NTIC receives honors, awards and appointments
during the first three months of 2003
NTIC and Chicago Neighborhood Housing Services strengthen bond
At a recent meeting of the Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago, Inc., the Central Board of Directors voted to approve the appointment of National Training and Information Center's Executive Director Joseph W. Mariano to join its ranks.
NTIC has a long tradition of being involved as a partner in the work of the Chicago NHS to rebuild Chicago's neighborhoods. The original founders of the NHS in 1975 included the late NTIC Director Gale Cincotta and Bruce Gottschall, NHS's executive director since its inception. Cincotta served on both the Central Board and the Operations Committee.
" I look forward as a member of the central board to continue to grow our partnership and to work with Bruce to organize, revitalize and build Chicago's neighborhoods," Mariano stated.
" I am also proud of our most recent collaboration with the NHS, where our research team, headed by David Rose, worked to provide both foreclosure data and interpretation for a major NHS presentation at the Federal Reserve Bank, as a part of the NHS Home Ownership Preservation Initiative."
NTIC invited to serve on Fannie Mae's National Housing Council
Franklin D. Raines, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Fannie Mae, has invited Joseph W. Mariano, NTIC Executive Director to serve a second term as a member of Fannie Mae's Housing Impact Advisory Council (HIAC). Meeting three times a year, the HIAC provides guidance to Fannie Mae's Housing and Community Development Division and senior management on the products and services offered to low and moderate-income home buyers, renters and underserved communities.
Winston Churchill Memorial Trust thanks NTIC
The Director of a British Development Trust, Roger Matland journeyed to the United States to learn how various organizing networks develop leaders through the methodology of community organizing. He made a special trip to visit with NTIC because of its reputation for doing effective grassroots neighborhood organizing. In the day-long meeting with Joe Mariano, NTIC Executive Director, Matland explained that while he attended the 10-day training of an institutional based model, he was looking for an organizing model which had "more punch" to it.
Matland, who heads up the Westway Development Trust in London, England told Mariano that he was amazed and excited when he viewed the NTIC video, which displayed the diverse talents of the grassroots leadership at its annual national neighborhoods conference in Washington, DC.
As a result of this meeting, Air Vice-Marshall Nigel Sudborough, the Director General wrote a letter on behalf of the Council of the Trust.
" Mr. Roger Matland has written to say how much he valued your involvement and help with his recent Traveling Fellowship."
" The Council of the Trust has asked me to say how grateful they are for your support, and the significant contribution that you have made to the success of this Churchill Fellow."
NTIC executive director keynote speaker at National Honor Society Induction
Von Steuben Metropolitan Science Center is a Chicago Public High School located in the Chicago's Albany Park neighborhood. The local chapter of the National Honor Society voted to invite NTIC Director, Joe Mariano to be the keynote speaker at its induction ceremony last February. Mariano was asked to talk about how community organizing could be both a service opportunity and career path for NHS members.
Mariano worked out an arrangement with the NHS to share the podium with a community organizer from an NTIC organizing project in that same neighborhood. NTIC played a major role in starting up the Albany Park Neighborhood Council and it continues to work closely with the organizing staff. Mariano suggested that Jenny Arwade, a veteran organizer, who works on school issues, describe how she works in the community, while he would talk briefly about how community organizing works and how it differs from social service.
Nearly 500 people attended, including students, parents, administration and faculty. One of the parents, Dr. Charles Peterson, the Dean of Arts and Sciences at nearby North Park University told Mariano after the talk, "I am going to tell the director of our masters program in community development about your work and suggest we continue to talk about how we might be in collaboration with NTIC."
New and emerging organizing groups get NTIC support
NTIC, as an intermediary with the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, has provided funding as well as training and technical assistance for 15 emerging groups in 2003. While the bulk of the $120,000 in funding went to groups in urban areas, such as the Community Uniting Project in Detroit, MI, this year's groups include family farm and rural organizing. One example in New Albany, IN is the Local Family Farm Organizing Project. Other groups, which receive funding have unique constituencies or issues. Disabled rights issues are the focus of the Deaf and Deaf Blind Committee for Universal Human Rights in Lorain, OH, and PACE in Mokena, IL is a parents group organizing for a mainstream public education for their children who have learning disabilities.
Sunflower Community Action in Wichita, KS is an example of a currently powerful and successful group who was once a "new and emerging" group funded through this Mott/NTIC program. Dorlan Bales, who is the development director staff with Sunflower, earlier this year wrote the following to NTIC:
" Last week I uncovered a musty file folder from 1990, back when organizing in Wichita was barely an idea. In the folder are notes about Trapp's (Shel Trapp, retired NTIC co-founder and staff director) first trip to Wichita scattering Mott seed money. We were an unlikely crew, but Trapp used Mott's money to help turn a bumbling assortment of do-gooders into learned-it-the-hard-way organizers. It's not much of an exaggeration to say that Sunflower Community Action would not exist if it were not for Mott seed money at the right place at the right time.
So if you need a testimonial to reassure the Mott folks that their seed money program is a good investment, feel free to point to Sunflower, for whatever we're worth!"
Community Survival
NTIC convenes 32nd annual
Leadership Meeting: brings over 150 community leaders from 22 states
CDBG Allocation
Community groups call for more funding
for affordable housing in low-income neighborhoods
NTIC Research Spotlighted
NTIC connects Chicago's rising foreclosures to increasing
sub prime and predatory lending
Partnerships and New Relationships
NTIC staff
meets with foundations from across the country during 2003's first quanter
On
the Road
NTIC staff
provides training and technical assistance to grassroots organizations
around the country