2000 Best Practice Awards

2000-96 Housing Alliance of Springfield

The City of Springfield, IL, Department of Community Relations and the University of Illinois at Springfield COPC administrator collaborated to promote an alliance of area agencies and organizations that provide training for first-time homebuyers. Through this collaboration, nearly a dozen organizations meet on a regular basis and share information about their programs, eligibility requirements and other topics specific to the process of purchasing and maintaining a home. The members of HAS represent a variety of organizations that provide educational information, training seminars, and mentoring as required to first time homebuyers.

2000-842Communities in Schools Springfield

Concerned parents and educators organized to attempt to create a stay-in-school/after school initiative based upon the use of volunteers. The local Springfield HUD Community Builder introduced the group to the system and assistance available through the CIS program. By working together, the group was able to elicit support from the school district superintendent, various agency providers, and parent/volunteers to become a part of the national CIS network. The first individual project was to organize a volunteer support center to act as a clearinghouse for all volunteer activities concerning local high schools, and eventually all district schools.

2000-1322 Lead-SAFE 2000

This Childhood Lead-Based Paint Hazard Control Program is a comprehensive, general, and standardized lead program with extensive community outreach. It was developed with multiple partners, as well as multiple funding sources, and is based on research of other lead programs, the needs of the community and county, Title X, and how other housing programs fit into this.

2000-1384 Madison County Continuum of Care Planning

Created a new, monthly, ongoing, annual planning process that included all of the community and involved Southern Illinois University professors as facilitators.

The County did not submit a plan or application in the previous year due to a lack of planning and needed to get organized. They had received a limited amount of homeless funding in just one of the previous four years. There was a need for additional homeless units in the County and a need for a network and a continuum that could assist the homeless in the County.

2000-1425 Decatur NHDC CHDO New Homes

The Neighborhood Housing Development Corporation (NHDC) of Decatur, IL. is a local CHDO that has received HUD HOME funds from the City of Decatur. They have retained a local builder to construct 7 new affordable homes on the northside of the city. This is the first new housing construction by a local nonprofit

2000-1611St. Teresa Family Living Center

CDBG Operations Corporation has created a comprehensive transitional housing facility for homeless families. CDBG Operations has renovated the former St. Teresa High School at a cost of approximately $1.4 million. The structure contains transitional apartments for 14 families, along with group space, offices and a future daycare center. The Family Living Center is located in East St. Louis Enterprise Community at 510 North 25th Street in East St. Louis, Illinois. It is a three-story, handicap-accessible, brick building. The facility has 14 apartment-style units with separate living room and kitchen area. Twelve units have 2 bedrooms and two units have 3 bedrooms. The Family Living Center will provide residents with 18-24 months of transitional housing and supportive services that will enhance the families’ ability to secure permanent housing and become self-sufficient. At capacity, the facility can house 88 residents with an average of 60 clients per month.

2000-1637 The Springfield Project’s Home Ownership for Equity (HOPE)

With the assistance of the Dominican Sisters of Springfield, a new not-for-profit corporation, Home Ownership Program for Equity (HOPE) was established as part of The Springfield’s Project’s organization. HOPE provides for the purchase and rehabilitation of vacant houses in the neighborhood and assists residents who are presently renting and unable to obtain conventional financing in order to move to home ownership. One part of the HOPE process will be a requirement that homeowners who are buying homes through the program participate in an educational and mentoring system for new home buyers. The University of Illinois at Springfield COPC program is assisting the education coordinator in putting together a model education/mentoring process that includes a partnership with Lincoln Land Community College to hold workshops on home maintenance.

