Tiny Story House: Telling the "CitySquare Story"

 

 

 

 

 

 

Resource for inner city community development

 

 

Annual Conference

Save the date:  October 5-7, 2016

Dallas, Texas

Cliff Temple Baptist Church

(details here)

Value propositions and barriers to housing

The Threat to Detroit’s Rebound Isn’t Crime or the Economy, It’s the Mortgage Industry

Redlining is alive, well and dangerous in Detroit.

Story by Anna ClarkTwitter

Published on Dec 7, 2015

 

As a young married couple, Steven and Corey Josephson chose to begin their lives together in Detroit. They came from Greeley, Colorado, a city that couldn’t be more different. It was founded as an experimental utopian community; its majority-white population has more than doubled since 1970; and its unemployment rate is lower than the national average, and about half that of Detroit.

But in August 2014, they left. Corey, a theater and English teacher, grew up in Michigan, and Steven found a position in Detroit’s Teach for America program, teaching science to the youngest kids at Coleman A. Young Elementary School.

Along with their beagle, Baley, they moved into a house in northeast Detroit near 8 Mile Road. “We loved the house, we loved the neighbors,” Steven Josephson says. They were renting, but “homes are just so cheap here, it makes more sense to buy.” So they approached their landlord about purchasing the home. At first, everything moved smoothly — but then, Josephson said, the landlord backed out.

Read more here.

"demographic equivalent of E=mc2"

Kay S. Hymowitz

Why Spike Lee Is Wrong About Gentrification

We’ve yet to find a better alternative for urban revival.

Autumn 2015

 

BETH J. HARPAZ/AP/CORBIS

 

Columbia Heights, one of several Washington, D.C., neighborhoods that declined during the 1960s, has been transformed by gentrification.

In the 1990s, decades after the riots that followed the 1968 murder of Martin Luther King, the Washington, D.C., neighborhoods of Logan Circle and Columbia Heights still showed scars of that terrible time. Through many of those years, the mostly black residents of those areas would be in luck if they were looking for a prostitute or a drug deal; they had a harder time tracking down fresh spinach or blood-pressure medication. Logan Circle’s elegant Civil War–era mansions were crumbling or boarded up; the turreted row houses of Columbia Heights were in even worse shape.

Still, the local D.C. government was growing aware of the potential of these two neighborhoods, near as they were to federal government offices and the swarm of lobbying and law firms and media and public-relations outfits near them. In 1999, a metro stop opened in Columbia Heights, right across the street from a spiffy new Target. A Whole Foods took up residence a year later in a former auto-parts store near Logan Circle. Fortuitously, the District was at the same moment beginning to catch the eye of a growing number of career-hungry recent college grads.

Read more here. 

Images from my recent trip to the White House

Recently, in response to an invitation from the White House Office of Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, I traveled to Washington, DC for a 2-day consult on health care and its efficient expansion.  What an opportunity to share "the CitySquare Way."  It was an incredible experience. 

Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy, MD talked to us.  He was most impressive. 

I came away feeling that we are on the right  track, but we must find ways to do more. 

A fundamental premise of the consult was that we possess all the resources we need to address our challenges.  Our problem is that what we have is not aligned nor deployed for maximum impact.  We must work together to be successful. 

Mayor Rawlings to share annual report. . .

Reflections after two decades

I've been at this now for over twenty years. 

Yesterday, I moved my office from 511 N. Akard in the heart of Downtown Dallas to our new Opportunity Center across I-30 in South Dallas-Fair Park.  It is exciting to be back in a neighborhood where people are fighting hard to scratch out a better life for themselves and their families. 

Of course, the same thing is underway in our Downtown building--a 15-story, neighborhood in vertical. 

CitySquare, like the neighbors we engage, is edgy. 

I mean, we got "attitude" when it comes to poverty, how sick and tired we are of it and how sold out we are to see it diminished significantly. 

Because we live on "the edge" here in more ways than I can count, we never stop studying, listening, learning, changing, trying, innovating, questioning, challenging and battling. 

Our new center serves as our latest "Exhibit One" in this regard.

We designed the Opportunity Center to function as a "collective impact" resource for people serious about improving their lives through hard work, various training options, education about managing scarce resources and openness to willing and helpful mentors/coaches who are eager to get involved in the progress of individuals and of our larger community. 

But, we've always done weird stuff here. 

Our "standard operating procedure" includes things like:

• Directing funding opportunities away form ourselves to other organizations, if we feel others could have more impact on the entire problem in question.
• Listening, I mean really listening, to the very, very poor and the down and out.
• Shaping responses to poverty based on what we've heard from the poor. 
• Hiring people with no background in non-profit organizations or with social services, as classically understood (myself included!).
• Experimenting with approaches, programs and investments, again and again, seeking better breakthroughs for our neighbors.
• Starting efforts before we know everything about what we're doing.
• Stopping things that don't work, and stopping them as quickly as possible.
• Refusing to be silent when policy reforms are needed, even when being vocal may threaten our position with some potential or current supporters.
• Tolerating eccentric, sometimes difficult team members because of their devotion and their effectiveness when it comes to getting the job done for "poor" folks. 
• Never wasting time to ask for permission to do what is clearly the right thing. 

