Posts Tagged ‘member news roundup’

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Member News Roundup ~ January

Monday, February 7th, 2011

[This post is part of the monthly CEDAM Member News Roundup series.  If you have news to share/an event to promote, send it our way or leave a message in the comments section at the bottom of this post.]

Photo of Old Town from the Old Town Commercial Association website.

Many CEDAM members this month held events or had special volunteer opportunities in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Other members benefited from community work. South Oakland Shelter, for example, received hygiene kits for the homeless population they serve. News article.

Urban Neighborhood Initiatives in Detroit created a mural project last year to engage local artists and youth and to further their mission of neighborhood revitalization. Pictures of some of the murals are on the UNI Facebook page.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation named Old Town Lansing as one of 10 semifinalists for its national annual Great American Main Street Award. CEDAM member Old Town Commercial Association and thousands of volunteers are behind the revitalization that makes Old Town a great place.

The Accounting Aid Society opened a new Oakland Neighborhood Tax Center designed to help area residents with tax-related concerns. The Center expects to serve about 6,000 low and middle income households in its first two years. Find more information about the center here.

Southwest Solutions opened a Wellness Center and an Adult Learning Lab in January. The Wellness Center will reach out to an under-served population and offer health services to about 7,000 people per year. The Learning Lab will help individuals improve skills to be better qualified for employment. Model D news article.

Presbyterian Villages of Michigan broke ground for an expansion of its senior living housing. The project will begin with cottage homes. Future plans include spacious senior apartments. News article.

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Member News Roundup ~ December

Thursday, January 6th, 2011

[This post is part of the monthly CEDAM Member News Roundup series.  If you have news to share/an event to promote, send it our way or leave a message in the comments section at the bottom of this post.]

Gifts at Community Housing Network

Gifts at Community Housing Network (photo by CHN)

CEDAM members wrapped last year up with generosity and are now looking to start 2011 with new visions and services.

Community Housing Network ran a very successful Adopt-A-Family program. Thanks to everyone who participated, 427 individuals and families received holiday gifts. Read more and find a link to photos from the event here.

Volunteers at FOCUS: Hope in Detroit assembled boxes of food and delivered them to 700 metro area senior citizens on December 11th.

Neighborhoods Inc. of Battle Creek (NIBC) announced it will be holding free financial fitness classes throughout 2011. All classes will be held in Battle Creek at the NIBC office; topics include developing and living on a budget, reducing debt, building and rebuilding credit, creating savings, and how to save for and qualify to purchase a house. More information and available dates are in this news announcement.

Food deliveries from Focus: Hope

Food deliveries from Focus: Hope (photo by Focus: Hope)

The South Oakland Shelter system based in Royal Oak is trying the ‘housing first’ (also known as rapid re-housing) approach to help homeless people. By addressing housing needs first and then offering services like job training, the average stay at the shelter has dropped from 4 months to 28 days. This article in the Detroit Free Press explains more about housing first in Michigan.

The Michigan Environmental Council (MEC) released a sweeping new Michigan 50 Year Vision, including the areas of water, energy, transportation, sustainable communities, great cities, and agriculture & natural resources. MEC is looking for public input on the vision. Go here to read the vision, see comments, and make your own remarks.

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Member News Roundup ~ November

Monday, December 6th, 2010

[This post is part of the monthly CEDAM Member News Roundup series.  If you have news to share/an event to promote, send it our way or leave a message in the comments section at the bottom of this post.]

Picture of Restoration Works house.

One of the future Restoration Works houses.

CEDAM member Chippewa-Luce-Mackinac Community Action Agency is one of 14 recipients nation-wide of the 2010 National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Award. The award, given by the National Community Action Partnership, recognizes CLMCAA’s use of community development to reduce poverty and increase economic security.

The IRS announced six Michigan organizations that will receive grant money to run free VITA tax preparation sites. Four of the six are CEDAM members: Accounting Aid Society, Community Action Agency of Jackson-Lenawee-Hillsdale, Community Action Agency of South Central Michigan, and Northwest Michigan Community Action Agency.

Northern Initiatives received a $100,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Microentreprenuer Assistance Program. The grant money will help Northern Initiatives assist rural entrepreneurs in starting up their own small businesses in the U.P.

A new housing project in Lansing called Restoration Works will turn two derelict houses into living classrooms, and eventually livable homes. The Ingham County Land Bank, Allen Neighborhood Center, and Lansing Community College are working together to save the two houses while using a hands-on approach to teach LCC students about home restoration, energy efficiency, construction, electrical engineering, and other topics.

Photo of Edible Avalon garden.

An Edible Avalon garden site.

A  news article last month celebrated Avalon Housing’s Edible Avalon program. The program coordinates community gardens for Avalon Housing residents, allowing them access to fresh and healthy produce. A video about Edible Avalon also went online last month.

