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Strengthening Ward One Together

“Next Steps” Meeting


February 19th, 2010 9:00-11:30AM

I. Welcome & Purpose Penny Griffith, ED Columbia Heights Shaw Collaborative


a. SWOT is seeking to streamline and maximize the resources that all service providers can
provide for families
b. The idea emerged out of CHSFSC’s desire to conduct similar asset mapping as they had done in
1996 (namely, Future Search), recognizing that the community and service providers have
changed since then
c. Penny encouraged all to participate as leaders in SWOT sot that it truly becomes a Ward 1
owned project, not just a CH/SFSC event; she encouraged open dialogue
d. Additionally, CHSFSC would like input from partners specifically about how we can better do our
work in the community
II. Large Group Housing Discussion
Housing Needs Identified:
a. Juveniles/younger adults who do not have housing is a major concern; they do not get the
support that they need and therefore they end up homeless; many times they have been
abused/neglected or incarceratedthere are not enough housing resources for these people
b. Buildings that are not subsidized have constantly rising rent; this is a huge issue because they
become unaffordable for the residents of the community; this is an issue for senior citizens as
well
c. Clients who are looking for affordable housing but do not have vouchers are in trouble because
they do not get the same type of service (there is no motivation for the landlord’s to upgrade
facilities without the vouchers accountability)
d. Transitional programs for both youth and unemployed adults are necessary
e. The openness with which landlords try to get their tenants out so that they can push up rents is
unfair; it shouldn’t be so easy for the landlords to do thisalso, many landlords may simply let
the buildings deteriorate to the point that the tenants have to move
f. Violations should be exposed in these types of buildings because they cause danger to families
with children; relocation of these families in crisis is difficultDCRA should be notified at the first
sign of violation
g. Total mismanagement of public housingat times residents do not pay rent for over a year and
there is absolutely no consequence; this creates a huge problem because later the landlord will
approach the residents and demand the sum in full (which is obviously something that the
residents will be unable to pay without prior warning)
h. The waitlist for affordable housing from the DC Housing Authority is extremely long (30,000
families are on this waitlist)the need exceeds the availability, leading to crisis
i. There are many residents who are rent-burdened (paying more than 30% of their income
towards rent)
j. How do we get relationships built between long-time residents, immigrants and new residents
(who tend to be wealthier)
k. Relatively affluent people sometimes don’t even have the funds to buy homes in this economic
climate, and thus have to rentthis causes them to have a lack of interest in personally and
socially investing in the community because they are not financially investing in it

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l. We need to hold the Housing Authority accountable for the upkeep of buildings
Resources:
m. Nowhere to go: as DC housing costs rise, residents are left with fewer affordable housing
options: hhtp://dcfpi.org (2/5/10)
n. Addressing the foreclosure crisis: action-oriented research in three cities: www.urban.org
o. SWOT Blog: swotdc.blogspot.com
III. Presentation by “Save Our Safety Net” (SOS) Greg Bloom, Bread For the City
a. There is a real short-term crisis going on right now because of the 2008 economic crash and the
huge DC city deficitthe Mayor supports cutting funding to programs (such as child welfare and
housing) in order to cut down the deficit
b. We need to get the word out about what the Mayor wants to do and especially to get the Council
to take a strong position in favor of safety net programsat least to balance the budget cuts
c. The 2010 SOS campaign was moderately successful but there were still large cuts coming for
2011; we fear that the Mayor hasn’t learned the lesson and will try to disproportionately cut safety
net programs again (especially since the deficit is even worse than last summer)
d. SOS is going to stage actions, tell stories and try to motivate the public to make sure that these
safety net services are not cut
e. For more information please contact Greg at: gbloom@breadforthecity.org
IV. SWOT Data Group
a. Reviewed a fact sheet that came from the first meeting; still in draft form; please provide
feedback (what should be added, if something needs to be deleted or edited)
b. Meeting together March 4th at 10am at the Office of Latino Affairs
c. For more information, please contact Jess at: jquaranto@chsfsc.org
V. Breakout Groups Next Steps: Leader Name
a. Business Engagement: Natalie Avery
i. Help nonprofits to think about packaging what they can offer for businesses so that there
will be better partnering/coordination; this would make it win-win
ii. Go door to door and find out what types of services businesses really need
b. Housing: Khaleedah Harris
i. Communicate with all housing service providers of Ward 1
ii. Housing Core Group: all members of the break-out group have signed up to continue
working on these issues outside of SWOT (with a follow-up meeting date: March 5th at
1130 at Girard Recreation Center) Please contact Khaleedah
at:coinnsgrassrootorg@yahoo.com
c. Resident Engagement: Jason Berry/Camille Mckenzie
i. Goal: build stronger communitybring service providers together with residents
ii. Steps:
1. Service provider database
2. Needs assessment of residentssurveys/outreach/door-to-door
3. Time banks: 1 hour of 1 person’s time is equal to another’s time; a give-give
situation
d. Funding Issues: Sylvia Robinson
i. Combining resources (staff, space) and “collaborating the collaboratives” so that there
isn’t so much competition
ii. Transparency in governmentlack of understanding and confusion regarding funding
iii. City-wide dialogue between all collaboratives and funders
e. Building Capacity for Working with Diverse Communities: Gail Oliver