I could go on, but I'll stop here.

Reflecting helps me understand why after more than two decades I still love coming to work every day. 

Typical days in inner city Dallas

Thought I'd just document some of what I've been up to the last three days at CitySquare according to my calendar.

Monday

7:30 a.m. Breakfast with a board member and representatives from building owners across the street to discuss how we might help with their leasing processes and how they might support our work.

8:30 a.m. Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance Executive Committee conference call.

10:00 a.m. CitySquare Executive Management meeting.

11:30 a.m. Meeting with attorney from Legal Aid of NW Texas to discuss collaboration with CitySquare's LAW Center.

12:30 p.m. "Finish Out" meeting regarding CitySquare's new Opportunity Center.

2:00 p.m.  Meeting with partners on the Cottages at Hickory Crossing project.

3:30 p.m. Met with Homeless Outreach Team to discuss how presence at "The Corner" might be a source of referrals for permanent supportive housing.

Tuesday

10:00 a.m.  Covenant group meeting with other ministers in residency

1:30 p.m.  Met with Dallas Public School executive director for college and career readiness

3:00 p.m.  Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance Public Policy Committee meeting

Wednesday

10 a.m.  Met with chair person of the Dallas Development Fund to discuss specific challenge related to our New Markets Tax Credit award for the Opportunity Center.  Included in the conversation were point people on the Opportunity Center development project.

10:45 a.m.  Conferred with two key management leaders to discuss unusual opportunity in South Dallas-Fair Park that would involve re-purposing a church in decline.

11:30 a.m.  Met with a young community analyst from a  partner non-profit organization who is working on public education here in Dallas.

2:00 p.m. Met with staff at CitySquare's Community Health Services to discuss more effective community outreach to grow our family practice in South Dallas-Fair Park.

3:00 p.m. Participated in National Immigration Grassroots Call hosted by the United Methodist Church.

3:45 p.m. Discussed our usual summertime financial challenges and began to plot a pathway through the worsening "tough patch."  Praying for new and regular donors to step forward to help us continue our work among so many low-income neighbors.

4:00 p.m.  Met with leader in a local church who is determined to mobilize on-going support for CitySquare while calling her church to meaningful community service and advocacy re public policy.

Throughout each day observed, met with, visited with countless persons who live in the CityWalk building here at CitySquare.  Visited with folks on the street in South Dallas.  People are in various states of difficulty and progress.

What an amazing place to work!

Good News for CitySquare AmeriCorps Team!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

 

DATE: July 5, 2013

 

CONTACT: Elizabeth Darling, 512-287-2062, liz@onestarfoundation.org

 

OneStar Foundation Announces AmeriCorps Grants to Texas Organizations

 

2,126 AmeriCorps members to meet state and local needs

 

Austin, TX – OneStar Foundation announced today that 22 organizations in Texas have received AmeriCorps*State grants from the Corporation for National and Community Service. 

 

The grants will support 2,126 AmeriCorps members across the state who will serve as in-school, after-school and summertime teachers, tutors and mentors, provide intensive college access and success services, engage in adult and early literacy interventions, participate in early childhood development programs, distribute food to economically disadvantaged children and families, engage children in daily physical activity, assist with case management for the homeless, recruit hundreds of volunteers, and respond to disasters throughout the state.

 

OneStar Foundation will distribute more than $12.3 million in funding to organizations selected in a highly competitive statewide and national process. 

 

“National service is an essential part of the solution to many of the social challenges facing our Texas communities,” said Elizabeth Darling, President/CEO. “These AmeriCorps members will meet pressing local needs and strengthen Texas as they develop civic and leadership skills that can last a lifetime.”

 

The current year’s AmeriCorps grant cycle was highly competitive, due to the strong and growing demand by organizations seeking AmeriCorps resources. Demand is also strong from individuals wanting to serve. CNCS received a record-breaking 582,000 AmeriCorps applications in 2011, a dramatic increase from the 360,000 seen in 2009. 

 

"AmeriCorps members are improving the lives of millions of citizens and having a positive and lasting impact on the toughest challenges facing our communities,” said Wendy Spencer, CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service. “I congratulate these organizations for their strong applications in a highly competitive year. Thanks to the dedicated service of AmeriCorps members, these organizations will increase their reach and impact on meeting local needs.”

 

The grants advance the priorities of the bipartisan 2009 Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act and focus AmeriCorps resources on six key service areas: disaster services, economic opportunity, education, environmental stewardship, healthy futures, and veterans and military families.

