HUD Archives: News Releases

BUSH ADMINISTRATION AWARDS $9.5 MILLION IN GRANTS TO HISPANIC-SERVING EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS FOR COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

LOS ANGELES - Housing and Urban Development Secretary Mel Martinez today announced more than $9.5 million in grants to 19 Hispanic-serving colleges and universities to help rehabilitate low-income neighborhoods near their campuses and bring new opportunities to students and working families living there.

Martinez announced the grants in Los Angeles during the Fourth Annual U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Town Hall Meeting.

"The Bush Administration is committed to helping these higher learning institutions build partnerships with neighborhoods and invest in Hispanic communities," said HUD Secretary Martinez. "These grants will help the colleges address revitalization and economic development needs in their communities."

The grants were awarded under HUD's Hispanic-Serving Institutions Assisting Communities (HSIAC) program. Grantees use the funds for a wide range of housing and community development projects that improve the quality of life in their communities. Projects include: purchasing local property for community development purposes; clearance and demolition; rehabilitating neighborhood housing for low- and moderate-income people; homeownership assistance for low- and moderate-income residents; lead-based paint hazard reduction; economic development assistance; developing public facilities such as day care; and, job and career-counseling.

HSIAC applicants must be accredited, nonprofit 2- and 4-year institutions of higher learning that have at least 25 percent Hispanic full-time undergraduate enrollment, with at least 50 percent of these Hispanic students being low-income individuals. Approximately 219 HSI-designated schools are eligible to apply for the HUD grants, which were first awarded in 1999.

The recipients of the $9,566,542 in HSIAC grants are:

Additional information about HUD's Hispanic-Serving Institutions Assisting Communities program, administered through HUD's Office of University Partnerships, can be obtained at www.oup.org/about/hsiac.html.

HUD is the nation's housing agency committed to increasing homeownership, particularly among minorities, creating affordable housing opportunities for low-income Americans, supporting the homeless, elderly, people with disabilities and people living with AIDS. The Department also promotes economic and community development as well as enforces the nation's fair housing laws. More information about HUD and its programs is available on the Internet.

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Summaries of HSIAC Programs Selected for Funding (by States):

ARIZONA

University of Arizona - South Campus
The South Campus of the University of Arizona will receive a Hispanic-Serving Institutions Assisting Communities Program Grant of $599,350 to facilitate the development of micro enterprises in Douglas, Arizona, a colonia located in Cochise County. The first activity will be to stabilize and expand AriSEWna, a local sewing cooperative, by purchasing the building it occupies, developing a strategic plan for the firm, and hiring 90 new employees over the grant period. The second activity will be to stabilize and expand a community child care facility by acquiring a suitable property, developing a strategic plan to maximize the facility's potential, and enrolling 90 new children. The third activity will be to create a community center to support social and economic development by acquiring a property for the center and developing and implementing a strategic plan. All three properties-already identified-will be owned by the Cochise County Community Development Corporation, ensuring that they will remain available for jobs programs and other economic development activities. The building slated to become the community center will be donated to the CDC by the Douglas YMCA.

Phoenix College
Phoenix College in Phoenix, Arizona will receive a Hispanic-serving Institutions Assisting Communities Program grant of $382,574 to create the Career Training and Employment Program (CTEP), a consortium designed to provide economic development opportunities to public housing and other low-income residents in target areas within south central Phoenix and south Chandler. Activities will include occupational training. Services will be provided in three locations: Chicanos Por La Causa, serving residents of the City of Phoenix Housing areas Marcos De Niza and Mathew Henson; Coffelt Community Center, serving residents of Maricopa County Public Housing; and the Family Investment Center, serving residents of Chandler Public Housing. In addition to public housing residents, activities will also be open to residents of the EC/EZ zone within south central Phoenix. The CTEP consortium includes educational partners, housing authorities, community based agencies, community development corporations, state agencies, faith-based organizations, community advocacy groups, and business and industry representatives.

