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APRIL 4, 1997
NCDA CONCLUDES ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL NATIONAL COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT WEEK, NEARLY 350 COMMUNITIES AND STATES PARTICIPATE
March 28 marked the conclusion of the 11th National Community Development Week - the week long campaign to emphasize both locally and at the national level the "Signs of Progress" and the "Signs of Success" of the federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program! Nearly 350 localities and states, along with a significant number of nonprofits, subrecipients and CDCs, participated in this important effort nationwide. We commend all of the jurisdictions which joined in the celebration as this represents a higher participation rate than in the past several years. However, we once again encourage more communities to join in next year until we have all of the nearly 1,000 CDBG entitlement communities and states participating in National CD Week!
It is important to remember that National Community Development Week provides cities and counties with a unique opportunity to showcase, both to their own citizens and elected officials, the projects and services provided by CDBG and the significant role it plays in helping communities and residents to achieve self-sufficiency and improve their standard of living. Every community uses its CDBG funding for a variety of local program activities. Because CDBG funds are often mixed with other Federal, state and local program funds, the actual involvement and impact of the program is often not publicized. Many citizens are unaware that they are actually seeing CDBG dollars at work throughout their communities every day. In fact, for more than two decades, CDBG has been at the heart of many projects that provide valuable community services and respond to neighborhood needs, and for more than a decade, National CD Week has assisted communities in acknowledging the benefits of this important program.
Some of the most noteworthy CD Week activities undertaken in 1997 include: Homebuyer Fairs in several communities; CD Week banners hung across Main Street(s) and on City Hall; an annual CDBG Softball Game between two "rivalry" entitlement communities/teams; a "Fun Day" in a target neighborhood to acknowledge the participation of the residents of the neighborhood and the productive work of the area non-profits; display of CD Week billboards; and, lawn signs on CDBG projects.
NCDA Legislative Counsel, Margaret McGilvray joined in the CD Week celebrations in Baltimore, MD and Bridgeport, CT, providing remarks in the Lafayette Square area of Baltimore and during the "CD Week Luncheon" in Bridgeport. Throughout the country National Community Development Week received considerable attention and once again reminded elected officials and citizens of the powerful impact this program has on the lives of the low and moderate income residents of their communities. A few posters and postcards remain in stock, if your community is still interested in ordering some additional items, contact Karen Means at NCDA for further information. Enclosed please find a list of all those communities that registered their participation in National CD Week 1997. It's not to early to begin planning for next years CD Week Celebration!
PREPARATIONS FOR NCDA ANNUAL CONFERENCE UNDERWAY - SESSIONS TAKE SHAPE
The NCDA Annual Meeting, June 7-10, 1997, is taking shape. The Conference will be held at The Palmer House Hilton Hotel located at 17 East Monroe Street, in the heart of downtown Chicago. The hotel is conveniently located near shops, restaurants and transportation so plan to come and enjoy both the conference and the city.
Please note, for those of you arriving early on Saturday and wish to register early, the NCDA Registration Desk will be open on Saturday, June 7 from 12:00 noon until 5:00 pm for your convenience.
Some of the workshop highlights include:
Saturday, June 7
The Annual Conference program kicks off Saturday afternoon, June 7,
with two half-day sessions. These sessions include, "CDBG: Nuts and
Bolts", a workshop, that is back by popular demand, designed to provide
the basic elements of how to establish and implement a successful local
community development (CDBG) program. We have also scheduled a new companion
session entitled, "The Ins and Outs of HOME -- A Refresher Course".
This "refresher" course on the Home Investment Partnerships (HOME)
Program will provide a background on the basics of the HOME program as
well as the changes that have resulted from the publication of the HOME
Final Rule.
Sunday, June 8
A significant portion of Sunday is devoted to Association business,
including Regional Caucuses which allow NCDA Regions to elect representation
on the national Board of NCDA and conduct other regional business. Time
has also been set aside for the NCDA Committees to meet to discuss current
issues and advise the NCDA board on policy issues.
Special Conference Event - Chicago Blues Festival. The City of Chicago has obtained a considerable, though limited, number of tickets to the famous "Chicago Blues Festival" which will be available to Conference attendees and their guests. NCDA members will be free to walk over to the Festival, located just a few blocks from the hotel, which begins at 5:00 pm and runs to 9:00 pm and enjoy the music and revelry!
