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This issue spotlights real
estate production, one of the many roles that PPND and
our investment recipients can play in revitalizing
Pittsburgh's
communities. |
| Strategic Corridors
RFP |
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PPND has issued a Request for Proposal
(RFP) for a Multi-neighborhood Strategic Corridors
designation. Organizations that receive this
designation will be qualified to apply for
predevelopment grants. Visit our Website for more
information. |
| PPND & The Forbes Funds:
Neighborhood Capacity-Building Initiative |
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PPND has
partnered with the Forbes
Funds to help small-staffed and volunteer-led
organizations prepare for applications to our Introduction Capacity investment program.
This support will enable such groups to acquire the
skills they need to become effective leaders of change
in their communities. Three
organizations have been chosen for participation in
2008: Uptown
Partners; Homewood-Brushton Community
Coalition Organization; and a
collaborative of 13 organizations from the Hilltop area
of the City of Pittsburgh (Allentown, Beltzhoover,
Arlington, Knoxville, Carrick, Mt. Oliver Boro,
Arlington Heights and St. Clair Village). After
completing an assessment process, each organization can
tap assistance in fundamental skills such as
grant-writing, fundraising and related strategic
planning; board development and financial management;
and community organizing and planning. PPND is proud to
support the organizations taking part in this
initiative. |
| Lessons Learned: New
Communities Program |
|
 Program
officers Sarah Dieleman Perry and
Wanda Wilson joined 900 community
developers from around the country for the "Getting It
Done: New Tools for New Communities" conference
sponsored by LISC/Chicago in March. The conference was
a showcase of Chicago's New
Communities Program (NCP). All events were
organized and implemented by representatives from the
local participating community groups, who enjoyed a
friendly competition for conference attendees to visit
their colorful displays and wear their neighborhood
buttons. Sarah and
Wanda attended neighborhood tours and participated in
workshops on specific NCP tools, such as leveraging and
evaluating. Over the next few months, we will be taking
some of the successful elements of this program and
implementing them here in Pittsburgh.
The
following excerpt is from the New Communities
website:
The New
Communities Program is a long-term initiative of
LISC/Chicago to support comprehensive community
development in 16 Chicago neighborhoods. NCP is designed
to strengthen communities from within - through
planning, organizing and human development. The comprehensive
approach helps broaden opportunities for local residents
through better education, broader job choices, safer
streets, new economic opportunities and stronger
personal finances. This strengthened community is better
equipped to take advantage of larger market
forces:
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Attracting
retail and housing development to areas that have
experienced little new construction.
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Achieving
economic balance in neighborhoods where working-class
residents fear displacement by higher-income
newcomers.
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Creating
stronger connections to metropolitan-wide business,
employment and educational
opportunities.
More than
$17.5 million has been committed to NCP by the John D.
and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and
LISC/Chicago to provide lead agencies with staffing,
planning assistance and project seed
money. |
| 2007: A Banner Year for
Pittsburgh's CDCs |
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In 2007,
PPND grantees' real estate production was
substantial.
Together they developed, partnered with the lead
development team or facilitated the construction and
sale/lease of 31 houses, 125 apartments and 452,400
square feet of commercial space. Taking into
consideration all of the roles that grantees play in the
development process, 2007 was a banner year for PPND
grantees for both housing and commercial
development.
The housing total is more than 50 percent greater
than the 2006 production, and more than double the total
production from 2005. Most of this
production continues to occur as grantees facilitate
production or partner with other developers to help
ensure projects meet the needs of the
community.
 2007 was also an unprecedented
year for development of commercial real estate for
Pittsburgh CDCs.
As facilitators, grantees completed more than
300,000 square feet of commercial real estate. More directly,
as lead developers, PPND grantees leased or sold 57,100
square feet of new commercial space, more than double
the combined figures from 2005 and 2006. This was due in
large part by the Ice House Artist Studios project
completed by the Lawrenceville Corporation which includes
35,000 square feet of commercial real
estate.
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| OPDC's Champions in Action
Award |
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| Oakland
Planning & Development Corporation's JobLinks
program was given a Champions in Action
award on April 25 by Citizens Bank chairman
Ralph J. Papa. Along with the
$25,000 grant comes extensive volunteer and promotional
support through partner WPXI-TV, as well as brochures
and posters available at Citizens Bank branches.
JobLinks has helped over 7,000 people find jobs in the
healthcare industry over the last seven years. The
program has a six-month retention rate of 80 percent,
with wages averaging $10 per hour. Congratulations to
David Blenk, executive director of
OPDC, Darryl Daughtry, executive
director of JobLinks, the rest of the staff and board,
and to all of the people trained and placed through this
model
program! |
| New Voices |
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PPND's
Board of Directors has expanded committee membership to
include more voices from the field and align the
strategies of our region's many community development
advocates.
Our Real Estate Committee will review
applications to the national loan pool that will be
available through our LISC affiliation as well as a
predevelopment grant/loan program for multi-neighborhood
corridors. This committee welcomed two additional
members in the first quarter of
2008:
- David
Serafini is the Vice President of Citizens
Bank, one of the 10 largest commercial banking
companies in the United States ranked by assets and
deposits.
- Rob
Stephany is the Deputy Director of the Urban
Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh (URA). The URA works to create jobs,
increase the city's tax base and improve the vitality
of businesses, neighborhoods and the city's culture as
a
whole.
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| Staff Updates |
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We extend
a very warm welcome to David Light, who
joined our staff in April as Loan Officer. In this newly
created role, David is responsible for loan programs and
lending activities related to PPND's efforts to support
community development projects.
David
comes to PPND with 15 years of diverse real estate
experience, including city planning, architecture, real
estate development and mortgage banking. In each area, he
had a community-building focus and worked extensively
with neighborhoods, nonprofits, public agencies and
private sector interests. As a private mortgage banking
lender, David was responsible for originating over $225
million in loan production. David earned a
Master of Architecture from the University of
California, Los Angeles and Bachelor of Arts Degree in
Urban Planning from the University of Maryland, College
Park.
Contact David at 412.471.3727 ext. 10 or
david@ppnd.org. |
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Mission:
PPND supports
the revitalization of the Pittsburgh region's
distressed neighborhoods into desirable and diverse
communities by raising funds and making strategic
investments in community development and community
improvement organizations.
Copyright 2008 Pittsburgh Partnership for
Neighborhood
Development | | |
