2000 Best Practice Awards
Program and Geographical Winners: Pennsylvania
Best Practice: Carlisles Downtown Hotel
Attractive Hotel Development Project Creates
Employment in Downtown Carlisle
Carlisle.
In a joint effort to develop a vacant lot and bring new investment to downtown
Carlisle, Pennsylvania, the city entered into public and private partnerships
to develop an attractive 105-room, franchised hotel and conference center.
The hotel, which opened in August 1999, has five meeting rooms and banquet
rooms, a small restaurant, bar and garage. The purpose of the project was
to develop a vacant lot, provide amenities to businesses, develop the downtown
as a cultural and educational center, and create jobs. Designed to be compatible
with the surrounding 19th century buildings in the area, the hotel is an
attractive feature. With an occupancy rate of more than 60 percent, the
hotel is consistently meeting the areas need for upscale accommodations.
The hotels restaurant adds to the areas reputation as a center
for fine dining. Located near the Carlisle Regional Performing Arts Center,
the hotel attracts patrons before and after performances. A complex financing
package using private, local, state and federal resources was key to the
success of this project and public investment was necessary to attract private
investors to the downtown area. The hotel brought 52 jobs to Carlisle, 72
percent of which provide employment to low- and moderate-income persons.
Contact: Christopher Gulotta, Phone: (717)
249-0789
Tracking number: 2405
Winning Category: Geographical
Best Practice: Lead-Based Paint Hazard Control
Strategy
Lead Safe Strategy Renovates High-Risk
Housing and Reduces Health Risks for Children
Harrisburg.
Through the Lead-Based Paint Hazard Control Strategy, lead hazard control
has been integrated into all rehabilitation and code enforcement activities
in the city of Harrisburg. The goals of the strategy are to reduce lead
hazards in occupied homes and provide new lead-safe housing through rehabilitation
of vacant properties, reduce health risks to children under age six who
live in high-risk housing and increase public awareness of lead hazards.
The Department of Building and Housing Development and the Childhood Lead
Poisoning Prevention Program are coordinating citywide screening efforts
targeted at high-risk census tracts and offering lead safety educational
programs at daycare centers. To prevent childhood lead poisoning, the city
is also reaching out to property owners to inform them about lead hazards
and interim controls. The city operates two single-family housing rehabilitation
programs that provide direct assistance for the removal of lead hazards
in residential properties; 28 units are under development and 30 more units
are planned. The city uses the Lead Hazard Control Grant to fund tuition
for contractor and worker training and certification. So far, 44 contractors
and personnel have participated in training about lead hazard reduction
techniques and abatement. To date, 73 single-family units have been renovated
for lead safety and the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program routinely
conducts nine educational programs each year, reaching more than 600 parents
and children.
Contact: Angela Smith, Phone: (717) 255-6428
Tracking number: 2235
Winning Category: Program (Office of Lead Hazard Control)
Best Practice: Pennsylvania Inter-Agency Task Force
on Civil Tension Web Site for Doubling Enforcement
Database Web Site Tracks Housing-related
Hate Crimes for Pennsylvania Inter-Agency Task Force on Civil Tension
Harrisburg.
Building on the success of an information-gathering initiative on housing-related
hate crimes in 1999, the Pennsylvania Inter-Agency Task Force on Civil Tension
Web Site for Doubling Enforcement will expand the scope of its effort and
give victims greater and faster access to assistance in reporting and prosecuting
hate crimes. The Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission and the Inter-Agency
Task Force on Civil Tension monitors incidences of bias and civil tension
and employed a computer technology specialist to develop a web site and
database to log and track this information. Using the web site, users can
obtain information about hate crimes and victims can quickly and easily
file complaints of discrimination on housing-related issues. The database
will be used to identify patterns and predict potential trouble spots.
Contact: Ray Cartwright, Phone: (717) 783-8274
Tracking number: 550
Winning Category: Program (Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity)
Best Practice: HOPE Program with Automated System
Automated Computer System Streamlining
Operations of HOPE Program
McKeesport.
Since its 1983 inception, the Home Ownership Protective Effort (HOPE) mortgage
default program has assisted more than 2,000 families avoid foreclosure.
Housing Opportunities, Inc., based in McKeesport, PA, operates the HOPE
program through housing agencies in several states, including Pennsylvania,
Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. The HOPE mortgage default program is replicated
by housing counseling agencies under a subcontract agreement. With a new
computer-based program, HOPE will be automated and information transferred
via the Internet between participating agencies and housing opportunities.
