2000 Best Practice Awards
Program and Geographical Winners: Tennessee
Best Practice: Sunshine's Storytime
Low-Cost Weekly Childrens 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 Blues 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 Knoxvilles 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 programs 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 Centers 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)
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