HUD ST. LOUIS FIELD OFFICE RECOGNIZES OUTSTANDING COMMUNITY PARTNERS FOR 2004

Six Missouri organizations were presented with HUD St. Louis Field Office Shining Star Awards recognizing their contributions to meeting HUD national and local goals. Collectively, in fiscal year 2004, these HUD partners
produced approximately 2,300 housing units in eastern Missouri; improved the quality of life for public housing youth and high school drop outs; ensured high school drop outs received general equivalency diplomas and subsequent employment; and produced a national award winning fair housing documentary that had the potential of educating 50,000 St. Louis City families about their fair housing rights. The 2004 Shining Star Recipients are:

Advent Enterprises, Inc., a 2002 HUD YOUTHBUILD grantee, for developing and implementing the Columbia Builds Youth YOUTHBUILD Program, Columbia, Missouri. The program has produced three new single-family homes for low-income families in Columbia and achieved an 88% percent employment rate for its graduates.

The Homebuilders Association of Greater St. Louis for producing CITIRAMA, a single-site showcase of new homes in the Gaslight Square Area of St. Louis, Missouri. Through CITIRAMA, homeownership opportunities were available to homebuyers seeking homes priced between $175,000 and $400,000. When completed, the Gaslight Square Block will include approximately 70 units for families seeking homeownership opportunities.

The Macon Housing Authority for developing and implementing the Youth Empowerment Garden Project, which provided an opportunity for public housing youth to receive training in soil sampling and improvement, planting, and general education about various fruits and vegetables that are indigenous to southeast Missouri. It also provided an opportunity for public housing youth to develop new skills, such as gardening, woodworking, networking, marketing, and fiscal accountability.

The Missouri Housing Development Commission (MHDC) for the significant impact it has made in the preservation of affordable housing in the State of Missouri. Over the last two fiscal years, MHDC has provided funds for the refinancing, rehabilitation, and preservation of almost 2000 housing units located in eastern Missouri.

Pyramid Construction, Incorporated for its acquisition and on-going renovation of the Paul Brown Building, which will add 222 rental-housing units to the downtown St. Louis housing market. Of the 222 rental housing units, 106 will be affordable to low- and moderate- income families.

St. Louis CITY TV-10 for partnering with the HUD St. Louis Field Office and the Metropolitan St. Louis Equal Housing Opportunity Council to produce the national award winning documentary, Fair Housing: Keeping the Dream Alive. The production and subsequent airing of this documentary on the St. Louis City cable station educated an undeterminable number of city residents about their fair housing rights and remedies available to them if those rights were violated. The repeated airing of the documentary, and the interview with Carolyn Y. Peoples, HUD's Assistant Secretary for FHEO, ensured maximum public viewing.

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