Here is a real opportunity for us to help get Community Action and our issues in front of a national audience and another opportunity for us to play a meaningful in the national policy discussion on federal budget priorities and dealing with the deficit.

Background — AmericaSpeaks is a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit organization whose mission is to engage citizens in the public decisions that impact their lives. AmericaSpeaks’ work focuses on trying to create opportunities for citizens (of all political and ideological persuasions) to impact decisions and to encourage public officials to make informed, lasting decisions. AmericaSpeaks’ town meetings have involved from 500-5,000 participants; its partners have included regional planning groups; local, state, and national governrnent bodies; and national and international organizations. The conclusions from these town meetings are then brought to the attention of decision-makers with the intent that citizen input will influence policy

On Saturday, June 26th, thousands of Americans across the country will participate in “AmericaSpeaks: Our Budget, Our Economy,” a national town meeting to find common ground on the tough choices about our federal budget and to develop strategies on how we can ensure a sustainable fiscal future and strong economic recovery. Check the list below for the city/meeting site closest to you. Signing up to participate is on a first come-first-enrolled basis. It is essential that Community Action’s values and priorities get on the table at these town meetings. It is reasonable to assume that deficit/federal investment-cutting hawks who do not understand the return-on-investment of our programs will advocate for their position.

Below is a briefing item from Debbie Weinstein at the Coalition on Human Needs and it has the link for how you can sign up for a meeting and get more information. Partnership CEO Don Mathis will participate in the Philadelphia town meeting.

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Budgets are all about choices.

What kind of nation do we want in 2025? Will we be able to educate our children, provide health coverage, generate good jobs and economic security, and protect public health and safety?

Will we collect enough revenues to carry out the functions of government that you believe in, or will deficits be the driving force for cuts in services?

You can be part of a national forum allowing people all over the country to weigh in on these choices.

AmericaSpeaks: Our Budget, Our Economy will engage the American public in an unprecedented national discussion about our federal budget. Thousands of Americans reflecting the demographic, geographic and political diversity of our nation will come together on June 26, 2010 for a National Town Meeting connected via satellite video, webcast, and interactive technologies to weigh-in on the difficult choices involved with putting our federal budget on a sustainable path.

These discussions will occur in 19 or 20 cities across the country. Participants will spend about 6 hours on Saturday, June 26 deliberating about how to reduce the deficit in 2025 through some combination of increased revenue and/or reduced spending. By the end of the day, the choices made by the groups in each city will be tallied into a report that will be provided to the President's National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. The AmericaSpeaks project is likely to receive a lot of public attention. It would be quite unfortunate if a disproportionate share of the participants are open only to making cuts in programs. That's why we are hoping you will sign up to attend.

The Coalition on Human Needs believes that while it is good economic policy for the nation to have a substantial deficit now to help us emerge from the severe recession, over the next decades steps must be taken to stabilize the deficit and the national debt. Since we are such a wealthy nation, we believe that more revenues can be raised from fair sources to ensure that Americans can be secure from infancy to retirement. Careful decisions about spending should also be part of our nation's long-term plan, with savings from ineffectual or misguided military or other programs and investments in our human resources to build our economic competitiveness. Not to mention helping all Americans to sustain life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We have a lot of confidence that you or your friends and colleagues would bring this balanced view to the AmericaSpeaks town meetings. I've been participating on the National Advisory Committee for this project; they are making a good faith effort to incorporate the views of an ideologically diverse group of advisors to produce thoughtful and informative materials. For more information about AmericaSpeaks and to sign up: http://usabudgetdiscussion.org/

So please sign up if you live in one of these cities, and forward this to others who might be interested. Thanks for considering this!

Albuquerque, NM
Augusta, ME
Casper, WY
Chicago, IL
Columbia, SC
Dallas, TX
Des Moines, IA
Detroit, MI
Grand Forks, ND
Jackson, MS
Overland Park, KS
Los Angeles, CA
Louisville, KY
Missoula, MT
Philadelphia, PA
Portland, OR
Portsmouth, NH
Richmond, VA
San Jose, CA

Meanwhile, we invite you to help us spread the word about Our Budget, Our Economy by going to www.usabudgetdiscussion.org and going to the Take Action page or our social media pages on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and MySpace.