CALIFORNIA

Los Angeles Valley College
Los Angeles Valley College (LAVC) will receive a HSIAC grant of $599,992 to develop Project Valley Works Partnership, a workforce and economic development program. The project will provide recruitment, customized vocational training (such as customer service and computer training), English/communication skills, and job placement services. Project Valleyworks will assist low and moderate-income residents, focusing on recent immigrants and refugees with limited English proficiency, the homeless, youth, ex-offenders, displaced workers--people typically locked out of traditional avenues to employment and quality jobs. The goal is preparing clients for 800 living wage jobs with benefits that will be available by summer 2004 at the Hollywood Redevelopment Mixed-Use project in Los Angeles. LAVC is collaborating with many partners for this initiative: Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, the Valley Economic Development Center, and the Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley, the six WorkSource Centers of the San Fernando Valley, and two campus groups, GAIN/CalWorks and the LAVC Economic Development Department.

California State University, Northridge
The University Corporation, California State University, Northridge (CSUN) will receive a HSIAC grant of $600,000 for Project "Growing Opportunities," (GO.) The goal is to expand neighborhood service programs begun under a 2000 HSIAC grant and will also develop two new initiatives. Family Education programs will be extended to Neighboring Communities. Project GO will expand four of its successful programs (Family Math, Family Literacy, the Computer Club, and the Health Education Program) into Pacoima and San Fernando, two low-income, primarily Hispanic communities. The Urban Farm and Buyers' Club. Project Go will establish a ten-acre farm in the target area. Community members will purchase shares at the beginning of the growing season and, in turn, will receive three harvests of high quality, local produce. The Buyers' Club will enable members to use their combined purchasing power to buy produce and staples at near whole-sale prices. The Community Education and Small Business Development. Project GO will lease commercial space in the target community to launch two new small businesses--(1) a bookstore and education resource center that will offer high quality, culturally appropriate materials to the Hispanic community and (2) a desktop publishing firm that will focus on the niche market of culturally-relevant materials requested by area school teachers.

Gavilan Joint Community College
Gavilan College in Gilroy, California will receive a Hispanic-Serving Institutions Assisting Communities Program grant of $599,660 to create a neighborhood education and technology center. The center is located in the heart of Gilroy's neighborhood revitalization area and is the product of a collaborative effort between the college and the Gilroy Unified School District, the City of Gilroy, and the Regional Occupational Program. The project will renovate and operate an existing 7,200 square foot building adjacent to new Gilroy Unified School District neighborhood resource center portable buildings. The resulting complex will provide space for adult education classes to meet identified needs within the community for advanced ESL skills and job readiness training; a community technology center to help breach the "Digital Divide" for neighborhood residents; a permanent location for needed expansion of Regional Occupational Program computer applications skills classes; and a permanent location for the skills laboratory of the City of Gilroy's "Mujeres Pueden" (Woman Can) welfare-to-work job training program.

Yosemite Community College District/Modesto Junior College
Modesto Junior College in Modesto, California will receive a Hispanic-Serving Institutions Assisting Communities Program grant of $161, 538 to create "Comunidades Unidas" (Communities United) to fight neighborhood blight, increase the education and skill levels of unemployed and underemployed residents, and provide non-profit housing development and neighborhood revitalization in blighted, neglected communities. The program features a three-pronged approach to addressing needs identified in the city's and county's Consolidated Plans: 1) employment skills training in the construction industry; 2) the coordination of volunteer neighborhood revitalization efforts in conjunction with community leaders; and 3) the creation of affordable housing in blighted neighborhoods, working with non-profit development corporations and the construction training students. The program was developed in collaboration with several community-based organizations, the City of Modesto, and the County of Stanislaus. Leveraged funding includes city of Modesto community development block grant funds and in-kind support from the Workforce Development Collaborative.

California State University, Dominguez Hills
California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH) in Carson, California will receive a Hispanic-Serving Institutions Assisting Communities grant of $502,304 to address childcare needs in Cudahy, a community located in South East Los Angeles. Working with the School of Health Center for Health Partnerships and various community partners, CSUDH will develop 20 licensed home child care providers in Cudahy, one of the poorest communities in Los Angeles County, reporting one of the highest unemployment rates and lowest income levels. Hispanics who comprise most of Cudahy's population see few paths to economic opportunity. For example, residents must travel 20 miles to access vocational and occupational centers in Los Angeles, but most of them have no private transportation and public transportation is inadequate.

