2000 Best Practice Awards

Best Practice: Sunshine's Storytime

Low-Cost Weekly Children’s Program Educates and Motivates

Dayton. Sunshine's Storytime is a weekly program for children age eight and younger that incorporates story reading and an activity related to the story, such as arts and crafts, to promote literacy and interest in arts and music. Topics are selected to encourage community awareness and character education traits, such as honesty, respect and responsibility. The program strives to provide a sense of belonging and enhanced self-esteem for the participants and promotes and rewards positive behavior. Sunshine's Storytime provides an extension to preschool and school age basic education, enhancing skills such as name, number, and alphabet recognition, counting skills, and listening and writing skills. Because the program is held each week in the computer lab at Dayton Housing Authority, computer literacy programs such as JumpStart, Dr. Seuss ABC's, and Blue’s Clues are included in the activities. The program also encourages parental involvement. Sunshine's Storytime is a low-cost program that is both fun for the children and educational. Private businesses and nonprofits have donated supplies, and guest speakers are arranged through the community.

Contact: Dawn Wild, Phone: (423) 775-1871
Tracking Number: 2006
Winning Category: Program (Public and Indian Housing)

Best Practice: Eastern Eight

Organization Helps Increase Affordable Housing Supply in Area Counties

Johnson City. Eastern Eight is a community development corporation representing eight counties in northeastern Tennessee. Its mission is to increase the supply of affordable housing in these eight counties, which previously had few defined organizations to help low- and moderate-income individuals find decent, safe, sanitary and affordable housing. The partnership was formed by local nonprofits and other interested parties following a Homeownership Partnership workshop in Johnson City in September 1996. A part-time executive director will become full time this fall. Eastern Eight has held meetings with HUD and Rural Housing to discuss the agencies’ housing and community development programs and how Eastern Eight can benefit from them. The partnership recently received $175,000 in Home Investment Partnership funds to provide six units of affordable housing in Elizabethton. Eastern Eight is also applying for a HUD Rural Development grant to establish a technical assistance branch to help other nonprofits develop low- and moderate-income housing.

Contact: Steve Seifried, Phone: (423) 282-4145
Tracking Number: 2528
Winning Category: Program (Community Planning and Development)

Best Practice: Career Investment Academy

Academy Promotes Self-Sufficiency and Job Placement Through Classes and Internships

Knoxville. The Career Investment Academy was developed by Knoxville’s Community Development Corporation to create opportunities for self-sufficiency for residents, promote jobs in the local workforce and restore community trust in the welfare and public housing systems. Begun in 1997 under an Economic Development and Supportive Services grant, the program’s mission is to provide a unique learning environment in which adults can acquire life and job skills, education, job training, work experience and job placement under one umbrella, with additional self-sufficiency training and three-year case management follow-up. Residents spend 35 to 40 hours each week in a combination of class and work, receiving a minimum of 150 hours each of basic education/computer training, personal and professional development training, and participating in a paid internship. After an initial three-month training and completion of the internship, students receive job placement assistance. To date, 266 residents have enrolled and participated in the academy; 36 participants have graduated from the program, of which 25 have gained employment. The goal of the academy is to serve 450 residents in the next three years.

Contact: Kara R. Roach, Phone: (865) 594-8647
Tracking Number: 609
Winning Category: Geographical

Best Practice: Community Partnership Center (CPC) Participatory Development Program (PDP)

Program Helps Organizations Maximize Community Participation and Capacity Building

Knoxville. The Community Partnership Center’s Participatory Development Program works with university faculty and students, state and federal agencies, nonprofit organizations and community groups to develop collaborative planning, development or research processes that maximize community participation and capacity building. The program works locally in Knoxville, as well as regionally and nationally, through direct coordination and facilitation of community-led development projects or through training workshops, publications and technical assistance. It is funded by grants from HUD and the Ford Foundation. Participatory planning and development efforts, The Learning Team Model and The Planning Team Model, are organized around two models for promoting public participation in decision-making processes. Both approaches stress partnerships and collaborative decision-making across diverse stakeholder groups, while building participant capacity and shared plans. The models will be the focus of several local and national training workshops. They are the foundation of technical assistance to communities, organizations or practitioners interested in promoting public participation and shared decision-making. In the past year, the program has provided technical assistance to approximately 40 local, national and international organizations. A national workshop on best practices for promoting public participation in community development will be held in November 2000.