Available free to participating housing counseling agencies, the automated
program enhances an agencys capability to effectively deliver counseling
services by streamlining administration, information exchange and tracking;
reducing the costs and hassles of paper-based transactions and moving the
agency toward self-sufficiency.
Contact: James Butler, Phone: (412) 664-1590
Ext. 212
Tracking number: 2800
Winning Category: Geographical and Program (Single Family Housing)
Best Practice: Fairview/Fairmont Outreach Center
Voluntary Partnerships and Churches Lend
On-site Support Enriching a Pennsylvania Community
Meadville.
Two Pittsburgh area housing development owners have taken a holistic approach
to addressing the needs of residents by creating a unique interfaith partnershipthe
Fairview/Fairmont Outreach Center. Using the help of several local churches,
the Center works to improve and enrich the lives of its residents. The purpose
of the partnership is to provide on-site social workers to assist residents
of all ages in dealing with everyday problems. The Center assists residents
in identifying resources and services that can help them pursue educational
opportunities, find employment, and improve basic life skills. Dedicated
on-site staff members provide tenants with consistent casework/case management
services. The Center aggressively recruits new partners to satisfy the changing
needs of its residents. Under a new collaborative project with the local
welfare office, the Center has orchestrated a long-term computer education
project to train adults and youth on how to operate computers and common
software applications. Having solicited and received donations of equipment
and networking services from local schools and a partnership with Penn State,
the Center created one of the most effective Neighborhood Network sites
in western Pennsylvania.
Contact: Karen Fillingame, Phone: (814) 336-3516
Tracking number: 1665
Winning Category: Program (Community Builders)
Best Practice: Service Coordinator Network
Housing Service Coordinators Receive Training
and Share Ideas through the Network
North Braddock. The Department of Housing and Urban Developments (HUD)
Service Coordinator Program requires that service coordinators earn continuing
education credits. Few resources exist for obtaining such training in Pennsylvania.
To address this problem, the Pittsburgh HUD office developed the Service
Coordinator Network to help schedule training sessions for the service coordinators
of HUD properties in western Pennsylvania and elderly properties managed
by the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency. The Network holds monthly meetings
at various housing developments, offering formal training sessions every
two months and opportunities for networking each month in between. As a
result of the Network, service coordinators are better trained, provide
better services to residents, share valuable information and resources,
and are helping to increase the level of trust residents have in HUD programs.
Contact: Phyllis Chaffin, Phone: (412) 271-7132
Tracking number: 372
Winning Category:Program (Multifamily Housing)
Best Practice: Skills for Life Program
Skills for Life Program Equips Young Teens
with Education and Employment Opportunities
Philadelphia.
The Philadelphia Housing Authority launched this aggressive new program
to connect teenagers to the world of work and education necessary to achieve
career success. Skills for Life targets 200 8th grade students residing
in public housingat the time in their life when they are at highest
risk of dropping outwith the goal of equipping students with the necessary
academic and social skills to graduate from high school and choose positive
college or career options. The program provides academic and social support,
mentoring, family support, career counseling, and other services five days
a week, year round, in neighborhood community-based organizations falling
under the umbrella of the Greater Philadelphia Federation of Settlements.
The IBM Corporation has committed to donate 100 personal computers to the
program, to be placed in participant homes. The program is the first of
its kind, with public and private donations used to employ, educate, and
mentor youth from high school until graduation. It is made possible by a
$512,000 grant from the Workforce Development Corporation/Philadelphia Youth
Network with Workforce Investment Act funds.
Contact: Sylvia Gray, Phone: (215) 684-4107
Tracking number: 1224
Winning Category: Program (Public and Indian Housing)
Best Practice: University of Pennsylvania Center
for Community Partnerships
University of Pennsylvania Serves as a
Catalyst for Community Development Partnerships
Philadelphia.
Consistent with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) policy
encouraging institutions of higher education to interact with surrounding
communities, the University of Pennsylvania Center for Community Partnerships
serves as the cornerstone for creative collaborations between the university
and the community of West Philadelphia. The center has helped improve academic
performance in a public school system that has suffered from inadequate
funding and poor self-image. The Program for the Study of Organized Religion
and Social Work at Penns School of Social Work provides the research
foundation and baseline information for this program. Interns devise model
programs in local schools and churches, engaging them in collaborative work
on a variety of topics, such as The Creation of a Web-based Community Resource
Guide and New Dimensions Cultural Arts Academy for Boys and Girls: Nurturing
Students to Be Their Best. By cultivating relationships between the faith
community and local schools, the center has empowered both to develop activities
that better serve the community.
