Community News

Young Adults Corps of Washington, DC Training Institute in cooperation with Catholic University’s National Catholic School of Social Service and the Community College of the District of Columbia, is offering Service Coordination and Case Management In-Service Training on Friday, March 26, 2010 from 8:45 AM to 4:30 PM at THEARC. For detailed information and a registration form click here. CEU’s will be awarded. (This is NOT a presentation of The Community Partnership for the Prevention of Homelessness.)

District Seeks Available Rental Units
for Permanent Supportive Housing Program (PSHP)

The Government of the District of Columbia is seeking apartment units that meet the following criteria to house individuals and families under the District’s Permanent Supportive Housing Program (PSHP). The PSHP is an initiative developed to provide permanent housing and supportive services to chronically homeless individuals and families with histories of homelessness to ensure housing stabilization, maximum levels of self-sufficiency and an overall better quality of life for this population. Through the PSHP, the homeless are provided with ongoing rental subsidies and case management services. Case managers work with program participants to address barriers (mental health, substance abuse, unemployment, etc.) through connection to support services. Case managers also serve as liaisons between program participants and landlord. Approximately 100 apartment units are needed for families between February 2010 and September 2010.

Specific Need: 2-bedroom, 3-bedroom, 4-bedroom, 5 bedroom and 6-bedroom apartment units or homes. The apartment units should be located in privately owned and managed buildings/complexes throughout the District of Columbia. We are seeking apartment units in all quadrants of the District. There is a preference for apartment units that are located in buildings that are mixed income in terms of the income levels of the tenants. We are also seeking units that near public transportation and that are accessible for persons with disabilities and that meet the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Accessibility Guidelines. Units that include all utilities are highly preferred. Owners/landlords who have multiply units/apartment complexes throughout the District are encouraged to participate.

Rental Term: Standard term of one (1) year with the option to renew.

Rent: Proposed rent amounts and information on utilities should be included in all submissions. It should be clearly noted whether all, some or no utilities will be included (and what specific utilities the tenant will be responsible for). Listed below are the maximum cap rent amounts that will be paid for apartment units under this program.

# of Bedrooms	Maximun Rent Amount
2-bedroom	$1,456
3-bedroom	$1,878
4-bedroom	$2,458
5-bedroom	$2,826
6-bedroom	$3,195

Please note that these amounts are maximum caps for units regardless of location or amenities. Exceptions (increases) to these maximum caps may only be made for units that include all utilities. Also note that the actual rent amount that will be paid for any specific unit is not determined by maximum cap rent amounts listed above, but is determined by the Rent Reasonableness determination.

The purpose of Rent Reasonableness analysis is to assure that:

• A fair rent is paid for apartment units;
• The PSHP does not inflate rents in a particular community;
• The rent received for assisted units is at least equal to that of the comparable unassisted units on the property; and,
• US Department of Housing and Urban Development factors are applied when determining reasonable rent.

Please note that the amount derived through the rent reasonableness determination is the actual maximum rent amount that will be paid for a specific unit (regardless if that amount is below the maximum cap rent amount.) Exceptions (increases) to the rent reasonableness determination may only be made for units that include all utilities.

Availability: Apartment units should be available to rent/lease and be occupied between February 8, 2010 and September 1, 2010. Owners/landlords are encouraged to offer units that are currently available and that will be available within the listed timeframes.

Use: General Residential use for families.

Condition of Apartment Units: Apartment units, and the building they exist within, must pass an inspection that determines whether it meets all Housing Quality Standards as determined by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. Apartment units must also be free of any code violations. Please specify the number and size of any/all units that are ADA accessible.

If you would like to submit units for consideration, please contact Clarence Stewart at cstewart@community-partnership.org.

Government of the District of Columbia

Department of Housing and Community Development

DC to hold fair housing symposium

(Washington, DC) – The DC Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD), the DC Office of Human Rights (OHR), and the Equal Rights Center (ERC) will host the District’s 8th Annual Fair Housing Symposium from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesday, April 28. The event will be held at the True Reformer Building at 1200 U Street, NW.

This year’s theme is “Yes We Can! Prevent Housing Discrimination.” Three panel discussions will call attention to issues relevant to advancing equality and fairness in housing: “Accessibility in New Construction is Your Right,” “The Face of Housing Discrimination:  Impediments to Fair Housing for Immigrants,” and “Foreclosure and Predatory Lending: The Fair Housing Link.”

The symposium is open to all District residents as well as community-based organizations, residential rental professionals, residential lending professionals, fair housing advocates, government and non-government direct service providers, and anyone with an interest in equal opportunity housing.

Admission is free but seating is limited. Registration is required. Please indicate if reasonable accommodations for seating are needed. Language translation and sign interpretation services will be available upon request to pre-registered attendees. Register online, www.ohr.dc.gov or call (202)727-4559. Advanced Registration ends April 21. For more information, call (202)727-4559.

Neighbors Consejo is actively seeking candidates for the position of Executive Director.  The Executive Director will provide overall leadership, strategic direction, and management to the organization in its efforts to address the housing, behavioral health, and vocational needs of low-income Latino immigrants in the District of Columbia with a particular focus on homeless families and individuals.  
 