2000-1654 Tomorrow's builders Youthbuild Program

The tomorrow's builders YouthBuild Program is a vocational/educational program for high-school dropouts or graduates with educational deficiencies age 18-24. The Emerson Park development corporation, a non profit community development corporation located in the Emerson Park Neighborhood of East St. Louis, Illinois, administers the program. Emerson Park Development Corporation is working with McCormack Baron's Parsons Place Development for the construction of Parsons Place Development, a $25 million, 174-unit mixed income townhouse development. The program has three basic components, training in the construction trades, Adult Basic education/GED and leadership development/character building. The Tomorrow's Builders YouthBuild Program is a twelve-month program for approximately 32 participants. the goals of the program are to provide construction training, Adult basic Education/GED and Leadership Development/character Building to the students and affordable housing for low and very low-income families. Fifty-percent of the program is dedicated to building trades training. The remaining fifty-percent of the program is dedicated to education and leadership development/character building. the students are divided into two groups of sixteen. One group is in education Monday through Thursday while the other group is in construction training Monday through Thursday. On Fridays, both groups come together for leadership development/character building. The construction training includes both classroom and on-site housing rehab and new construction. On Thursdays, the construction class is enrolled in a Construction Technology class that counts as three hours toward and Associate's Degree at Southwestern Illinois College. All of the student will earn three additional hours of credit for an internship in construction for work site hours from the same College. Prior to acceptance into the Tomorrow's builders YouthBuild Program, each student had to earn their way into the program by completing a number of tasks over and eight-week period without pay such as OSHA Training, First Aid and CPR Training, Career Assessments, Goal-Setting, Registering to vote, etc.

2000-1808 Springfield Housing Authority – Family Self-Sufficiency Program

Over the past year, the Springfield Housing Authority (SHA) has developed and refined its Family Self-Sufficiency Program intended to promote economic self-sufficiency among participating families. SHA developed this 5-year program to identify community barriers to health, safety, well-being and self-sufficiency and to enable families to overcome those barriers. The mission of SHA’s self-sufficiency program is to empower people to take control of their lives by becoming independent, productive members of their community.

The FSS program is a 5-Phase model: Personal Development and Assessment; Development of Individual Action Plan; Maintenance of Effort; Transition; and Follow-up. A core component of the program is for families to save money through an escrow account system that accrues over the course of the program as earned income increases. The program also offers intensive case management and referrals, as well as comprehensive workshops (e.g., budgeting, transitioning from welfare to work, etc.) tailored to individuals in various stages of the program. An additional component of the program is a scholarship benefiting families up to $1,500 to assist them in achieving their goals when public or private funds are not available.

2000-2531 Code Enforcement Demolition Program

In 1994, there was fragmented and non-responsiveness on the part of governmental units to the citizens' outcries demanding actions in addressing the epidemic of 1,600 dilapidated residential and commercial structures in the city with many of those structures haven for illicit activities. In February 1995, at the encouragement of the Southern District of IL U.S. Attorney, W. Charles Grace, the then Honorable Gordon Bush, Mayor, and IL State Senator James Clayborne, City Attorney, CDBG Operations Corporation, under the City Manager leadership, was approached to organize the City's Demolition Task Force. This Task Force was to foster a cooperative partnership in attaining "results" inside and outside all levels of government, as well as to give guidance in the broader implementation of the Code Enforcement Demolition Program. The Program is directly administered through the private community development not-for-profit organization - CDBG Operations Corporation.

The City's Task Force has targeted strategic priorities for Code Enforcement Demolition, as follows: 1. Public Infrastructure Improvements/Investments - In the last six (6) years, $6.9M in CDBG funds has been expended or budgeted for street improvement projects. 2. Emergency - Structures identified as a threat to the health, safety and welfare to the immediately adjacent property owners, particularly whose insurance has been canceled or in jeopardy of being canceled. 3. Safe-Zones - Structures identified within a one thousand (1,000) feet radius of a community center, school, daycare facility, park, nursing home or place of worship. 4. Major Thoroughfares - Structures identified on heavily traveled vehicular traffic routes and along the MetroLink light-rail extension. 5. Business Zones - Structures identified within close proximity to a commercial enterprise. These priorities have heightened a greater public trust and an improved quality-of-life climate for the retention and expansion of lasting and perpetual economic vitality.

