TACDC Features Central Dallas CDC!

The Texas Association of Community Development Corporations featured the Central Dallas Community Development Corporation on its "Spotlight Page" on its most recent website posting.

Take a look here.

Kudos to John Greenan and company for the great work and vision!

Really cool stuff. . .be sure and check it out and then, tell me what you think.

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Reiger and the CDC

Several years ago, a local business man and church member, John Grady gave a multi-family apartment to the Central Dallas Community Development Corporation. Frankly, the building needed a lot of work!

Well, that work has been just about completed. Thanks to Johnice Woods' unbelievable tenacity in working with the City of Dallas the building has been transformed. Using City HOME funds, the project received a grant of $370,000. Each of the 16 units in the building has been completely renovated, much to the delight of the tenants, all of whom elected to remain in the building. In addition, an old structure behind the building has been demolished and the parking lot has been repaved. The side lot is being cleared and transformed into a playground for the building's and the neighborhood's children.

Take a moment to watch the video. I think you'll be encouraged!

Conversations about my poorest friends--1

For a long time I've wished there were a way to carry on a conversation with those who visit this site on a regular basis.

Thanks to video technology, we can now get half-way there!

This is my first foray into video blogging. We'll see how it goes!

There is little effort here to be anything but informal, as would be the case if you visited me in my office where this was shot.

I'd love your reactions!



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Wonder if this would work in Dallas?

Here's a novel idea: get to know homeless people, in this case, homeless veterans.

Work with them.

Engage them as friends with real potential.

Find a way to provide high-quality housing in a good, mixed-income neighborhood and get them inside and off the streets.

Reaction has been mixed to this plan. Just "listen in". . .

"Downtown residents, business owners and developers have pushed for the city to aggressively attack homelessness. They say the homeless panhandling and hanging out in Lucas Park prevents the downtown neighborhood from becoming fully realized.

"But some of those same people say that putting such a high number of homeless veterans into one building is putting at risk one of the city's biggest success stories."

Read all about it here.

Hmmm.

Sounds familiar.

Wonder if it would work in Dallas?

Of course, Dallas is so unique, and it sure isn't St. Louis!

Oh, well. There I go again.

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More from Senator Obama--faith-based community work

Presidents Clinton and Bush (43) both advanced the case for inviting faith communities into the essential work of community development and renewal. President Bush created the White House Office for Community and Faith-Based Initiatives. The White House Office turned out to be limited in its direct affect on the challenges facing communities, largely because funding was never adequate for the task.

However, Bush and Clinton helped to level the playing field in terms of faith-based and community organizations having a fair shot at landing federal grants for local projects. Central Dallas Ministries certainly benefitted from the new attitude in Washington regarding how the work gets done.

On Tuesday of this week, Senator Barack Obama indicated his intention to take the process even further, if he is elected in November.

The New York Times ran a frontpage story in yesterday's edition. Here's a taste of the report:

ZANESVILLE, Ohio — Senator Barack Obama said Tuesday that if elected president he would expand the delivery of social services through churches and other religious organizations, vowing to achieve a goal he said President Bush had fallen short on during his two terms.

“The challenges we face today — from saving our planet to ending poverty — are simply too big for government to solve alone,” Mr. Obama said outside a community center here. “We need an all-hands-on-deck approach.”

Read the entire report at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/02/us/politics/02obama.html?_r=1&oref=slogin.

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Below you'll find the entire text of the remarks Senator Obama delivered in the Zanesville, Ohio event. His perspective on the role of faith in addressing community challenges is interesting.

After you hear him out, let me know what you think.

Senator Obama:

You know, faith based groups like East Side Community Ministry carry a particular meaning for me. Because in a way, they're what led me into public service. It was a Catholic group called The Campaign for Human Development that helped fund the work I did many years ago in Chicago to help lift up neighborhoods that were devastated by the closure of a local steel plant.

Now, I didn't grow up in a particularly religious household. But my experience in Chicago showed me how faith and values could be an anchor in my life. And in time, I came to see my faith as being both a personal commitment to Christ and a commitment to my community; that while I could sit in church and pray all I want, I wouldn't be fulfilling God's will unless I went out and did the Lord's work.