West Kern Community College District/Taft College
Taft College in Taft, California will use its Hispanic-Serving Institutions Assisting Communities grant of $492,855 to establish a state-of-the-art Community Resource and Learning Center on its campus. This center will provide increased instructional services, access to computer technology, and help develop strong linkages with community resources to meet the needs of traditionally underserved individuals. Taft College will convert a portion of its existing facilities on campus into a high-tech lab equipped with twenty-one computers and workstations and two offices. A Learning Skills program, consisting of GED preparation, basic skills instruction, English-as-a-Second Language (ESL), and basic computer literacy skills coursework, will be offered.

San Bernardino Community College District
Using a Hispanic-Serving Institutions Assisting Communities grant of $ 600,000 San Bernardino Community College District (SBCCD) in California will develop and construct the Applied Technologies Training Center as an annex to its professional Development Center (PDC). The new center will provide technology-based training to fulfill the growing training and re-training needs of incumbent workers, as well as unemployed and underemployed jobseekers within the community. The facility will enable the PDC to house an applied technology center that will offer short-term training programs in cutting edge computer software applications, transportation information systems, logistics, warehouse management, and other related areas.

West Hills Community College District
West Hills Community College in Coalinga, California will use a Hispanic-Serving Institutions Assisting Communities grant of $600,000 to respond to community development needs by expanding their Child Development Center. The Child Development Center will provide opportunities for low- and moderate-income residents to enroll in educational job training programs and infrastructure support for economic development. The project will serve approximately 100 additional children on an annual basis, 70% of which are from low-income families.

Southwestern College
Southwestern College's Higher Education Center at National City, California will use its Hispanic-Serving Institutions Assisting Communities grant of $594,534 to expand the institution's role in supporting and promoting family self-sufficiency, children's successful learning, and community well-being by building and developing a Family Resource Center (FRC) within its new Education Village in National City. The project consists of two major components: strengthening community partnerships and linkages between local residents, community agencies/organizations, SWC, and local schools; and, creating a FRC that provides access to health, education, and community programs that will strengthen and support families within the targeted area.

KANSAS

Donnelly College
Donnelly College in Kansas City, Kansas will receive a Hispanic-Serving Institutions Assisting Communities Program grant of $174,462 to provide members of the community with resource and training opportunities that will help to improve lives through education, employment, homeownership, and entrepreneurial endeavors. The college partnered with five organizations in the planning of the "Bridges to Success" initiative-El Centro, Inc., the Kansas Department of Human Resources, Catholic Housing of Wyandotte County, the Entrepreneurial Development Center, and the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Services that are to be provided include GED preparation and life skills training; career development, planning, counseling, and job placement; job readiness/pre-employment skills training; comprehensive housing services, including opportunities for affordable housing and home improvement; and business development consultation. The project will be divided into two phases. The first involves the rehabilitation of space on campus to be used by the program, while the second phase is the operation of the facility itself and ongoing coordination with the project's partners.

MASSACHUSETTS

Northern Essex Community College
Northern Essex Community College will use its Hispanic-Serving Institutions Assisting Communities grant of $278,738 to establish a common ground for the college and community to work together to meet the needs of Latina family child-care providers. Northern Essex Community College's HSIAC project - Centro Educacional Hermanas Mirabal (Mirabal Sisters' Literacy and Educational Center) aims to bridge Latina providers, families, schools, educational resources and community child-development programs to affirm and empower community family providers as teachers and mentors within their community. The project consists of four integrated elements: linking together existing minority child-care programs in the community, and organizing community empowerment through learning and mentorship; remodeling and furnishing an Educational and Resource Center at the International Institute in Lawrence; providing assisted access to telecommunications technology, and to early-childhood educational literacy materials that will enhance the professional and individual development of Latina child-care providers; and implementing leadership initiatives through mentorship and training of trainers activities with faculty and student involvement.

NEW YORK

Boricua College
Boricua College in New York City will use its Hispanic-Serving Institutions Assisting Communities grant of $209,209 to establish a Microeconomic Development Center that will promote and facilitate neighborhood economic development by stimulating the establishment and/or strengthening of the network of small businesses, and promote and provide adult education and training services to improve economic and educational capacity of the culturally diverse low- and moderate-income residents of the Williamsburg and Greenpoint communities of Brooklyn, New York. The College will partner with the New York State Small Business Administration to achieve the goals of the project. The College has numerous partnerships with community-based organizations that will assist in the promotion of the project.

