RAISE infrastructure
Street improvements, drainage, sidewalks, and connectivity through the Northwest neighborhood — funded by the federal RAISE program (Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity).
The Northwest neighborhood
The street that refused to be forgotten.
For over a century, Lincoln Avenue has been the spine of Lake Wales' Northwest neighborhood — a historically Black business corridor where generations of entrepreneurs, educators, and civic leaders built a self-sustaining economy. Today, a $23M federal RAISE grant is rebuilding what was a century overdue.
$22.9M
Federal RAISE grant
100 yr
Historic Black business corridor
2020
Lake Wales Connected adopted
2021
Sara Jones acquires CRA parcels
Why it matters
A century overdue.
The 1929 Olmsted Brothers master plan drew a "city in a garden" for Lake Wales — but largely excluded the Northwest neighborhood. Whether by design or cultural blind spot, the plan's vision did not extend equitably to all residents. That omission persisted for nearly a century.
The 2020 Lake Wales Connected plan, by Dover, Kohl & Partners, explicitly reverses it. For the first time, the city is investing in equitable infrastructure that extends the Olmsted vision into the Lincoln Avenue corridor — and the federal RAISE grant is the funding spine that makes it real.
What's funded
Programs on the ground.
Lake Wales Connected
Award-winning revitalization blueprint by Dover, Kohl & Partners. Replants the lost tree canopy, redesigns streets for walking and biking, and extends the Olmsted vision into neighborhoods left out of the 1929 plan.
Sara Jones Law / Lincoln CDC
A three-story, 3,600 sq ft mixed-use law office and community asset rising on two formerly CRA-owned parcels — with co-working space, event venue, and a covered balcony onto Lincoln.
Trail expansion
Florida Department of Environmental Protection funding extends the regional trail network into the corridor, linking it to the broader Lake Wales park and greenway system.
"The legacy of the neighborhood is inextricably connected with my own history, and I am deeply invested in its future."