2000-2578 Springfield Housing Authority & MERCY Communities

MERCY (Mentors, Empowerment and Resources for Change in Young families) Communities and the Springfield Housing Authority have entered into a partnership to provide a transitional living facility to homeless/at-risk families with comprehensive on site supportive social services in collaboration with mentors and community resources in order to enhance the quality of life for themselves and their children. This project did not start as a result of, or product of HUD Transitional Housing Funds. Springfield Housing Authority dedicated a 12-unit project that was scheduled for modernization to the MERCY Communities, Inc. As part of the modernization, one unit was retrofitted into a common community room which has a kitchen, laundry area, class room/lounge area and an office for on site staff. The agreement also stipulated that one apartment would be utilized by a live-in staff person. The transitional housing approach is intended to be a stepping stone to independent living for homeless, at risk families. With the support of MERCY staff and volunteers from the community who will act as mentors, our goal is to provide the these young families with the structure and support that they need to address critical issues contributing to their homelessness, while teaching them the skills necessary to maintain permanent housing and achieve self-sufficiency. Services to parent and child include: development of client service plan based on assessment of needs; assessment of child’s stage of development and current developmental needs; intensive case management; transitional housing for up to two years; life skills and mentoring with positive role models; parenting and child care classes; budgeting and money management; educational supports leading to completion of a high school education or GED a with opportunities to pursue higher education or vocational training; participation of child in developmentally appropriate day care, Head Start, Early Start, etc.; household management; counseling to improve self-esteem; self-confidence and emotional will being; health and wellness education; career development; job search, attainment and maintenance; access to appropriate permanent housing leading to personal and economic independence and ongoing support with up to five years of aftercare services in permanent housing.

2000-2612 Madison Park Place

Madison Park Place consists of 150 dwelling units of low income tax credit rental housing, comprised of a mixture of town houses, triplexes, duplexes, and single family dwellings. Additionally, 44 lease-to-purchase single family homes are currently under construction. Madison Park Place is a planned unit development (PUD) with space set aside for future retail/commercial use. A two and one half-acre "passive" park is under construction with a historical and educational theme. Significant design care by Springfield Housing Authority Staff and Architects was given to the project in order to ensure that the development blends aesthetically and architecturally with the surrounding community

2000-2851Johnson Park Rehabilitation

Rehabilitation of 57 single family homes. Consisting of two, three and four bedroom units. Built in the late sixties these units while modernized partially on at least two different occasions were in need of a total rehab. Recent changes in the staffing of the Mod Development Department bought in staff from the private sector of construction management. Although originally planned to cover three grant years the project was re designed to exclude the use of a General Contractor and the Authority would act as it’s own general contractor. All of the sub-contractors would bid as individual prime contractors and the Authority would act as coordinator and General Contractor thus retaining total project control. This methodology would cut the total project cost by 35%+ and enhanced the overall quality of the project as the Authority retained total project control. It allowed the project to be completed in one phase instead of three with construction being complete in 8 months. The project came in under budget and ahead of schedule by eighteen months of projected. This project also included a six month resident training in employment initiative. The construction trades was used as the vehicle, but the primary purpose was to teach work and life skills and basic work ethic. Six of the single family homes were set aside and the nine (9) residents were supervised and trained by a combination of Force Account labor and skilled craftsmen under contract from the original project. This program ran for six months.

2000-1611 The Springfield Project (TSP)

The Springfield Project (TSP) was formed during 1996 after a visit to observe the Atlanta Project by a delegation of 39 community members, including the Chancellor of the University of Illinois at Springfield, the Mayor, the President of Lincoln Land Community College, the Superintendent of School District #186, concerned residents, and members of the banking, real estate, business, medical and religious communities. TSP is not a direct service provider, instead, it facilitates community collaboration by matching resources with problems or needs identified by residents. The core of the organization is a Community Council, to which any member of the community can bring concerns and have them considered by initiative teams for possible action. TSP’s "Neighborhood Enhancement Initiative" empowers residents to change the physical environment and to confront the deterioration of housing within neighborhoods throughout the community. The basic elements designed to achieve success are to recruit businesses, civic groups and churches to invest in deteriorating neighborhoods by sponsoring a piece of the neighborhood; bring residents together with sponsoring businesses, civic groups, or churches, to clean-up and find the resources to establish an ongoing effort to improve the neighborhood; assist residents in creating monitoring organizations by block area to encourage safety; and, rid the city of deteriorated housing by working with residents and landowners to bring about vigorous, fair enforcement of the local ordinances and pursuit of uncooperative landlords.

Content Archived: April 20, 2011