Shop MI Downtown for the Holidays started last month and will continue through December. The campaign is backed by a number of CEDAM supporters and sponsors, and it seeks to challenge Michigan residents to shop at locally-owned stores in downtowns or Main Street districts for the holidays. People may also take pictures of downtown stores for the chance to win an overnight stay in one of five downtown Michigan establishments.

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Member News Roundup ~ October

Monday, November 1st, 2010

[This post is part of the monthly CEDAM Member News Roundup series.  If you have news to share/an event to promote, send it our way or leave a message in the comments section at the bottom of this post.]

The Tuohy family. Photo from the ICCF event ticket.

In October this year, the National Foreclosure Mitigation Program announced that over 1,000,000 families across the nation have sought and received foreclosure intervention counseling from over 1,700 nonprofit counseling organizations funded by the Program. These numbers include the Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA), which recently reached 17,000 homeowners served since 2008.

The Center For Financial Health in Lansing and East Lansing is also helping residents save their homes from foreclosure through housing counseling and financial workshops. An article published in the Lansing State Journal tells the story of how the Center helped Tamaris Tangui keep her home. The Center has also been busy trying to solve some of the bank-error foreclosure cases that gave rise to the foreclosure freeze in Michigan earlier this month.

The Inner City Christian Federation (ICCF) brought in the couple who inspired the movie “The Blind Side” to Grand Rapids for a fundraiser to talk about the message of giving. ICCF provides affordable housing to low-income families and works to strengthen communities in Grand Rapids. Get inspiration from this news article about the Tuohy family and the ICCF.

Focus: HOPE 2010 walk in Detroit.

Focus: HOPE held its 36th annual walk on October 10th to celebrate diversity and fight racism, poverty, and injustice. Funds raised from the walk will go towards scholarships and community development projects.

Shelter of Flint has a new executive director: Anne Grantner. Anne has been working with the shelter since 2002, and many say her dedication to the shelter’s mission makes her a good fit for the executive director position. Anne moved her office out of the administrative building and into the shelter with other staff soon after she was hired into her new job. Read more here.

Susan Mosey, president of the University Cultural Center Association (UCCA), and all of the great work the nonprofit has done for Midtown in Detroit were featured in this positive article from the Detroit News. UCCA also is one of the organizations that will help coordinate $21 million towards Detroit to boost urban vitality and promote locally owned businesses.

Upcoming Events

Elections are tomorrow! Last-minute election information and resources are here on our website, including candidate guides. (See the Candidate Information heading; notes on the CEDAM candidate guide and a link to other guides are directly below.)

CEDAM CCDI Managing Single Family Rehabilitation (December 7th) and Green Development and Weatherization (December 8th) sessions are open for registration. There are no prerequisites to take the classes. The cost for each class is $35 for CEDAM members, $70 for nonmembers. Contact Jessica AcMoody to register (acmoody@cedam.info – 517.485.3588).

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Member News Roundup ~ September

Monday, October 4th, 2010

[This post is part of the monthly CEDAM Member News Roundup series.  If you have news to share/an event to promote, send it our way or leave a message in the comments section at the bottom of this post.]

Dwelling Place is transforming an old, abandoned Holland middle school into an affordable housing community. Construction started this month and will continue until fall next year. The project is intended for seniors who want to live closer to downtown and don’t want to have a car; it will have affordable apartments, a roof deck, and green space in the form of a landscaped walkway.

Bay Area Housing will renovate this home at 100 E. Gary Street in Bay City.

Bay Area Housing, Inc. started renovating four homes in Bay City this month with funding from the federal Neighborhood Stabilization Program and MSHDA. There are already interested buyers for the homes. People in the neighborhood are happy to see the previously rundown properties cleaned up and renovated. Click for news article.

September was a great month for grants and awards. Allen Neighborhood Center received a $10,000 grant from the City of Lansing for a new initiative called Eastside Living that will provide support services to EastSide seniors.

Northern Initiatives got a $100,000 grant to provide technical assistance under the USDA Rural Microenterprise Assistance Program, allowing Northern Initiatives to provide more counties with assistance than before and with a higher loan cap.

At CEDAM, we received a $25,000 grant for equipment to create 24 hours of cable programming called On the Bright Side about positive community development stories around Michigan. The Asset Building Policy Project also got a grant from the National Community Tax Coalition to set up self-preparation tax sites in partnership with the Assets for Independence Coalition.

Upcoming Events

Southwest Solutions’ inspiring breakfast event Solutions at Sunrise is on October 6th. Over 1,000 guests are registered to attend. The event is Wednesday, so hurry and register if you plan on going. Event

Community Housing Network’s annual fundraiser will Raise the Roof on Affordable Housing October 14th. Celebrate 10 years of helping people with disabilities! Event

The CEDAM CCDI foreclosure training session (October 20th) and asset building training session (October 21st) are open to anyone and incredibly useful for those involved in foreclosure/asset building, respectively. Spread the word. More Information

The Financial Institutions Community Development Conference, which centers around positive changes in Detroit and ways to continue moving forward, is on October 29th. The conference is free and breakfast and lunch are included. Event

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