Prime Minister Tony Blair - pictured below with Welsh Assembly First Minister Rhodri Morgan and members of the Hill Young People's Group, officially opened the Phoenix Centre on 2^nd March 2001 – the first community economic development centre of its kind in Wales. The centre was the flagship development of an URBAN Community Initiative designed to revitalise and regenerate the Townhill/Mayhill communities on Swansea’s oldest council housing estate.

In what was considered the third most deprived ward in Wales (see Services - Student Services for information on the Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation) with high unemployment levels, low education attainment and high levels of social deprivation many hundreds of local people have undergone a variety of training programmes and graduated to further training and employment.