Contact: Ira Harkavy, Phone: (215) 898-5351
Tracking Number: 762
Winning Category: Program (Policy Development and Research)
Best Practice: Fair Housing Partnership of Greater
Pittsburgh, Inc. Procedures Manual
Fair Housing Procedures Manual Facilitates
Partnerships and Reform in Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh.
The Fair Housing Partnership of Greater Pittsburgh, Inc., a nonprofit fair
housing organization, developed a procedures manual to facilitate the partnerships
mission to promote fair housing in the greater Pittsburgh area through collaborative
undertakings in education, monitoring and research, legislative reform,
testing and enforcement, and community involvement. By outlining a process
to organize management of staff and resources, the procedures manual facilitates
cooperation, communication and collaboration among many stakeholders, including
HUD, Allegheny County, the Pittsburgh Human Relations Commission and the
Pennsylvania Human Rights Commission. The procedures manual provides long-term
consistency and direction in procedures and operations that transcends any
staffing changes and ultimately improves the likelihood of success in the
fight for fair housing. Operating the only fair housing testing program
in western Pennsylvania, the partnership has recruited 30 rental, sales
and insurance testers; published eight issues of its fair housing newsletter;
conducted 24 fair housing workshops; and participated in a bimonthly fair
housing radio talk show.
Contact: Richard Payne, Phone: (412) 355-3167
Tracking number: 705
Winning Category: Program (Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity)
Best Practice: Housing Integrity Program
Income Investigations Recovers Monetary
Losses for Pittsburgh Housing Authority
Pittsburgh. Recognizing a need to crack down
on rent fraud, the City of Pittsburgh Housing Authority established the
Housing Integrity Program (HIP) to investigate abuse of HUDs rental
assistance programs. Specifically, the program matches tenant-reported income
data to Internal Revenue Service, Social Security and state wage data to
verify accurate income reporting. These investigations, by serving as a
means for detecting and deterring fraudulent income reporting, may lead
to the recovery of underpaid rent funds and/or result in criminal or civil
actions. In one twelve month period the amount of excess rental assistance
discovered by HIP was $386,000. Working in collaboration with the Allegheny
County Housing Authority, Pittsburghs HIP investigated 369 cases in
two years, and this joint venture was so successful that the county started
its own housing integrity program.
Contact: Stanley Lowe, Phone: (412) 471-2275
Tracking number: 2336
Winning Category: Program (Real Estate Assessment Center)
Best Practice: Miryams
Safe Haven Shelter Treats Mentally Ill
Homeless Women
Pittsburgh.
Mentally ill homeless women in Pittsburgh can find shelter and personal
assistance at Miryams. Housed in two buildings and connected by an
enclosed passageway, Miryams offers transitional housing and Next
Step and After Care Programs. The facility has four safe haven and 20 transitional
housing beds on-site. The program also offers a day shelter/treatment program
for clients who typically reside on the streets or in local emergency shelter
facilities. These programs incorporate financial resources from four HUD
programs and one state-funded program to efficiently and comprehensively
operate the Miryams facility. Miryams offers chronically mentally
ill homeless women the opportunity to rebuild their lives and work toward
self-sufficiency. Over the past year, a total of 63 women with mental illness
have been served.
Contact: Mary Kathleen Scully, Phone: (412)
281-4645
Tracking number: 1254
Winning Category: Geographic
Best Practice: Quinby Street Sub-Station/Service
Center
Quinby Street Neighborhood Partnerships
Develop Community-based Programs Educating Youth and Reducing Heavy Crime
Sharon.
The city of Sharon, in partnership with the Mercer County Housing Authority
and local organizations, is working to reduce crime, promote community stability
and improve the lives of the residents of the Quinby Street neighborhood.
The Housing Authority donated a vacant building and funded structural renovations
to convert the building into an education community center. Partnerships
with local schools and community groups provided books, computers, learning
games, volunteer tutors and library staff. Other partners provide health
education programs, inoculations, and job training and counseling. The latest
component in this innovative partnership is the recent purchase of a police
vehicle for the Quinby Street Sub-Station/Service Center. The city established
a "Buy-A-Fender" campaign and sold four fenders for $5,000 eachenough
to cover the cost of the vehicle. Local organizations and businesses supporting
the partnership have their names painted on the fenders. The partnership
is credited with improving the delivery of social and community services
to residents in a neighborhood that previously lacked the resources. A testament
to the improved situation in Sharon is that residents feel comfortable allowing
children to go trick-or-treating on Halloween for the first time in 10 years.
Contact: Robert Price, Phone: (724) 983-3220
Tracking number: 1768
Winning Category: Program (Community Builders)
Best Practice: Maximize the Use of Comprehensive
Fair Housing Education and Outreach
Widespread Outreach Effort Spreads the
Word on Fair Housing in Delaware County, PA
Swarthmore.