Contact: Tony A. Hebert, Phone: (865) 974-4562
Tracking Number: 1579
Winning Category: Program (Policy Development and Research)

Best Practice: Vollintine Evergreen Community Association

Association Takes Action to Maintain Residential Quality of Historic Neighborhood

Memphis. The Vollintine Evergreen Community Association is a racially and ethnically diverse organization dedicated to maintaining the residential quality of Vollintine-Evergreen, a historic neighborhood in Memphis, TN. In 1995 the association applied for and received grant funds from the PEW Charitable Trust in the amount of $975,000 to undertake widespread community revitalization, including the purchase of an abandoned railroad right-of-way that had become a dumping ground and security risk. The right-of-way was purchased in 1996 and renamed the V&E Greenline. PEW funds were used for signs and other improvements. State grants were used to create a master plan to guide the development of the V&E Greenline and to purchase a tractor and other equipment for drainage and debris removal. The V&E Greenline has benefited the entire neighborhood, dramatically reducing litter in the area and providing green space that residents can use for bike riding, playing and dog walking. The project has received extensive recognition from the media and state and local entities.

Contact: Marjorie A. George, Phone: (901) 544-4228
Tracking Number: 2721
Winning Category: Program (Single Family Housing)

Best Practice: Lane Garden Apartments

Quick Action and Community Involvement Help Relocate Displaced Public Housing Residents

Nashville. Through quick response, community education and partnership building, a HUD team and its community partners in Nashville, Tennessee relocated 186 very low-income families to better and safer affordable housing with minimal stress and cost to residents.

The residents of Lane Garden Apartments, a 212-unit Section 236 housing development, faced relocation when the owner notified them of its intention to prepay the FHA mortgage and opt out of the section 8 Program. Residents had only six months to relocate, and with a median family income of $6,000 a year application fees and security deposits, and moving household goods.

The local HUD staff quickly realized that timing was critical and that the incomes of the residents would leave many unable to negotiate the maze of relocation on their own. Aware of the difficulties of relocation and the obstacles posed by having no Federal relocation funds to rely on, the team turned to HUD partners and the community for assistance. Calling on the local housing authority, private landlords, community organizations, churches, charities, rental management agents, and government agencies, these key organizations participated in a briefing on the relocation problem and formed a community resource group to assist the Land Garden residents.

The resource group sought out the individuals and organizations that needed to be involved in the process. They also worked together. Landlords identified all available rental units and were asked to waive application fees for Lane Garden tenants; charities provided financial assistance for very needy residents; church congregations organized to provide transportation so residents could look for new places to live; and social service agencies streamlined their operations and procedures to allow residents to move before the deadline. The team also appealed to the non-profit owner and the proposed new owner of the property for funds to assist residents with their moves.

The resources group helped residents tackle the hurdles associated with moving on a case-by-case basis. Holding office hours on site and maintaining consisted availability provided residents with easier access to help and information. The constant communication between residents and staff enabled the resource group to address individual problems as they arose.

Progress reports by the resource group kept issues of immediate importance in the forefront and shared the knowledge needed to find solutions to problems of relocation. Having diverse parties involved promoted cooperation. For example, having the new landlords regularly attend meetings and work with the Housing Authority, who inspected potential units and are responsible for issuing voucher, kept each side informed of the necessary processes and encouraged them to work together.

Acting together, HUD and its community partners issued vouchers, found suitable housing, and physically moved 186 families on schedule. Based on costs paid to relocation contractors for similar services, the service would have cost approximately $465.000 to perform had the community not stepped in to make it happen.

Contact: H. Louise Searles, Phone (615) 736-5786 Ext. 2426
Tracking Number 2328
Winning Category: Geographical and Program (Community Builders)

Content Archived: April 20, 2011