The ideal candidate will have a masters of social work or an equivalent degree in Human Services, significant experience fundraising, developing / managing budgets; and supervising human resources, knowledge of immigrant issues and experience working with low income and....  
 
Click here for the full story!

Bright Beginnings Day Care Looking for Space East of the River!

Contact: Pamela Jones
Project Manager
(202)841-1088


Bright Beginnings is a fully accredited child and family development center for homeless families with young children. The center provides free, full day, year round development care to infants, toddlers, and preschoolers, whose families live in shelters and transitional housing. The organization=s mission is (1) to provide young children with a safe, nurturing, educational environment, (2) to prepare the children to enter kindergarten ready to learn, and (3) to support parents as they stabilize their home lives. Since 1991, Bright Beginnings has served 1,300 homeless children from 1125 families

Population Served

Bright Beginnings cares for homeless children and supports their families. The average parent is a 27 year-old, African American single mother with three children, living in an emergency shelters. The median family income is $379 per month. Over half of the parents self-report that they were abused or neglected as children and have been recent victims of domestic violence. An estimated one-third of the parents admit to having problems with drugs or alcohol. Nearly all the children enrolled in Bright Beginnings have witnessed violent behavior, many times toward their own mothers. With poor health, poor nutrition and unstable home environments, approximately 33 percent of the children have developmental delays, which are addressed by the on-site therapeutic services team at Bright Beginnings.

Why East of the River

With children in tow, young single mothers with virtually no resources have come from shelters and transitional housing throughout the city. Getting their children and themselves to Bright Beginnings was worth getting up early, worth facing inclement weather, and worth waiting for multiple buses. However, many homeless families in under served areas of the city do not make the difficult trip to Bright Beginnings. The highest concentration of homeless families comes from the Districts poorest areas with the least accessible transportation – Wards 7 and 8.

According to the most recent (December 2004) Market Study conducted by the D.C. Office of Early Care and Education, 605 children in Ward 8 are on waiting lists for care at existing center-based and home-based in Ward 8. This number doe not take into account the children that Bright Beginnings would reach who are from families in crisis who are living in shelters and transitional housing.

Bright Beginnings is acutely aware of the need to expand its services to a second site that is closer to its clients who reside East of the River. These areas have the highest concentration of homeless families. While a greater number of families in Ward 7 and Ward 8 need Bright Beginnings’ services, Bright Beginnings currently serves only 17 children from 13 families living east of the Anacostia river. The reason is that few mothers are willing to make the difficult trip to Bright Beginnings, which requires them to take as many as three busses to reach the child development center at its current location in the Perry School Community Services Center at 128 M Street, N.W.

Based on the demonstrated need, the Board of Directors of Bright Beginnings has decided to open a new center in east of the river closer to its client families. With this move, Bright Beginnings will take a major step toward fulfilling its five-year goal of serving 25 percent of all homeless children ages six weeks to five years old in the District of Columbia.

Proposed Program Services at the East of the River Center

• The Educational Program is centered on High/Scope - an approach to learning widely recognized for helping young children in disordered environments develop early self-reliance techniques.
• The Therapeutic Program provides on-site therapeutic services to address developmental delays in preschoolers. On site Health Screening ensures access to needed health services including vision, hearing, dental and kidney screening. Immunizations are also available on-site.
• The Family Services Program, supported by two social workers and a family service provider, assists homeless parents in identifying personal challenges, setting goals to overcome those challenges and working toward becoming self-sufficient.
• The Evening Care Program with current hours of operation until 11:30 p.m. is one of the few in the District of Columbia. The Evening Care Director and two teachers, supported by shared day and evening administrative staff are ready to serve 36 children whose parents are working non-traditional hours.

Expansion Concepts

Bright Beginnings is prepared to purchase or lease; and renovate or reconfigure space it determines is suitable for its operations. Its expansion concepts include the following:

· Develop a Replicable Child Development Program in an Existing DCPS Elementary School

• Co-locate with Another Organization
• Develop a Stand-Alone Child Care Facility
• Develop a Stand-Alone Community Service Center

Occupancy Requirements include the following:

• Purchase/sole occupant
• Lease/Anchor tenant

Location Requirements

• Near metro and multiple bus routes
• Traffic patterns conducive to the safety of BBI clients

Space Requirements (see Enclosure for specifics)

• Indoor Square Footage 11,600 sq. ft.
• Outdoor Square Footage 11,940 sq. ft.

Financial Capacity

In 2007 Bright Beginnings began a Capital Campaign to raise $5 million to support its expansion to an east of the river site. To date, approximately $2.5 million in grant funds are either in-hand or pending. In addition to its Capital Campaign, Bright Beginnings is raising operating funds for its first full year of expenses at the east of the river site.

While Bright Beginnings plans complete its expansion effort without debt, it has identified both nonprofit and for-profit lenders who have expressed a willingness to finance some portion of the project, should the need arise.

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