 

On a national level, AmeriCorps engages 80,000 Americans of all ages and backgrounds in service to meet critical needs. Members serve through more than 14,000 organizations in rural and urban communities throughout the nation. Among other accomplishments, AmeriCorps members last year mobilized 3.4 million community volunteers, and tutored, mentored or served more than 3.5 million disadvantaged youth.

 

Since 1994, more than 775,000 Americans have provided more than 1 billion hours of service to their communities and country through AmeriCorps. In 2012, 1,964 AmeriCorps members served at 20 programs across the state of Texas in the fields of Education, Economic Opportunity, Healthy Futures, Environmental Stewardship, and Veterans & Military Families. Members provided 2.3 million hours of service and earned $7.4 million in Segal Education Awards to further their own education and repay student loan debt after serving. The 20 AmeriCorps*Texas programs received $12,111,429 in federal AmeriCorps funding, and leveraged an additional $9,766,781 in match funding.

 

Below is a listing of 2013 AmeriCorps grants in Texas:

• Amarillo ISD, $285,430 to support 55 AmeriCorps Members
• American YouthWorks, $260,000 to support 20 AmeriCorps Members
• AVANCE, Inc. El Paso Chapter, $930,960 to support 74 AmeriCorps Members
• Breakthrough , $330,013 to support 106 AmeriCorps Members
• CitySquare, $1,142,953 to support 304 AmeriCorps Members
• City Year, Inc. , $1,476,300 to support 111 AmeriCorps Members
• College Forward, $965,655 to support 75 AmeriCorps Members
• Communities in Schools of Central Texas, $711,044 to support 96 AmeriCorps Members
• Communities in Schools of the Heart of Texas, $279,168 to support 48 AmeriCorps Members
• Front Steps, $403,000 to support 31 AmeriCorps Members
• Harris County Department of Education, $326,618 to support 32 AmeriCorps Members
• Literacy Coalition of Central Texas, $330,592 to support 32 AmeriCorps Members
• Project GRAD, $244,353 to support 25 AmeriCorps  Members
• Project Transformation, $477,984 to support 115 AmeriCorps Members
• Reading Partners, $370,500 to support 30 AmeriCorps Members
• SA Youth, $265,421 to support 40 AmeriCorps Members
• Schulenburg Weimar In Focus Together, $282,830 to support 41 AmeriCorps Members
• Teach for America, $950,000 to support 634 AmeriCorps Members
• Travis County Dept. of Health and Human Services and Veterans Service, $301,696 to support 32 AmeriCorps Members
• University of North Texas, $466,436 to support 83 AmeriCorps Members
• The University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College, $265,892 to support 40 AmeriCorps Members
• University of Texas at Austin | Charles A. Dana Center, $1,330,000 to support 106 AmeriCorps Members

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OneStar Foundation is the Governor-designated National Service Commission in Texas and administers the AmeriCorps*State grant program. The Governor-appointed Board members oversee the legal and policy governance of the AmeriCorps*Texas program portfolio. OneStar Foundation connects partners and resources to build a stronger nonprofit sector in Texas. Learn more at onestarfoundation.org.

 

AmeriCorps is a national service program administered by the Corporation for National and Community Service, a federal agency that engages more than 5 million Americans in service each year and administers United We Serve, the President’s call to service.  Individuals can learn about available opportunities and apply online by visiting AmeriCorps.gov.

 

 

 

 

 

The Wealth of the Poor

 Order your copy of The Wealth of the Poor today! Call toll free 1-877-816-4455 or go to Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble.

Wealth of the Poor

At last, I'm proud to announce that my new book, Wealth of the Poor:  How Valuing Every Neighbor Restores Hope in Our Cities, is finally available. 

Well, almost widely available.

Let me explain. 

We missed the sales deadline to place the book widely in retail establishments and on-line.  So, what we have is a pre-release option on the book.

You can order it today directly from ACU Press by calling 877-816-4455 or by visiting their website at www.abilenechristianuniversitypress.com. 

Wider distribution will begin in May 2013, as you'll learn by going to Amazon!

Naturally, I hope the book sells to broaden the reach of the CitySquare story and its model for urban renewal. 

Let me know if you order one! 



Mayor Booker speaking for CitySquare

Love this story!

How do we accomplish something like this down Malcolm X Boulevard to Grand Avenue and beyond?  

Hard?  Yes!

But I refuse to use the word "impossible."  

There's got to be a way without a hurricane. . .but we'll need an investment partner like New Orleans found.  

Dallas 2024???

Already a group of Dallas folks are hard at work on a bid for the 2024 Olympics! If developed properly with determined sensitivity to existing communities, a winning bid could be leveraged to renew areas of Dallas like South Dallas-Fair Park. What do you think? Note: listen for a big Dallas mention toward the end

of the video report below:

 

Let's party!