Environmental Justice and Community Education at NOAH

By Sara Varela 
NeighborWorks America
Community Building and Organizing
communications specialist

A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of visiting Neighborhood of Affordable Housing (NOAH) in East Boston, MA. The visit was part of a Community Building and Organizing Peer to Peer connection, a program we run to encourage our network members to visit and learn from each other. I was there as an observer. The visiting organization was San Juan Neighborhood Housing Services (San Juan NHS) from Puerto Rico. It was wonderful to meet and reconnect with the staff from both organizations

The agenda was so packed with content that, in one day, I learned more than I ever thought possible. We started our day with an interactive process where Kim Foltz, director of Community Building and Environment demonstrated how to engage a group using popular education techniques.

Members of the Chelsea Creek Action Group Youth crew
helped residents of all ages build new raised-bed gardens,
increasing access to affordable, healthy food in East Boston.

Popular education is a process which aims to empower people who feel marginalized socially and politically to take control of their own learning and to effect social change. Popular education indicates a collective effort in which a high degree of participation is expected from everybody. It was great to learn about this training tool as we actually saw it in action. Then Kim went on to engage the group in talking about environmental justice.

According to the EPA, environmental justice is “the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies.” NOAH, takes this to heart. Their website states: "Community Building and Environment Department (CBE) works with community members to improve the environment, enhance the quality of life, and develop the leadership skills of residents in East Boston and beyond."

Staff from NOAH and San Juan NHS work together in a
hands-on activity prior to visiting the local neighborhood.

As I participated in this interactive session I couldn’t help thinking I was lucky to work in a place where I get to learn about these concepts, meet people who work making our world a better place, and see the results first hand.

Our morning sessions were followed by a walk around the neighborhood and lunch in a local restaurant. After lunch we had a tour of the different places where NOAH engages community residents and youth. This organization really puts the concept of popular education and environmental justice to work; they engage residents to identify and become part of the solution for their environmental topics. We met a youth leader who encourages youth and neighborhood children to engage in the local community garden, and involves children in summer activities; we visited the Chelsea Creek, and learned about the community’s effort to improve environmental conditions in this part of the neighborhood, and we learned about all the great youth activities this organization supports.

It was an excellent day to be outside, visiting the neighborhood and seeing how a group from East Boston exchanges ideas with a group from Puerto Rico. And, as if that weren’t enough, the whole day was ran in Spanish! The staffs at NOAH are bilingual, and bicultural and excellent at their job of engaging people.

I am a fan of social media and online tools, but there is nothing better than meeting the people I work with in person. Three cheers for the community building and organizing peer to peer visits! Read about them or share your stories via Twitter @SaraVarelaCBO #peertopeer.

Giving New Meaning to Summer Break

By Alexandra Chaikin,
Online Media Project Manager

Summer break is in full swing and many local NeighborWorks organizations  are using the time off from school to get kids involved in their communities. Below are a few of the many great projects going on around the country:

Michigan

Ava and Maria in the vegetable garden

Youngsters from the Detroit Country Day School Junior Community Service Club are helping Lighthouse of Oakland County by tending a vegetable garden with zucchini, spinach, tomatoes, lettuce, carrots, and peppers. The fresh produce supports Lighthouse of Oakland County's emergency food pantry and provides important nourishment to seniors.


Pennsylvania
A nonprofit called Little Acts of Love (West Lawn, Pa.) paired up with Neighborhood Housing Services of Greater Berks (Reading, Pa.) to get Berks County youth to help the elderly by painting, roofing, and doing various other chores to lend a helping hand to the less fortunate.  Ten houses on Second, Front, Pear, and Buttonwood streets were improved by the efforts. This project was featured in the Reading Eagle news.

Virginia and Maryland
Research from Johns Hopkins the shows that two-thirds of the 9th grade academic achievement gap between disadvantaged youngsters and their more advantaged peers can be explained by what happens over the summer months during the elementary school years. To combat this, Arlington-based AHC Inc. is helping more than 120 children combine education and fun over the summer. This year's theme is the Olympic Games. Along with swimming each week, campers participate in a variety of educational activities and field trips to such places as local museums, Imagination Stage, and Upton Hills Water Park.