Monday, June 9
Monday afternoon is jam packed with thought provoking and interactive
concurrent workshops, topical round tables and a program swap session.
Three new Concurrent Sessions have been scheduled for the Annual Conference. They include: "Natural Disasters!! Is Your Community Prepared?: A Disaster Management Session ", a session developed out of an NCDA technical assistance project currently underway to help local governments deal with disasters and identify the roles, responsibilities and duties of local players in the aftermath of a natural disaster; "Micro-Enterprises: Opening Up New Opportunities for Community Economic Empowerment", a forum to discuss the latest breakthroughs in the development and use of micro-enterprises and their role in local economic development strategies and responses to welfare reform; and, "Neighborhood Development Initiatives: Forging Unique Partnerships to Revive Communities", will provide conference attendees with an opportunity to look at several unique local partnerships that have been developed between the local government and public housing and education entities in efforts to bring life back to an entire neighborhood.
A series of Topical Roundtables have also been scheduled to provide members with the opportunity to discuss in detail specific "hot issues" in small group settings. The titles include:
At the request of the membership NCDA will also hold a "Program Swap Session" in the afternoon to enable members to exchange materials on their programs and ask questions of one another in a casual unstructured atmosphere. To accommodate this session , NCDA is requesting that any members who would like to share any of their current community development and/or housing programs should send in descriptions of the programs as well as come to the conference prepared to share, in an informal format, the details of the program with other NCDA members during the "Swap Session". If you have any questions, contact Margaret McGilvray, at NCDA, (202) 293-7587 or send in program information to her attention. The more participation, the more useful this session!
Welcoming Reception: The annual reception will be held from 6:00 - 8:00 pm at the Chicago Cultural Center and will feature NCDA's trademark good time. Plan to join in!
Tuesday, June 10
The important HUD Briefings session will begin at 8:30 am and will
feature HUD program staff from the Chicago field office (responsible for
overall administration of the CDBG, HOME, and homeless programs) on hand
to address your questions. HUD Secretary Andrew Cuomo and/or his yet to
be appointed Assistant Secretary of the Office of Community Planning and
Development have been invited to attend as well. The Technical Session
has been moved to 12:30 - 2:00 pm on the final day and is entitled, "The
"TEAM" Approach to Housing for Homeownership -- A Successful
Model of Public and Private Collaboration on the Local Level". This
important session will outline how a strategic plan and a "team"
or "local partnership approach", between local government, lenders,
private developers, nonprofits and others can more readily provide results
for local building and rebuilding of communities. The team approach has
proven to be very effective in bringing together the public and private
sectors in housing development -- don't miss this session!!
For those who will be staying in Chicago on Tuesday evening, please join us for a special social event.
As the details of the conference become finalized, NCDA will publish updates. In the meantime, we hope to see you in June in the Windy City - Chicago, at NCDA's second Annual Conference away from home (outside Washington, DC). This meeting promises to be a most exciting event!
HUD DEVELOPS NEW COMMUNITY PLANNING SOFTWARE
HUD intends to release later in April a new generation of community planning software that is designed to help citizens analyze and participate in the decision making process around the use of federal, state and local housing and community development resources.
Developed in collaboration with Caliper Corporation of Newton, MA the updated mapping software is easier to use for those persons who are not computer proficient. Called "Community Planning Software Plus (CPS+)", the new software replaces MapInfo and is compatible with any database management or word processing system on the market.
CPS+ will enable users of the software to:
Some of the special features will provide access to users who are not familiar with the Geographic Information System, and include a "Map Library" to guide users through a wide selection of customized map displays.
CPS+ will leverage the strengths of Maptitude by providing access to complete mapping and visualization tools; convenient packaging of supporting geographic, demographic and HUD program data; plus, effective end-user documentation.
The software is scheduled to be available later in April, but for inquiries today, contact, Dick Burk at HUD, (202) 708-2096.
EFFORTS TO REPEAL DAVIS-BACON ARE SQUELCHED AGAIN
Despite attempts to repeal the Davis-Bacon law requiring contractors that use federal funds for construction to pay workers "prevailing wages", in this year's Intermodel Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA), it appears that the bill will go forward without the repeal provisions. Although, both the House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Bud Shuster (R-PA) and Senate Environmental and Public Works Chairman John Chaffe (R-RI) support repeal of Davis-Bacon, they have determined that they should not weigh down the transportation measure with "highly controversial" labor issues.