 

Choice Neighborhoods Initiative

HUD has posted a Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) Pre-Notice to assist potential applicants prepare for an upcoming Choice Neighborhoods competitive funding process. Choice Neighborhoods will support communities that are using place-based solutions to create neighborhoods of opportunity. Choice Neighborhoods funds are intended to transform distressed public and assisted housing into sustainable, mixed-income housing, to support positive outcomes for families in the development and in the neighborhood, and to transform neighborhoods of concentrated poverty into viable, mixed-income neighborhoods with access to key assets and services.

This NOFA Pre-Notice identifies key program elements and outlines the framework of the competition HUD will use to award Fiscal Year 2010 funding. The actual, forthcoming NOFA will contain the selection criteria for awarding Choice Neighborhoods grants and specific requirements that will apply to selected grantees. Potential applicants are advised to monitor HUD’s website for posting of the NOFA later this summer. In Fiscal Year 2010, approximately $62 million is available for implementation grants and approximately $3 million is available for planning grants. The Administration has requested an additional $250 million in Fiscal Year 2011 funding.

The NOFA Pre-Notice and other information on the Choice Neighborhoods program can be found at HUD’s Choice Neighborhoods webpage (www.hud.gov/cn). For questions on the NOFA Pre-Notice, please contact Ms. Caroline Clayton at Caroline.C.Clayton@hud.gov or (202) 402-5461.

For information on future Choice Neighborhoods funding, please see HUD’s FY2011 Budget webpage. For questions on the FY 2011 budget or the Choice Neighborhoods legislation, please contact Bernard Fulton at Bernard.b.fulton@hud.gov.

 

Our great colleagues at the National Association for State Community Services Programs (NASCSP), most notably Jeannie Chaffin and Arley Johnson, invited the Partnership to work with them on a position paper as to how Community Action already does and could moreso in the future have a pro-active role in any proposed new federal jobs legislation. Entitled “White Paper on Public Job Creation,” the paper cites successful jobs programs at Rural-Alaska Community Action and East Missouri Action Agency. Our paper also makes the case as to how the Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) can have a significant role in any new jobs bill. Arley Johnson, NASCSP’s Director of Government Relations, is sharing our paper with members of Congress and their key staff.

Click here to download a copy of the WHITE PAPER.

Also on the public policy front, Partnership President/CEO Don Mathis and Arley Johnson participated in the June 1st White House meeting “Economic Security and Opportunity for Vulnerable Communities: Building Partnerships to Fight Poverty.” The meeting lasted four hours and involved about 100 leading advocates, practitioners and researchers from across America. Photo from the meeting, from left to right, Don Mathis; Jared Bernstein, Chief Economist and Economic Policy Advisor to Vice President Biden; Arley Johnson; and Melissa Boteach, Manager, Half in Ten Campaign, Center for American Progress Action Fund.

Thanks to our great, energetic and diligent colleagues Sheila Crowley and Danna Fischer at the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), the Partnership joined with several other prestigious national organizations in requesting an increase in HUD funds for low and moderate income Americans. The Partnership is a member agency of the NLIHC.

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May 28, 2010

Hon. Daniel Inouye, Chairman
Committee on Appropriations
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510

Hon. Thad Cochran, Ranking Member
Committee on Appropriations
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510

Hon. David R. Obey, Chairman
Committee on Appropriations
United States House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

Hon. Jerry Lewis, Ranking Member
Committee on Appropriations
United States House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Chairman Inouye, Chairman Obey, Ranking Member Cochran, and Ranking Member Lewis:

We the undersigned are organizations concerned with the housing needs of low and moderate income Americans and the community development needs of our nation’s cities, suburbs, towns, and rural areas. As such, we write to urge you, as you consider FY 2011 Budget allocations, to provide adequate funding for Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) programs that address these needs. We believe a substantial funding increase is necessary to allow HUD to do its part to address crisis-level housing and community development problems faced by families and communities across the country.

