Ridley Circle and the Marshall-Ridley Choice Neighborhood Initiative (CNI)

Ridley Circle

Ridley Circle was an apartment building constructed in 1954 and located between Jefferson and Ivy Avenues, one block away from Dominion Terminal Associates in Southeast Newport News. Ridley Circle was the oldest public housing project in Newport News, had fallen into severe disrepair, and was demolished in 2022.

Ridley Circle was named after John Hoskins Ridley (1872–1943), who worked at the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company as a laborer and ultimately as Chief Steward. Ridley helped bring Huntington High School to Newport News, a secondary school for African American students, and was a co-founder of the Crown Savings Bank, a Black-owned bank established in 1905.

Ridley Circle was located in the Marshall-Ridley neighborhood, which had been home to Black shipyard workers and administrators in the early 20^th century. Because of its large African American population, the neighborhood was redlined in the 1930s by the Home Owner's Loan Corporation (HOLC) leading to disinvestment and decline in the area. This was made worse by racial segregation and white flight following the consolidation of Newport News with Warwick.

Coal Dust Pollution and Activism

Mrs. Louise Bazemore, a resident of Ridley Circle, was a leading activist for coal dust mitigation in the 1980s. [there is more to add here]

Marshall-Ridley Choice Neighborhood Initiative (CNI)

Choice Neighborhoods is a grant program of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The program awards grants to localities to support the development of sustainable, mixed-income communities with access to economic opportunities.

Newport News received a $500,000 Choice Neighborhoods Planning Grant in 2016 and a $30 million Implementation Grant in 2019 to build more types of housing and improve access to community services, recreational spaces, and parks on and around the land of the former Ridley Circle residences in Southeast Newport News. Known as the Marshall-Ridley Choice Neighborhood Initiative (CNI), the effort is not only focused on housing and parks but also on improving access to health services and early childhood education, reducing food insecurity, and providing career training and more employment opportunities.

As a first step, the Newport News Redevelopment & Housing Authority (NNRHA) surveyed residents to identify community priorities and concerns for the CNI.

Current Progress

Newport News Early Childhood Development Center (NNECDC): was opened, which will provide education for around 200 children. This facility will provide high-quality, accessible education to families in the area.

Legacy Landing: a mixed-income housing development in Newport News, had its official ribbon-cutting.

Coal Dust Is an Ongoing Issue

On the CNI’s FAQ for Newport News, the CNI project responded to air pollution concerns in conjunction with rebuilding homes: Q: Did air pollution factor into the decision not to rebuild on the Harbor Homes/Dickerson Courts site?

A: Air pollution did not factor into the decision to demolish Harbor Homes and Dickerson Courts. HUD approved demolition of the apartments because the units were obsolete and the cost to modernize them far exceeded the cost of new construction, along with the fact that the housing density was at least 2 to 5 times the recommended density for affordable housing. All the information we have about air quality in the area indicates that it meets DEQ standards.

Other answers on the FAQ page related to the coal terminals and air regulations don't answer the question outright, instead directing readers to the home page or broken links of the DEQ’s website.

The FAQ page indicates that questions relating to the terminals and air quality are of substantial and important concern to residents. Directing readers to home pages or broken, outdated links of the DEQ discourages residents who care for their well-being and their community. Instead of directing them towards a confusing government website, it be more helpful if exact documentation of regulations were made available. Above all, while reconstructing homes is an effort to improve the living conditions of residents in Marshall-Ridley, it ignores the fugitive coal dust issue which residents have been campaigning for for generations. These concerns should have been taken into consideration when rebuilding the neighborhood. If the City of Newport News truly aims to transform the neighborhood, and increase the safety and well-being of residents, coal dust needs to be addressed and solved. The new housing is a generous effort, but the new homes are being coated in the deadly dust with settled on the homes before them.

Neighborhood Leadership Insitute (NLI)

If you are a resident of Newport News or a community member in the area you can join the NLI to learn the skills and knowledge necessary to become a community leader (Newport, 2019). In this 12-week experience, you will receive everything you need to help your community receive the changes it deserves. For more information call 757-926-8081 or learn more here.

2024 Comprehensive Housing Study

In 2024, the City of Newport News, in cooperation with Urban Planners consultants, released their Comprehensive Housing Study, which aimed to tailor “... housing priorities, policies, and intervention strategies” for community leaders, stakeholders, and city decision-makers. The report highlights in the “Key Findings” four unique issues to Newport News’ housing policies, and suggests recommendations moving forward. Their findings include the following (page 6-7):

• Newport News is not keeping pace with its share of regional population growth.
• Newport News benefits from significant current and emerging opportunities for expanding the housing market.
• Housing affordability challenges stem more from low household incomes rather than abnormally high housing costs.
• Newport News is using flexible zoning and redevelopment opportunities to transform underutilized sites and smaller lots while preserving neighborhood character.

Results acknowledge Newport News’ limited population growth between 2010-2020 (3.1% growth), and the net negative “household migration” between 2017 and 2021”. Specifically, reports from households moving into the city report lower incomes by -11.7% than those moving out from the city. As a result, many households are unable to afford “...high quality housing in the current market”. While at first glance the Newport News area may seem affordable, it’s not for locals.

However, there is promise in an expanding housing market. The report cites the reliance on the military community and defense industry, which is dominant in the Hampton Roads community. The City sees potential in offering a wide range of housing options, from single-family homes to townhomes, multi-family garden apartments, and mixed-use apartment buildings. Using "flexible zoning”, Newport News hopes to preserve traditional aesthetics the city was built on, and develop “underutilized sites like outdating shopping malls, former department stores, and surface parking lots”.