Davis-Bacon repeal efforts made significant headway in the last Congress when such provisions were successfully attached to the budget reconciliation bill, only to be stripped off later in an attempt to secure passage of the important funding measure. However, advocates for the repeal of Davis-Bacon will continue to pursue the issue, even if ISTEA is passed without it.
In addition, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) recently adopted a final rule continuing the suspension of Davis-Bacon regulations allowing the use of semi-skilled workers on federally assisted construction projects. The regulations allow contractors to use, "helpers", who can be paid under the prevailing wage, in areas where "helper" can be identified as a job classification.
HUD NEWS UPDATE
Internet Access Fees An Allowable CDBG Expense
HUD recently determined that Internet access fees are now an eligible
expense in the CDBG program, under the 20% administrative cap. The HUD
interpretation also applies to the Home Investment Partnerships (HOME)
and Emergency Shelter Grant (ESG) programs, but it remains unclear as to
whether or not it will apply to the Housing for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA)
program as well.
HUD Cites Drop in Section 108 Loan Commitments in FY96
HUD recently reported that commitments in the CDBG Section 108 Loan
Guarantee program in FY96 had dropped 76% from those reported in FY95 -
a drop from $1.8 billion in commitments to $433.8 million. HUD attributes
part of the drop in commitments to the lack of Economic Development Initiative
(EDI) funds in FY96. NCDA is still awaiting further word from HUD on the
status of the Section 108 Underwriting Guidelines. (See NCDA Washington
Reports, 1/24/97 and 3/10/97 for more details.)
CPD Listing of Recent Waivers
As noted in the NCDA Washington Report, 3/10/97 HUD recently published
a list of the waivers from CPD regulations granted in the final quarter
of 1996. Some of the waivers granted included:
For a copy of the waiver listing, contact NCDA, (202) 293-7587,
NCDA BIDS FAREWELL TO ROBIN THOMPSON
Robin Thompson will be leaving the NCDA Staff on April 11. As Legislative Counsel, Robin's duties have included coverage of the HOME Program and housing related issues as well as management of the NCDA portion of the NAHTI contract and coordination on the National Homeownership Strategy. While we will be sad to see her go, we wish her well as she departs for San Antonio, TX to tackle housing and community development challenges on the local level! We also take this opportunity to extend early best wishes to Robin and her fiancee for their upcoming marriage in October.
INTERNET UPDATE
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the division of
the federal Department of Treasury that oversees the Community Reinvestment
Act (CRA) has recently developed a an internet homepage. The address is:
http://www.occ.treas.gov. For further
information on the OCC and its homepage, contact the OCC Community Relations
Division, (202) 874-8770.
Enterprise, Inc., a private consultant in Las Vegas, NV has developed the "Community Career Center", an on-line system to allow government and not-for-profit employers and prospective managers to post and search for jobs as well as conduct candidate searches. The internet address is: http://www.nonprofitjobs.org. For information call (702) 259-9580 or email: info@nonprofitjobs.org.
FEDERAL REGISTER NOTICES
Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) for Community Outreach Partnership Centers (COPC) -- FR 62 13506 -13512, 3/20/97 - This NOFA announces the availability of approximately $7.5 million in FY97 funds for grants to establish and operate Community Outreach Partnership Centers (COPC). Eligible applicants are public and private nonprofit institutions of higher education. To obtain a copy of the application kit contact: HUD USER, Attn: COPC, P.O. Box 6091, Rockville, MD 20850. Requests may also be faxed into (301) 251-5747. The program is operated out of HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research. Application due date is June 19, 1997.
Proposed Rule: Implementing Provisions of the Housing Opportunity Program Extension Act of 1996 and Revising Section 8 Certificate, Voucher and Moderate Rehabilitation Admission and Occupancy Policies -- FR 62 15346 -15349, 3/31/97 - This proposed rule would amend the admission and occupancy requirements for the Section 8 Rental Certificate, Rental Voucher and Moderate Rehabilitation Programs. Comment due date, May 30, 1997.
HUD NOTICE
HUD User Publications List -- A guide which lists some of the reports and resources currently available through the HUD USER. For a copy of the listing contact HUD USER, (800) 245-2691 or fax a request to (301) 251-5767.