PUERTO RICO

Universidad del Este
Universidad del Este (UNE) in Carolina, Puerto Rico will receive a Hispanic-serving Institutions Assisting Communities Program grant of $600,000 to promote job training and employment opportunities, and to provide education to enhance self sufficiency, employability, and economic self reliance through the UNE Community Career Center. Grant funds will be used to construct the center and design and develop center services and an operational plan. Services will revolve around two main components: comprehensive vocational and occupational counseling, and job placement. The counseling component will include promotion and dissemination activities, needs assessment, individual and group intervention through workshops and seminars, and follow-up and referrals. The job placement component will include promotion and dissemination activities, on-line or in-person placement services, an employers and job opportunity announcements database, preliminary qualifications screening, preparation and mock job interviews, and job follow-up and referrals. In addition to serving the community development needs of Carolina, the center will also serve as the "career" headquarters for six satellite centers throughout Puerto Rico. The center is the unique product of private and public alliances between the Universidad del Este, the Agencia Municipal de Oportunidad de Empleo (the municipal employment agency), the Municipality of Carolina's Local Area Youth Council, the State Agency for Women's Advocate, and AmeriCorps Vista.

Universidad del Turabo
The Universidad del Turabo (UT) will use its Hispanic-Serving Institutions Assisting Communities grant of $600,000 to promote job training and employment opportunities, as well as education to enhance self-sufficiency, employability and economic self-reliance. To expand their role and effectiveness in addressing the community development needs within the Municipalities of Caguas and Gurabo, Puerto Rico, the UT will acquire and remodel a property for the creation of the UT Community Career Center. The foundation of this project is the Centro de Gestión Única de Empleo del Turabo (CGUT) - the One Stop Center that is a product of a UT alliance with the Workforce Investment Act Local Board. This new property will house community outreach activities and services that complement the CGUT services. The UT Community Career Center will be the headquarters that integrates UT faculty, students, service learning projects, community-based organizations, faith-based organizations with the services offered by the CGUT for an integrated approach to career development in the region. The outreach services and activities that complement the CGUT are the Office of Community Outreach, the INTECO and UT Corporate Liaison, the Assessment and Evaluation Center and the Career Laboratory.

TEXAS

The University of Texas at San Antonio
The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) will receive a HSIAC grant of $584,972 to develop a Westside Community Resource Center and construct a child development center on the campus of the blighted Navarro School site. Partners for this project are the San Antonio Independent School District and Principe de Paz Inner City Outreach Ministries. UTSA students will also help provide services at the Community Resource Center. Serving residents from the low-income Westside target, the community resource center, and child development center will provide: early childhood education, especially for homeless children served by a local nonprofit group; adult learning programs for development of technology skills and information sharing on many topics, including fair housing, home financing and ownership, affordable credit programs, safe lead-free homes, and parenting; and family counseling and family mediation.

University of Texas at Brownsville/Texas Southmost College
The University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College will use its Hispanic-serving Institutions Assisting Communities grant of $600,000 to create a business incubator. The incubator will assist neighborhood revitalization, housing, and economic development of the low-income neighborhood and city by helping new companies start-up and existing company expansions and a wide variety of training services to the residents residing close to the incubator. The impact will continue as companies "graduate" from the incubator and continue to grow and hire additional employees when they grow out of their years in the incubator. Five, 15, and 30 companies will be housed in the incubator in the first, second, and third years, respectively. The incubator will be an important part of a complementary project being developed, the International Trade and Technology Center.

WASHINGTON

Columbia Basin Community College
Columbia Basin Community College (CBC) will receive a Hispanic-serving Institutions Assisting Communities grant of $600,000 to engage faculty, students, and community partners to work in the neighborhoods of Pasco, Washington. CBC will create a Community Business and Training Resource Center to support economic development and job training. The HSIAC grant will assist Hispanic small business owners in downtown Pasco and provide vocational English-as-a-Second Language (ESL) job skills. The synergy of all the partners using their resources collectively will improve the economic conditions and employment opportunities for Pasco residents. At the end of the three-year project, a Community Business and Training Resource Center will be built, 75 small businesses will be assisted, 65 new jobs will be created or retained and 150 residents will be provided vocational ESL classes to improve their job skills.

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Content Archived: April 9, 2010