There are millions of Americans who share a similar view of their faith, who feel they have an obligation to help others. And they're making a difference in communities all across this country - through initiatives like Ready4Work, which is helping ensure that ex-offenders don't return to a life of crime; or Catholic Charities, which is feeding the hungry and making sure we don't have homeless veterans sleeping on the streets of Chicago; or the good work that's being done by a coalition of religious groups to rebuild New Orleans.

You see, while these groups are often made up of folks who've come together around a common faith, they're usually working to help people of all faiths or of no faith at all. And they're particularly well-placed to offer help. As I've said many times, I believe that change comes not from the top-down, but from the bottom-up, and few are closer to the people than our churches, synagogues, temples, and mosques.

That's why Washington needs to draw on them. The fact is, the challenges we face today - from saving our planet to ending poverty - are simply too big for government to solve alone. We need all hands on deck.I'm not saying that faith-based groups are an alternative to government or secular nonprofits.

And I'm not saying that they're somehow better at lifting people up. What I'm saying is that we all have to work together - Christian and Jew, Hindu and Muslim; believer and non-believer alike - to meet the challenges of the 21st century.

Now, I know there are some who bristle at the notion that faith has a place in the public square. But the fact is, leaders in both parties have recognized the value of a partnership between the White House and faith-based groups. President Clinton signed legislation that opened the door for faith-based groups to play a role in a number of areas, including helping people move from welfare to work. Al Gore proposed a partnership between Washington and faith-based groups to provide more support for the least of these. And President Bush came into office with a promise to "rally the armies of compassion," establishing a new Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives.

But what we saw instead was that the Office never fulfilled its promise. Support for social services to the poor and the needy have been consistently underfunded. Rather than promoting the cause of all faith-based organizations, former officials in the Office have described how it was used to promote partisan interests. As a result, the smaller congregations and community groups that were supposed to be empowered ended up getting short-changed.

Well, I still believe it's a good idea to have a partnership between the White House and grassroots groups, both faith-based and secular. But it has to be a real partnership - not a photo-op. That's what it will be when I'm President. I'll establish a new Council for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. The new name will reflect a new commitment. This Council will not just be another name on the White House organization chart - it will be a critical part of my administration.

Now, make no mistake, as someone who used to teach constitutional law, I believe deeply in the separation of church and state, but I don't believe this partnership will endanger that idea - so long as we follow a few basic principles. First, if you get a federal grant, you can't use that grant money to proselytize to the people you help and you can't discriminate against them - or against the people you hire - on the basis of their religion. Second, federal dollars that go directly to churches, temples, and mosques can only be used on secular programs. And we'll also ensure that taxpayer dollars only go to those programs that actually work.With these principles as a guide, my Council for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships will strengthen faith-based groups by making sure they know the opportunities open to them to build on their good works.

Too often, faith-based groups - especially smaller congregations and those that aren't well connected - don't know how to apply for federal dollars, or how to navigate a government website to see what grants are available, or how to comply with federal laws and regulations. We rely too much on conferences in Washington, instead of getting technical assistance to the people who need it on the ground. What this means is that what's stopping many faith-based groups from helping struggling families is simply a lack of knowledge about how the system works.

Well, that will change when I'm President. I will empower the nonprofit religious and community groups that do understand how this process works to train the thousands of groups that don't. We'll "train the trainers" by giving larger faith-based partners like Catholic Charities and Lutheran Services and secular nonprofits like Public/Private Ventures the support they need to help other groups build and run effective programs. Every house of worship that wants to run an effective program and that's willing to abide by our constitution - from the largest mega-churches and synagogues to the smallest store-front churches and mosques - can and will have access to the information and support they need to run that program.

This Council will also help target our efforts to meet key challenges like education. All across America, too many children simply can't read or perform math at their grade-level, a problem that grows worse for low-income students during the summer months and afterschool hours. Nonprofits like Children's Defense Fund are working to solve this problem. They hold summer and afterschool Freedom Schools in communities across this country, and many of their classes are held in churches.