The recent economic crisis has demonstrated to all Americans the importance of affordable housing and strong communities. HUD’s programs are key to preventing hardship and to continuing the recovery as they address the basic needs of our people. Failing to meet those needs further undermines the economy, particularly the housing and building sectors which in previous recessions have been crucial to recovery. Safe, decent, and affordable housing and more vibrant community infrastructure equate to improved child well-being, enhanced educational achievement, better health, lower crime, and more successful employment.
Rigorous research establishes that stable housing and strong neighborhoods are central to the well-being of families, seniors, and communities. Stable housing promotes educational achievement for children. It contributes to steady employment. It makes our communities stronger and safer. Housing and community development programs, administered by HUD, create jobs, fill vacant housing units, expand local tax bases, and leverage significant private investment in communities.

While Congress has recently made important progress in addressing the serious deterioration in HUD funding that had occurred in the previous several years, the unmet need for these programs remains substantial. Homelessness is expanding across the country and the number of Americans who receive rent subsidies remains stuck at approximately one-fourth of those eligible. The stock of housing affordable to the most vulnerable populations continues to deteriorate.

Shortages of federal funding for the building blocks of community development and affordable housing threaten the future sustainability of many communities and deter critically needed private-sector investment. Congress must maintain a serious effort to build these important resources. We urge you to provide an allocation to the T-HUD subcommittee that will allow for a substantially larger HUD budget. While we understand Congress is seeking to scale back discretionary spending, insufficient funding for housing and community development programs will cause more people to lose their jobs, make additional poor families struggle to pay their rent, and increase homelessness.

We hope that you will call on any or all of us to work with you to support this request, and we look forward to a day in the near future when HUD once again has the resources to do its full part to solve the housing and development problems of our nation’s communities.

Sincerely yours,

American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging
Community Action Partnership
Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities Housing Task Force
Corporation for Supportive Housing
Council of Large Public Housing Authorities
Council of State Community Development Agencies
Enterprise Community Partners
Habitat for Humanity International
Housing Assistance Council
Jewish Council for Public Affairs
Local Initiatives Support Corporation
Lutheran Services in America
National AIDS Housing Coalition
National Alliance on Mental Illness
National Alliance to End Homelessness
National American Indian Housing Council
National Association of Affordable Housing Lenders
National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials
National Center for Healthy Housing
National Community Development Association
National Council of State Housing Agencies
National Low Income Housing Coalition
National Housing Conference
National Housing Trust
National Policy and Advocacy Council on Homelessness
NETWORK, A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby
Public Housing Authorities Directors Association
Rural Community Assistance Program, Inc.
Stewards of Affordable Housing for the Future
The Arc of the United States
Travelers Aid International
United Cerebral Palsy

Mutual of America, a longstanding corporate supporter of the Partnership, is sponsoring the updating and revising of the “Dictionary of Community Economic Development Terms,” a highly-regarded resource produced by the California Community Economic Development Association (CCEDA). CCEDA is the core partner agency on our three-year CED grant from the federal Office of Community Services in the Administration for Children and Families, Department of Health and Human Services. We expect to have this great publication available at our national convention in Boston, August 31-September 2nd.

 

Shown in the photo, from left: Jim Ward, Senior Field Vice President Mutual of America;
Stacy Flowers, the Partnership’s director of Community Economic Development, and Don Mathis.

At this week’s White House meeting, ‘Economic Opportunity and Security for Vulnerable Populations,” Frank DiGiammarino, Deputy Coordinator for Recovery Act Implementation, emphasized the importance of telling our ARRA success stories, in terms of jobs created, energy saved, and people and families helped toward economic security. Thanks to Gale Hennessy, CCAP (Certified Community Action Professional and Executive Director at Southern New Hampshire Services in Manchester, here’s another great story that appeared in the Nashua Telegraph.

Some qualify for federal energy-efficient upgrades
By ALBERT McKEON Staff Writer

HUDSON – Phil Prescott feels like he won the lottery. He didn’t play Powerball, though. Prescott won the economic stimulus lottery. During several days last week, a crew of workers have poked and prodded his house with all manner of materials and tools to make the structure more energy efficient.

It was expected that by the time they were finished – they were expected to be done May 7 – Prescott’s 6 Rega St. home would be ready to keep cool in summer and retain heat in winter – reducing his energy bills at a time when he needs money most.

Last year, not long after losing his job as a carpenter, Prescott applied for low-income housing weatherization, a program funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
He had little confidence in his application, figuring other people were more strapped for cash.

But Prescott’s house qualified for about $5,000 worth of work. After stressing about paying his oil bill last winter, Prescott can now exhale with relief.

