Asian markets along Elmwood Avenue. Elmwood is one of Providence’s most diverse neighborhoods, with large Hispanic, black and Asian communities. It’s home to many recently arrived immigrants. Providence Journal photo / Steve Szydlowski

Eugene Briggs and two of his cousins, Jon Campbell and Richard Monroe, all 26, are some of the newest business owners in Elmwood.

Their children’s clothing store, Kids Corner, on 517 Potters Ave., near the intersection with Elmwood Avenue, has been open only a month. The store offers a colorful mix of pint-sized clothing with hip-hop, urban style.

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Briggs, who grew up in South Providence, said he and his cousins saw a need for a children’s clothing store in the neighborhood. “There were stores for adults, but none for kids,” he said. And Briggs said they thought it was time “for something new in our life,” and decided to “make an investment” in their community.

Change and investment are important features of Elmwood, according to Anne Grant, who has been an activist in the neighborhood since moving in 19 years ago. She came to Providence to become director of the Women’s Center of Rhode Island, and was pastor of Trinity United Methodist Church for six years.

Grant said that after years spent rearing their children in the country in Connecticut, she and her husband, who had also previously lived in New York City, wanted to return to an urban setting, and they found Elmwood’s diversity appealing.

“We were eager to get back to city living … and we like neighborhoods that are ethnically mixed and economically mixed,” she said.

Elmwood is one of Providence’s most diverse neighborhoods, with large Hispanic, black and Asian communities. Trinity Square is at the northern tip of the neighborhood; Elmwood Avenue and Broad Street are the two main streets, and Route 95 borders the southern end.

Grant said Elmwood is home to many recently arrived immigrants, and many of these people are struggling economically, and they are motivated to provide a better life for their family.

“There’s a spark in so many of the immigrant groups …. especially those who have come from wars,” she added. “…They have lost so much, yet they are really working so hard for the benefit of their children. What they are getting really matters to them; they don’t take things for granted. It’s a privilege to be with them.”

Elmwood, like most of South Providence, was one of the last areas in the city to be developed, and was largely used as farmland until about 1850. When development came, though, it came quickly, aided by expanding public transportation, and by 1860 most of the street plan was in place. Early plans for Elmwood called for a leafy suburban oasis, with wide streets shaded by elm trees.

Manufacturing and residential growth continued, and the neighborhood became a center for automobile sales and service in the 1910s and 1920s. The widening of Elmwood Avenue in 1938 and removal of many trees also changed the look of the neighborhood. The auto-empowered middle-class exodus to the suburbs ensued and by the 1960s, the aging housing stock in Elmwood was showing signs of decay and neglect, but recent years have seen renewal and reinvestment in the community.

Grant said there are many nonprofit agencies working to improve conditions in the neighborhood, including the Elmwood Foundation, the Genesis Center, and Dorcas Place, to name a few. “There are so many vibrant nonprofits that are doing excellent work in the community,” she said.

Grant lives in a 104-year-old two-family house that “needed a lot of work” when she first moved in. Across the street were two lots that had been vacant for years after fires destroyed houses that had been there. But two new houses are now being built on those lots. Grant said she’s happy with the job being done by the builder, who plans to sell the houses. “It’s really nice to see the care that’s going in [to the construction],” she said. “That really shows respect for the neighborhood.”

The Elmwood Foundation also has a number of construction projects going on in the neighborhood. Executive Director Susann Mark said the agency has approvals to build 33 new rental units on Broad Street, and is working with the Ocean State Center for Independent Living to make some handicapped-accessible first-floor units. Smaller current projects include a two-family property on Laura Street, which is almost finished, and a project around the corner on Melrose Street, which is in the planning stages.

Mark said the foundation is also involved in a plan for a community garden on city property at the end of Early Street with the South Side Community Land Trust.

Mark said that state Rep. Grace Diaz, D-Providence, has been a leader in an effort to “resuscitate” the city-owned Elmwood Community Center on Niagara Street, which has been closed since June, after state inspectors found mold in the building.

Real-estate prices for single-family houses in Elmwood are some of the most affordable in the city; last week, three houses were listed at prices under $100,000. A five-bedroom, 1½-bath Colonial built in 1930, with 1,446 square feet of living space, is listed at $74,900. The most expensive house listed for sale in Elmwood is a gracious, updated 1916 Colonial on Adelaide Avenue with five bedrooms, three full baths and 2,778 square feet of living space; it is listed at $299,000.

According to the 2000 Census, 69 percent of the housing in Elmwood is multifamily, and 68 percent of the housing was built before 1960; 24.6 percent was owner-occupied.

Elmwood has been hit by a high number of foreclosures in recent months, according to real-estate agents who work in the neighborhood. “Right now we need a miracle,” said Jose Batista, broker-owner of the Remax Reality agency at 1445 Broad St., in nearby Washington Park.

“There’s been more investment, more disposable income in the neighborhood” in recent years, Grant said. “With the current mortgage crisis, we’re not sure where that’s going to lead us. … I do know that Rhode Island Housing is working to help people stay in their property and get them out of bad mortgages,” she said.

“There’s a lot of foreclosures; it’s not the way we want it to be,” Batista said. He said that even though foreclosures are driving down prices, tightened credit and higher local property taxes are barriers for many potential buyers.

Grant said that basic “survival questions” are even more important to many Elmwood residents. “Having the childcare subsidies cut off so that the childcare centers… have to turn children away,” or “the car breaks down and you can’t keep your job,” — these kinds of problems can be “the straw that will break the camel’s back,” she said. The General Assembly earlier this year narrowed eligibility requirements for state-subsidized childcare, a decision, Grant says, that is having an impact on the neighborhood.

“Many people are just an illness away from not being able to make it,” she said. “It’s one of the reasons we want to be here. Little things make a difference.…We want to be in a community where our presence can make a difference in the lives of people living here.”

cdunn@projo.com