There's a lot of evidence that these kinds of partnerships work. Take Youth Education for Tomorrow, an innovative program that's being run by churches, faith-based schools, and others in Philadelphia. To help narrow the summer learning gap, the YET program hires qualified teachers who help students with reading using proven learning techniques. They hold classes four days a week after school and during the summer. And they monitor progress closely. The results have been outstanding. Children who attended a YET center for at least six months improved nearly 2 years in reading ability. And the average high school student gained a full grade in reading level after just three months.

That's the kind of real progress that can be made when we empower faith-based organizations. And that's why as President, I'll expand summer programs like this to serve one million students. This won't just help our children learn, it will help keep them off the streets during the summer so they don't turn to crime.

And my Council for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships will also have a broader role - it will help set our national agenda. Because if we are going to do something about the injustice of millions of children living in extreme poverty, we need interfaith coalitions like the Let Justice Roll campaign standing up for the powerless.

If we're going to end genocide and stop the scourge of HIV/AIDS, we need people of faith on Capitol Hill talking about how these challenges don't just represent a security crisis or a humanitarian crisis, but a moral crisis as well.We know that faith and values can be a source of strength in our own lives. That's what it's been to me.

And that's what it is to so many Americans. But it can also be something more. It can be the foundation of a new project of American renewal. And that's the kind of effort I intend to lead as President of the United States.

Ray Hunt on great organizations

Ray Hunt runs the Hunt Oil Company. A couple of weeks ago, Hunt delivered a speech to the Texas Energy Council. He talked about economics and the cost of gasoline, predicting that our current high prices are here to stay.

But my interest in his speech has to do with what he said about "the five characteristics that separate great companies from good ones."

1. Great companies develop a strong corporate culture, with shared values and a strong work ethic. "If you have a group of men and women with shared personal values and work ethic, they can do anything," Hunt said.

2. Great companies possess the ability to differentiate themselves from other groups. "If you are like everybody else, that means you're average," Hunt declared.

3. Great companies demonstrate adaptability. Change is expected, never a surprise. The DNA of great teams directs that they will be ready and expect to adapt to ever-changing circumstances and challenges.

4. Great companies adapt with amazing speed. It is no longer enough to be able to change or adapt. It is now necessary to be able to adapt as quickly as possible, and that as a part of normal operating procedures. So much for over valuing the 5-year plan!

5. Great companies are very willing to be contrarian. "If you see the whole industry going in some direction, you will not find us there," Hunt confessed. Hunt expects his employees to make mistakes. In fact, an error-free year likely indicates that a team member was not being aggressive enough. "There is no penalty in our company for a bad idea," Hunt said.

While there is not much connection between the business operations of an oil exploration company now hard at work in Iraq, among other places around the world, and our non-profit, the principles apply. I'm wondering if at some point we would be well-served to have a more in depth conversation with Mr. Hunt.

(The Dallas Morning News, Friday, March 7, 2008, pages 1, 5D)

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Living in Dallas. . .Housing That's Affordable?

Last Saturday, Mike Simms offered an Op-Ed essay in The Dallas Morning News regarding the increasing cost of housing in the city of Dallas. Worth reading.

Here's a taste of it:

Mike Sims: Can Dallas workers afford Dallas? Everywhere you look in Dallas, we are making progress. The national bird of Texas, the construction crane, fills our skies once again. In my North Dallas neighborhood, bulldozers are knocking down $500,000 houses so $1.5 million residences can replace them. Not far from Presbyterian Hospital, thousands of low- and moderate-income apartments have been razed, and acres of vacant land stand ready for redevelopment.

I hope you'll take the time to "click in" and read it all. Simms understands what we are facing here as a community.

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Inner city condos--join the renewal!

The Central Dallas Community Development Corporation is building four really nice condos for sale here in Old East Dallas.

It is amazing how this part of inner city Dallas has "turned around" in the past 10 years. Living here is a delight, especially if you are looking for diversity, interesting sights and sounds and a place close to Downtown.

The condos that we have for sale are perfect homes for first-time buyers. Not only will buyers get a great value and a fine house, they will also contribute to the continuing redevelopment of this important part of the city.

