported by a grant through Yale University. The planning process involved over 100 neighborhood residents, businesses and other city stakeholders. The plan called for programs to renovate housing, create jobs, build space for neighborhood meetings, recreation, and quality early childhood education in the community. Building on the initial plan, many grants would follow to finance the community’s commitments to implement the neighborhood’s vision. Some of the results by GDDC over the last twenty years are described in the ACCOMPLISHMENTS page of this website.
GREATER DWIGHT AND
GREATER NEW HAVEN.
New Haven green.
The Dwight community is a terrific place to live and work because it is part of a great city, New Haven. The first city plan in the United States was drafted in New Haven in 1640 by surveyor John Brockett. With the Town Green at its center a rational grid of streets and buildings commonly known as the "Nine Square Plan" defines one of New England’s great cities.
New Haven has a rich history with a rich art and cultural history with institutions such as the Yale University Art Gallery, The British Art Center at Yale, Peabody Museum, The Yale Repertory Theater, Long Wharf Theater, Shubert Theater, Audubon Arts Center and countless churches. New Haven is a bright, diverse and vibrant community. In recent years, there has been a strong demand for downtown and neighborhood housing, and the investments of the City, State, and Yale University have resulted in many new businesses located in or near the Dwight community.
According to the US Census of 2010, the City’s per capita income growth has risen per cent from 2000 to 2010.
Yale University and the Yale New Haven Hospital provide a rich environment of research, culture and learning that make New Haven unique as a midsize city, with an international urban environment.