The Fair Housing Council of Suburban Philadelphia has taken the fight for
fair housing "to the streets," aggressively identifying new forums
through which to spread the fair housing message to the real estate industry,
public officials, building owners and the public. The intent of this initiative
is to create a referral network that will enable fair housing advocacy groups
and others to better inform clients of their rights and the resources available
to them should they ever experience discrimination. The council provides
training for employees of social service agencies serving women, low-income
families, persons with disabilities, and minorities. The council offers
continuing education opportunities for realtors, apartment managers, and
independent landlords and provides training and technical assistance to
zoning boards to familiarize them with the requirements of the Fair Housing
Act and instruct them on how to comply. Over the past year, the council
has trained 103 housing counselors. Through its technical newsletterThe
Delaware County Fair Housing Newsthe council uses printed media to
disseminate current information on fair housing issues to more than 1,100
readers in Delaware County. Through its comprehensive, grassroots approach
to fair housing education, the council has empowered thousands of individuals
struggling to gain access to quality housing.
Contact: James Berry, Phone: (610) 604-4411
Tracking number: 753
Winning Category: Program (Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity)
Best Practice: Reading Buddies
Symbiotic Relationships Form through the
Reading Buddies Program
Philadelphia. In Philadelphia, through an innovative mentoring program called
Reading Buddies, elderly volunteers are helping inner-city youth learn to
read. HUD-subsidized housing communities are partnering with local churches,
schools and the community to organize this low-cost, easily replicable volunteer
program that matches up elderly residents with children from the Philadelphia
school district. With more than 100 active reading buddies from four elderly
housing facilities, and two more communities planning to join, the Reading
Buddies program is flourishing. Reading buddies gather once a week for an
hour-long session that takes place during the school day at the community
rooms in the Reading Buddys housing facilities. Weekly sessions include
reading, tutoring, playing games, sharing hobbies and, most importantly,
mentoring and bonding. The sessions are informal, and activities are geared
to the interests of the residents and the children. Some of the children
come from dysfunctional families, and the Reading Buddies program provides
an opportunity for those children to have one hour of uninterrupted time
with a caring adult.
Contact: Jane Lahage, Phone: (610) 260-1122
Tracking number: 152
Winning Category: Program (Multifamily Housing)
Best Practice: Saint James Manor
Saint James Manor Houses and Provides Self-sufficiency
Services for Homeless Victims
Scranton.
With only 14 units of transitional housing available for homeless individuals
with special needs in Lackawanna County, the county ran out of available
space. A long-vacant building in Scrantoncentral to a day shelter,
soup kitchen and emergency shelterfit the bill for location and availability
for renovation. Several local, county and state agencies and nonprofit organizations
contributed resources to renovate the Saint James Manor into a 16-unit furnished
transitional housing facility for individuals and families with special
needs, including homeless veterans, chronic mentally ill individuals and
homeless individuals who completed substance abuse treatment programs. These
new units are available to clients for up to 24 months. Saint James Manor
provides intensive case management services using a primary care approach.
Among the services available at the facility are life skills training, vocational
training, employment assistance, and mental health and drug and alcohol
counseling. During the first year of operation, 62 percent of the participants
remained in the program for one year, 81 percent maintained employment,
85 percent contributed to rental and utility payments, and 79 percent received
drug and alcohol/mental health/HIV/AIDS services.
Contact: Stephen Nocilla, Phone: (570) 207-2283
Tracking number: 218
Winning Category: Program (Community Planning and Development)
Best Practice: Universal Companies
Myriad of Non-Profit Organizations Revitalize
South Central Philadelphia
Philadelphia.
Universal Companies is a consortium of nonprofit organizations that takes
a holistic approach to community revitalization in promoting opportunities
for positive community change through real estate development and workforce
development and education in South Central Philadelphia. Its efforts to
improve the physical landscape of the community are anchored by a commitment
to rebuild the hope, confidence and spirit of the people who live there.
Universal Companies provides quality, affordable housing, education for
children and adults, employment opportunities and economic development,
including scores of well-designed and maintained new and rehabilitated townhouses,
a charter school, a new small business support center and a six-story workforce
development center. In South Central Philadelphia, Universal Companies is
credited for much of the community renewal. Since 1993, Universal Companies
has developed more than 120 housing units (rental and homeownership) and
75,000 square feet of commercial space and operates four programs at a cost
of more than $22 million.
Contact: Abdur-Rahim Islam, Phone: (215) 732-6518
Tracking number: 2960
Winning Category: Geographical and Program (Community Builders)
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