Check out the sign pictured here for where to call for information.

We'd love to sell you one of our new homes! And, the profit goes back into future affordable housing efforts that we undertake, and we intend to do many more.

HUD

A couple of weeks ago, John Greenan and I visited the Dallas Friday Group luncheon. This unique lunch group meets once a month for lunch and a guest speaker.

Alphonso Jackson, Secretary of the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) spoke the Friday we attended.

Mr. Jackson knows Dallas. He served for several years as the President and CEO for the Dallas Housing Authority, where he served with distinction and considerable professional acclaim.

After his election in 2000, President Bush named Jackson HUD's Deputy Secretary and Chief Operating Officer. Then, on March 31, 2004, the U.S. Senate unanimously confirmed Jackson as the nation's 13th Secretary of HUD.

One of Jackson's priorities as Secretary has been to promote programs and means for increasing home ownership in the nation.

I've found myself objecting to a number of HUD's funding policies, not because of the focus on home ownership, but because such programs have been funded by removing money previously reserved for the poorest of our citizens who cannot buy homes, but who remain in need of high-quality, affordable housing.

Still, it was interesting to hear the Secretary and to visit with him briefly over and after lunch.

We are grateful for HUD. We've been working with them in various capacities since 1996 here in Dallas. Today we have a number of housing grants that allow us to open new doors for better housing to the individualas and families with whom we work.

We are especially grateful for HUD's local expression, the Dallas Housing Authority. Ann Lott, DHA's current CEO, is a great partner.

Surprising facts: American donors and "the least of these"

A friend e-mailed me a link to Sheryl Sandberg's essay that appeared in The Wall Street Journal recently ("The Charity Gap," page A15, April 4, 2007).

Sandberg's findings stood over against what most of us believe about American charitable commitments and concerns.

Whenever American donors are asked, we report back the belief that most of our donations go to assist those less fortunate than ourselves--right?

However, the facts of our giving tell a very different story.

Sandberg's report cites a study underwritten by Google.org that reveals less than one-third of the money individuals gave to nonprofits in 2005 went to help the economically disadvantaged.

"The analysis, carried out by the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, concluded that only 8% of donations provide food, shelter or other basic necessities. At most, an additional 23% is directed to the poor -- either providing other direct benefits (such as medical treatment and scholarships) or through initiatives creating opportunity and empowerment (such as literacy and job training programs). It's just not true, in other words, that the major beneficiaries of charity and philanthropy are the disadvantaged," Sandberg reports.

Among wealthy donors the gap affecting the very poor is even wider.

Those earning more than $1 million per year give only 4% of their donations for basic needs and an additional 19% to other programs geared toward the poor, even though they also report when asked that most of their donations go to assist the poor.

Why does this matter?

The role of individuals in American philanthropy is often misunderstood. Individuals give more than four times as much as foundations and corporations taken together.

Here's an amazing fact, according to Sandberg's report: fewer than 10,000 American families contribute more than 20% of all donations.

Sandberg provides some interesting analysis as to reasons behind these trends.

I found her comments on church giving to be instructive, but not so surprising.

When I drop my check into the offering plate on Sunday morning, I may have in mind my congregation's outreach to the homeless, but the fact is less than 20% (in most churches far less) of every dollar given in church benefits the poor in my community or anywhere in the world. For individuals and families earning below $100,000, church giving accounts for the majority of gifts offered up.

Really wealthy donors target education and health care in their giving. Sadly, less than 9% of these dollars go for scholarships to low-income students and only about 10% supports health care initiatives for the poor.

Sandberg concludes, "As Americans consider their 1040s this year, they need to ask if there is a disconnect between their desires and their actions. Many will find, perhaps to their surprise, that what they want to do is not, in deed, what they're doing. If so, they should start looking deeper into how their donations benefit those whose economic fortunes are dramatically different from their own."

[Ms. Sandberg is vice president of global online sales & operations at Google Inc. and a board member of Google.org.

Read the entire article at: http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB117565580732059314-lMyQjAxMDE3NzA1NDYwNTQ1Wj.html.]