Texas

This summer, Alamo Area Mutual Housing is running a Dr. Seuss-themed reading program at one of its community Learning Centers. The program culminates in an end of summer bash, where kids will be able to celebrate their reading achievement - and the top 4 readers will participate in a field trip to Splashtown waterpark this month. In addition to the reading program, Alamo Area Mutual Housing is offering a 4-H math and science camp, gardening opportunities, and a chance to perform in plays and talent shows.

Lit Review: Interesting Articles from the Boston Federal Reserve

Reposted from the "Stabilize" blog of the NeighborWorks America Stable Communities program.
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The latest issue of New England Community Developments from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston has a couple of articles particularly interesting for those engaged in stabilizing neighborhoods.  In the first, the author discusses preliminary findings from ongoing research exploring the effect of foreclosure and NSP intervention on neighborhood social stability, with surprising results. The second presents a logical framework for deciding what REO is best marketed as rental property.

In "What Do the Neighbors Think? Assessing the Community Impact of Neighborhood Stabilization Efforts," author Erin M. Graves describes her research assessing residents’ perspectives on neighborhood-level social capital and social disorder.  She hopes to assess the impact of foreclosed properties on those residents before and after NSP intervention.


Graves used a standardized “Sense of Community” survey administered door-to-door, and also assessed property conditions of all parcels in the subject neighborhood.  In the article, Graves describes three themes that emerged from the first round of the survey. The first theme was that residents did not view the vacant foreclosed homes on their street as the primary threat to stability in the neighborhood; nor did they often realize which were due to foreclosures.  If they did know of a foreclosure, they saw it as an individual problem rather than a community problem or trend.

Second, existing crime and gun violence were the main concerns of these neighborhood residents. Residents in this neighborhood did not see vacant properties as attracting crime, and they viewed vacant lots as a greater threat to their sense of community than vacant homes.

Third, residents did believe in the efficacy of government institutions, including the police, to solve community problems, but felt underserved by them.  In order to deal with the safety and property abandonment issues on their streets, Graves says residents defined ever-smaller boundaries for what they consider their [good] part of the community – a street, a section of a street, or sometimes only their house.  These carefully drawn boundaries allow some residents to enjoy and stay in their unstable neighborhoods longer than outsiders would expect them to.

For Graves’ discussion of policy implications, see the full article.

In "New Ideas for Old REOs : A Disposition Framework for Marketing REOs for Rental Properties,"  Prabal Chakrabati and Mariana Arcaya propose a four-step rationale for sorting a community’s REO portfolio to find those properties that are the best candidates for disposition as rental units.  The criteria include:

• whether or not the property is GSE-owned,
• whether the property has been REO for less than or greater than one year (greater than one year means it is unlikely to  be taken up as a homeownership property),
• whether the property is located in an area of high need for affordable rental units (vis a vis Massachusetts’ 10% mandate for municipal subsidized housing inventory),
• whether or not the property is also located in an area that lacks rental housing options (since rental housing demand is on the increase, the model assumes places without those options need them, and that mixed-income communities are a goal).

Additional considerations, such as proximity to transit and jobs, are also mentioned. The article includes an easy-to-read chart, and a specific analysis of Massachusetts REO inventory.

New England Community Developments is published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.  Free subscriptions are available here.

Building Grassroots Leadership in South Carolina

By Hillary Rowe Wiley,
NeighborWorks America
public affairs and communications
advisor, Southern District

NeighborWorks America began in 1968 as a result of resident leaders who took up a charge to improve their neighborhoods (history here), so it makes sense that resident empowerment is still a crucial component of what we do.  One of the best ways we have found to promote resident leadership is to strengthen ties between local groups so they can develop their own networks, share and build best practices, and ultimately work toward solutions for complex challenges.

Last weekend NeighborWorks America’s Southern District, in collaboration with South Carolina Associations of Community Development Corporations (SCACDC) sponsored a Grassroots Leadership Institute (GLI) in Greenville, South Carolina. In keeping with our goal of engaging a variety of public and private partners, our partner SCACDC attracted the support of the City of Greenville, Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System, TD Bank, GCRA and Homes of Hope.