“It’s like winning a lottery. Considering everything going on in my life right now, it’s huge,” Prescott said in his kitchen Thursday morning as workers bustled around him.

He has President Obama and Congress to thank for it. Retrofitting homes to reduce energy usage is one of the more tangible aspects of the $787 billion federal economic stimulus package.

He can also thank Southern New Hampshire Services, one of seven agencies overseeing the distribution of $23 million in economic stimulus money that the state received for energy retrofitting work.

Prescott’s home is one of 738 in Hillsborough County that Southern New Hampshire Services will audit for energy efficiency. With $5.4 million of the $23 million, SNHS hires the proper contractors to plug holes, install new insulation, and clean and repair furnaces, among other tasks.

SNHS started overseeing the projects last year and have commenced in earnest this spring, with work slated to wrap up next year.

Ryan Clouthier and Adam Foley – weatherization director and energy auditor, respectively, for SNHS – got their clothes dirty Thursday as they pitched in at Prescott’s house.

Foley tacked a canvas blower door, equipped with a fan at the bottom, in place of Prescott’s exterior kitchen door for an air test. The fan drew out air so that Clouthier could look for heat loss with a thermal imaging camera.

Clouthier sought black spots on the monitor, an indication that air was escaping the house. “We want it tight, but you have to maintain a proper air quality exchange,” he said.

The first test days earlier had shown a 3,670-cubic-foot-per-minute rate. At project’s end, the crew wanted it reduced to around 1,660 CFM.

(An air flow test requires that every door and window be shut. For the test Thursday, a bedroom window was open to allow for a tube to carry cellulose for insulation in the attic. Clouthier couldn’t get an accurate reading, but he had a rough idea that the 3,670 CFM rate had dropped.)

A homeowner can reduce home heating fuel usage by 20 to 30 percent after a proper retrofitting, Clouthier said.To help Prescott achieve that savings, all sorts of work was to be done.The biggest job was installing thicker, cellulose-packed insulation, replacing the old, thin material that had allowed the build up of icicles on Prescott’s roof, a sign that heat was escaping in winter.

Stan Waslik of Masco Contractor Services – one of the companies hired for the retrofitting – had the tough task of crawling around Prescott’s attic space with the cellulose tube to lessen the escape of air. Open basement sills were also packed with insulation, and pipes that carry hot water were wrapped with rubber.
Masco employee Bryce Clark affixed new weather stripping to the front door. And a metal dryer pipe replaced a plastic flex tube.

SNHS will replace a burner if necessary, but like Prescott’s unit, they usually need only maintenance, Clouthier said. More weatherization money from the stimulus package is coming to New Hampshire, only to Nashua, Berlin and Plymouth. With this program, businesses and homeowners can apply for a piece of a $10 million pie for large-scale retrofitting. The project will include a loan fund to finance residential retrofits at favorable rates, U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen’s office said.

For Prescott, the low-income retrofitting plan was the best news he has had in nearly two years.
A carpenter for a Vermont company that worked on high-end commercial and residential projects, Prescott learned he had lost his job while working on a new wing at Southern New Hampshire Medical Center in Nashua. The company had no more lucrative contracts, he said.

His wife, an accountant, has been working two jobs while Prescott has searched for work to no avail.
“I need it,” he said of the weatherization work. “Until I get on my feet again, I’ll take it.”

Special thanks to Lois Carson, CCAP, Executive Director, and Richard Lemire, Senior Public Information Specialist at the Community Action Partnership of Riverside County, California for sharing this story of their success with Weatherization as carried by Black Voices News. Such great publicity in Riverside is noteworthy as Riverside Mayor Ron Loveridge is President of the National League of Cities and CAP Riverside advocate Jamil Dada is the Chairman of the National Association of Workforce Boards.

CAP Riverside took the CAPmobile to Green Valley Street in Riverside where they
weatherized two homes and recruited potential customers

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American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Leads to
Free Weatherization for Riverside
Thursday, May 27, 2010

By Linda Ong

In February of 2009, Congress passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 with the goals of increasing economic activity, creating new job opportunities, and developing greater levels of accountability and transparency in government spending. As a result, ARRA has helped to stimulate growth within the U.S. and has helped to improve the lives of many Americans, including citizens within Riverside County.