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i. We could develop an oral history project to tell the stories of longtime residents as well
as new arrivals to the community
ii. Community resources that would enable individuals to locate and identify resources that
are available for them
iii. Community organizations need to come together to cross-pollinate and create a shared
goalmaybe a festival to showcase diversity
f. Logistics and Communication: Jose Dorce
i. SWOT blogplease sign up and participate
ii. March 5th: Brown Bag lunch meeting (less technical, more informative)
VI. Thank You
a. Please give us feedback! We need your input about the work that we are doing
b. We need responses from those who have known us forever and those who have just come in
contact with us (to get different point of views)

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Full Breakout Group Notes from Chart Paper

Housing:
♦ Transitional Juvenile Population Challenges
♦ Limited beds for youth
♦ Youth are not in the winter plan for housing
♦ Lack of adequate mental health services for youth population
♦ Suggestions:
♦ Monitor Housing Authority
o Maintenance/upkeep is happening
o Accountability
o documentation of conditions (by taking pictures)
o Post conditions on the list serve
o To rally support with letters and e-mails to housing
♦ Identify all HA property and scatter locations
o Identify if there is vacancy or if they serve another purpose
♦ Meet and Greets for everyone for diverse population
♦ Voter registration
♦ Housing Counseling, HFA, UPO, Hispanic Chambers of Commerce, Bread for the City
♦ Organizing a housing group that meets on a regular basis and engages other funding organizations
♦ Partners should be active and aid in building capacity and momentum
♦ Making sure that we have open communication with providers and are aware of true resources
♦ “Recycle” vacant properties into affordable housing
♦ Legislative campaign to improve DCRA inspections, emergency repair, “nuisance abatement”
♦ Tenants’ Rights Bill: right to sue landlord/tenant in court

Funding Issues: Beth Perry/Sylvia Robinson


♦ Sustainable funding instead of crisis funding
♦ What money is out there that doesn’t involve the District government?
o There is a lot of money wasted out there
o There is also a transparency in the District government
o They don’t seem to understand the budget and there is a disconnect between CFOs
and programs
o There is too much :lumping together” of budgets for different programs (makes it very
complicated)
o Presentation of the budget is confusing for the public; they can’t tell how the money is
allocated
♦ Internal shifts within organizations is important
♦ Funding cuts are political and arbitrary; they don’t look at the data
♦ There is a necessity of awareness about these issues; that awareness is lacking
♦ There is a need to join together because of fragmentation form the top and from the bottom
♦ Suggestions:
o Combining resources within small organizations: i.e. sharing staff, sharing spaces
o Combining the efforts of different organizations; other groups partnering with SWOT
 “Collaborate the Collaboratives”

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 Partnering instead of competing; a network, not a business model
o Providing trainings about funding
o City-wide meeting to discuss the safety net; funding for this safety net and involvement
of government (getting the Federal government involved as well)
 Getting each organization to identify its needs beforehand so that it is a true
dialogue and not a competition for funders
♦ Building Capacity for Working with Diverse Communities: Gail Oliver
♦ Logistics and Communication: Jose Dorce

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