Big things are happening in Africatown.

Last Friday, the Mobile County Commission held a dedication for “The Memory Keeper,” a sculpture on the site of the Africatown Heritage House and announced the date of the museum’s opening: July 8.

Yesterday, the Mobile City Council authorized a nearly $400,000 contract with Mott MacDonald, a local architecture firm, for the design of the Africatown Welcome Center. And, at its monthly meeting yesterday, the Africatown Redevelopment Corporation Board of Directors announced progress on their office building and on the housing projects they started in the new year.

These are all welcome signs of progress to the residents of Africatown, an impoverished area of the city: As of 2015, one in three households in Africatown and adjacent neighborhoods have incomes below the poverty level, according to the city of Mobile. Following discovery of the Clotilda four years ago, which generated national interest in the area, residents hoped that these projects would capitalize on that momentum and help revitalize the area. But there have been delays.

“We’re really excited that organizations are galvanizing, congealing and focused in a specific area on revitalizing this community,” Karlos Finley, the new executive director for the ARC, said after their monthly meeting Tuesday. “And when I say revitalizing, I mean a complete and total revitalization.”