Given the findings, the study concluded four recommendations under 1) policy and planning, 2) redevelopment and revitalization, 3) affordability and accessibility, and 4) partnerships and collaboration.

Policy and Planning

In hopes of meeting demand, housing policy aims to accommodate the elderly, and attract young working people and families, it’s in the interest of Newport News to construct a variety of housing types, at the “right size” with “...attainable sale prices” (page 8).

The policy and plan also includes supporting “...zoning and land use modifications that expand and encourage diverse housing types…”, including the “missing middle” “Middle housing” types are multi-unit constructions, known for being easily integrated into a city, given that they have a higher capacity for community members than a detached single-family home would. Common examples include townhomes, duplexes, and court-style homes.

These housing types have gone “missing” from zoning laws in the 1910’s (NCSL). Upon early integration in the early 20th century, “upper-income white property owners, developers, and local officials seized on it as a way to protect subdivisions from factories and people of a different race, ethnicity, or class” (JCHS). Despite local regulations across 75% of land in most cities prohibit their construction, they’re a favorable option for affordable housing.

Apart from being affordable, they promote walkability and public transit. This is particularly relevant, given that most homes built in Newport News around the 19th century, before automobiles were widespread, were built on narrow 25-foot lots. Per the 2024 report, “In 1984, the rear alleyways originally associated with these properties were vacated, greatly complicating redevelopment efforts due to insufficient street parking space” (page 7). In conjunction with construction, the City aims to create a “feedback mechanism”, gathering input through regular surveys, focus groups, and public meetings. These are open to the builders, architects, and property owners.

Redevelopment

Strategies from this recommendation include promoting Newport News’ Downtown area, acquiring failed shopping centers, vacant, abandoned, and tax-foreclosed properties to redevelop into housing. It also includes strengthening partnerships with organizations such as Habitat for Humanity and Rebuilding Together.Given the historic 25-footage lots didn’t age with the bustling city, the City has the potential to create “custom narrow homes” in their stead, promoting walkability, and creating a residential parking permit system.

Affordability and Accessibility

To attract young workers, another strategy is developing programs to reduce barriers for first-time home buyers, while also expanding affordable housing options. The study points to increasing funds for down payments and low-interest mortgage assistance programs under the NNRHA. In alignment with keeping the City walkable, this recommendation includes expanding public transit options and increasing bike lanes.

Partnerships and Collaboration

Through partnerships, employer-assisted housing programs, and initiating a program to support local residential developers can be advantageous. This recommendation also includes regular roundtable discussions with “...employers, City staff, and housing professionals to understand housing needs” , and partnering with “service providers on home improvement programs”.

Before Ridley Place underwent reconstruction, residents had to approve of the plan that would transform their neighborhood. Conditions at Ridley Place were far from ideal living conditions. In a 13News Now report on September 26th, 2017, residents shared the following: Ajana Coles, a resident of three years, says: “It's not a bad neighborhood but sometimes it has its points you know, like with everything else, I feel like if they fixed it up, it's going to go… much better.”

In this news clip covering the same story, residents elaborated on their living conditions: Yvonne Halsey (resident): “A lot of peoples not living well out here-it’s mold…The ceiling’s falling in, the bathroom caving in…”On Feburary 25th, 2022, WTKR News Channel 3 covered the “Choice Neighborhoods Initiative- Ridley Place Transformation”, whilst the community was being rebuilt. In this news chip,

Yugonda Jones, a resident of the southeast community and member of the Citizens Advisory Committee shared: “We have families that have lost loved ones-friends in this community, and they deserve a better chance. They deserve that transformation or the opportunity to live in a safe home. … It’s about time-like so much resources, so many programs, and lack of funding has been taking out the southeast communities.”

Once the three-year long transformation was completed, residents moved back home. Now covered what this was like for residents. Chantelle Williams, one of the 11 residents who moved in at the time of the news coverage said: “It’s a better community. I’m at home. My kids are happy. The whole family happy. …I was coming back, make sure they was working, doing their job, ‘cause I was so eager to move.”

On April 12th, 2022, WHRO News published an update on the neighborhood during a community-wide cookout. Residents shared bittersweet thoughts on their neighborhood being rebuilt: Carla Lewis, who moved into Ridley Circle in 1979 when she was 10 with her mother and four siblings. Her brother passed away the year prior. She shared:

“Every time I see that I can remember the five kids in that one apartment, you know, and my mom doing the best that she could. And, you know, getting along some days and not getting along others. That will always be with me when I see that plaque.

”Despite having moved out of Ridley Circle, Lewis explained the neighborhood changing “...means a lot because that's where it started for me, and to see that it is no longer going to be and nobody else can come into that place and reside there and call it their home or call their starting point…This is going to be with me forever.”

Tim Robinson, member of the step group Groove Phi Gents who put on the cookout, shared: “My concern is, I hope when they bring the new Ridley Circle back, they bring the people from Ridley Circle back…Don't take us away from where we came from. If you can build it up, bring us back. Let it be ours, not someone else's.”

On June 25th, 2025, during the ribbon cutting and grand opening of Legacy Landing, resident Miyoshi Stallings, who once lived at Ridley Place shared:“This new home isn't just about me. It represents what's possible when we lead with obedience, determination, and faith. It's more than just walls and a roof…It's stability, peace of mind, and a promise that when we trust the process and support one another, we can rise above anything. Legacy Landing is a new beginning for our entire community.”

Vanessa Eley, who grew up in Ridley Place, shared with WHRO News that while her neighborhood was being rebuilt…

“I stayed in Harbor Homes, my mother, my sister and myself… We had a two-bedroom apartment and it was just wonderful. I learned a lot here.”

Returning home, she added: “I’m grateful to be able to see this and to see people going into something even more modern.”