On Wednesday, May 19th, the Community Action Partnership of Riverside County (CAP Riverside) conducted weatherization demonstrations for two residential properties along Hillside Avenue. Under the Recovery Act, CAP Riverside has received funding for the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP), which weatherizes the homes of qualified Riverside residents at no charge.

Low-income families can apply for and qualify to weatherize their home or apartment through the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), which aims to makes residences more energy efficient to permanently reduce energy bills. Under LIHEAP, each residence can use up to $6500 to cover the total expenses for weatherization. WAP primarily focuses to improve the houses of families in need, using the latest technologies in the housing industry. From installing brand-new air conditioning units and energy-efficient refrigerators, to caulking broken glass and filling air leak holes, CAP Riverside fixes, replaces, and installs it all.
“We first go through an assessment of a house to see what’s wrong,” said Godwin Aimua, Energy Program Manager at CAP Riverside. “Then we decide what needs to be done.” CAP weatherizes an average of 2.5 houses a day, depending on the specific needs of each residence.

“We also educate people on Assistance Program (WAP), which weatherizes the homes of qualified Riverside residents at no charge.

Low-income families can apply for and qualify to weatherize their home or apartment through the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), which aims to makes residences more energy efficient to permanently reduce energy bills. Under LIHEAP, each residence can use up to $6500 to cover the total expenses for weatherization. WAP primarily focuses to improve the houses of families in need, using the latest technologies in the housing industry. From installing brand-new air conditioning units and energy-efficient refrigerators, to caulking broken glass and filling air leak holes, CAP Riverside fixes, replaces, and installs it all.
“We first go through an assessment of a house to see what’s wrong,” said Godwin Aimua, Energy Program Manager at CAP Riverside. “Then we decide what needs to be done.” CAP weatherizes an average of 2.5 houses a day, depending on the specific needs of each residence.

“We also educate people on how to save money and personal finances in addition to energy saving tips and weatherization,” said Aimua. CAP Riverside also offers private consultations for interested WAP candidates and its other programs in permanent and mobile offices.

To apply for weatherization or for further information about ARRA’s Weatherization Assistance Program, visit http://www.capriverside.org/opencms/index.html or call (951) 955-4900. The Recovery Act will fund the LIHEAP until 2012.

 

ROCKY MOUNT, Va. - Creating jobs, helping small businesses and keeping families in their homes - those are just a few of the ways that federal economic stimulus funds have aided communities in Virginia, according to Jon Morris. He's executive director for STEP, Inc., a community action agency in Franklin and Patrick counties. The group has issued a new report tracking the stimulus money it received that shows an unexpected boost for countless others during the recession.

In addition to creating 34 jobs within his agency, Morris says they were able to expand programs, creating a ripple effect in the communities they serve.

"Just last year, we spent well over a half-million dollars just in subcontractors. Most of that was through our weatherization program. That's a significant amount of money for our local HVAC companies, our roofers, our electrical companies."

In 2009, Morris says his agency pumped more than $1 million into Virginia's economy by hiring local businesses for construction and renovation jobs, as well as purchasing local products.

In addition, Morris says his group was able to share funds with some nonprofit groups in the area hit especially hard by the recession.

"We were able to award $50,000 dollars to a local organization here called Helping Hands. We awarded $25,000 dollars to the Stepping Stones Ministry, which operates a soup kitchen."

In all, Step, Inc. awarded more than $111,000 dollars to local nonprofits, according to Morris.
The report, "IMPACT 2010: How STEP's unique programs do more than help those in need," is available online at www.stepincva.com.

 

Pay tribute to Community Action with an ad in the 2010 Annual Convention program book!

Celebrate your role in America’s poverty fighting network and
Community Action: The Power of Partnerships by sending special greetings to
your colleagues, honoring your CAA's partners, and highlighting the unique history of your CAA.

Ad deadline is July 12. Click here for the ad registration form and prices.

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Convention Discount Early Bird Rates End on June 18!

To view or download the 2010 Annual Convention Brochure or the Registration form, click here. Hotel rooms are selling quickly at the Boston Marriott Copley Place. Click here to reserve online and assure your reservation is confirmed at the convention rate of $189.00 single or double.