The GLI attracted around 150 diverse grassroots leaders, ranging in age from young adults to retired citizens, all banding together to experience “Empowering Your Community from the Ground Up – with Real Solutions for Real People in Real Neighborhoods.”

Classes taught residents a variety of skills, including how to build safer communities, promote healthy living, develop political clout and strengthen personal leadership skills. Panelists included Southern District Director Donald Phoenix, South Carolina State Representative Chandra Dillard, and SCACDC President and CEO Bernie Mazyck. “Connecting with the community - being in conversations with emerging leaders to retired residents, sharing best practices and learning from folks at the grassroots level is the foundational work necessary to stabilizing and transforming communities,” said Phoenix.

Donald Phoenix with Rep. Chandra Dillard and Bernie Mazyck

During the event, I spoke of Dr. Norman Vincent Peale’s leadership principle: “looking for the gold” or positive in every situation. I chose this theme because I know community development can focus on everything that isn’t working – blight, drugs, poverty, all the things that can undermine a neighborhood’s stability and success. As a result, sometimes we forget to look at community assets. All too often we get into what is known as the failure habit – which is focusing on and complaining about everything and anything that’s not working. This can lead to feeling overwhelmed or burnt out, so it’s important to celebrate successes and focus on the positive.

I hope that as a result of the institute, many community leaders will return to their neighborhoods with new connections and new knowledge that can support their projects, and with expanded sense of possibility for what their communities could become. So far, what we heard at the conference supports this goal. One local pastor who had just returned to Greenville after a four-year stint in England, was initially unsure of the GLI saying he knew few people in Greenville and did not yet feel part of the community. However, by the conclusion of the institute he was fired up saying, “This was great! Now I’m connected to so many people, and I now know what to do to help create and change community on a level that’s very different from my traditional pastor role. Thanks so much. This was really great!”

I am proud what we’ve achieved already and I look forward to the stories and photos we’ll be gathering from all the local successes.

Will the Foreclosure Crisis be With Us Another Two Years?

By Marietta Rodriguez
Director, National
Homeownership
Programs & Lending

With signs of a turnaround in housing appearing in various industry reports such as those from the National Association of Realtors for pending home sales, and from the National Association of Home Builders via its new home sales index, it’s not difficult to think that the foreclosure crisis is behind us. But it isn’t.

Recently I was on a panel at the National Association of Real Estate Editors spring meeting discussing the housing market alongside representatives from Bank of America and FNC, Inc., and we agreed that the foreclosure crisis won’t end for another two years – according to the most positive forecasts.

Mortgage rates are likely to remain very low for the foreseeable future and that’s good for housing and for ending the foreclosure crisis. However, what we really need to do in order to find the end more quickly is make it easier for qualified buyers to purchase homes and for homeowners in distress to find solutions that don’t end in foreclosure.

Neighborhood Housing Service of
South Florida educates a potential homebuyer

On the purchase side, NeighborWorks America supports efforts to make homeownership as accessible as possible without creating undue risk in the system. We support the availability of low down payment mortgages which enable homebuyers who are already saving to purchase a home more quickly. Additionally, we support underwriting that keep loans within the reach of deserving buyers. Finally, we think that homebuyer education is a critical piece of the process. Education is what prepares people for the true costs of homeownership, and helps them make sustainable choices.

Family outside their home
in Great Falls, Montana

On the foreclosure front, we’ve established partnerships that connect homeowners to the help that they need to find an alternative to foreclosure. For example, by partnering with local governments we are able to direct our efforts into neighborhoods that are at the greatest risk of foreclosures, and making those resident aware of options for assistance. We are also facilitating better homeowner communication with servicers through the HOPE Loan Port, which tracks individual requests for loan modifications. Servicer outreach centers are another key tool for stemming foreclosure, because they allow homebuyers to receive in-person advice on how they might keep their home. However, as I told the audience at the National Association of Real Estate Editors conference, all servicers could do more.

The housing market won’t rebound until the foreclosure crisis is behind us. However, by improving the availability of mortgage credit and homebuyer education, we can minimize the impacts of the crisis and make sure it ends within two years.