NTIC staff provides training and technical assistance to grassroots organizations around the country
Maywood, IL
Natioanl Training and Information Center's Illinois Predatory Lending Organizer Amalia NietoGomez traveled to Maywood, IL to speak about the Illinois predatory lending campaign at a forum, called Block by Block- Taking Our Village Back. NTIC has been working with Maywood Citizens Fight Against Crime for more than three years to fight predatory lenders who are forcing neighborhood residents from their homes. As a result, gang members and drugs move into these foreclosed and abandoned homes.
NTIC was instrumental in providing training and information to Maywood Citizens, who have in turn educated key Maywood decision-makers, including residents, the City of Maywood, Maywood Trustees and legislators about predatory lending and the link to crime and drug activity. Maywood Citizens recently won a Maywood office from the Cook County Community Prosecutor to help fight crime and drugs. NTIC will work with Maywood Citizens to hold a follow-up meeting with community members during the next few months.
Cleveland,OH/Manhattan, KS
NTIC Training Director, Shannon Bade made trips to two local organizing groups in the first quarter of 2003. The first trip was to the East Side Organizing Project (ESOP) in Cleveland, OH in January while the second trip in March was to Speak United (SU) in Manhattan, KS. Both trainings were centered on workers' access to better paying jobs and job training. Bade conducted trainings with leaders to help them understand current programs available under the Workforce Investment Act. She also presented how other community organizations have accessed these programs. ESOP and SU are planning to replicate the job training testing projects implemented by the Anti-Displacement Project in Springfield, MA and the Jobs and Affordable Housing Campaign in Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN over the past two years. Both testing projects documented that local workforce centers were not providing access to training or employment required by federal law.
Minneapolis, MN
NTIC Immigrant Rights/Youth Project Director Aaron Wagner traveled to Minneapolis, MN in late-March to meet with 40 youth leaders from the Minnesota Coalition on Access to Higher Education, Project Success, the Jobs and Affordable Housing Coalition (JAHC) and the Organizing Apprenticeship Project. Wagner conducted a training on Power and Issue Development, Telling Your Story To Public Officials and How To Hold a Successful Meeting. Wagner also conducted a power analysis for youth interested in working on adjustment of legal status for undocumented students.
The Coalition's next steps are to participate in the April 12 National Student Day of Action on access to higher education. Youth leaders will be educating fellow youth, local businesses and public officials during the week and working with Wagner and NTIC to further develop their skills as emerging leaders in Minnesota.
Chicago, IL
NTIC's National Housing Organizer Cathy Klump teamed up with Jeff Pinzino of the Woods Fund of Chicago to conduct a training for Chicago Communities in Schools (CCIS). The training focused on how to build powerful and effective relationships through one-on-one conversations. Staff of CCIS discussed the goals of one-on-ones, common challenges and how to work through them and how one-on-ones can change the nature of their partnerships.
Indianapolis, IN
NTIC's National Housing Organizer Cathy Klump participated in the Organization for a New Eastside's (O.N.E.) first public meeting on abandoned housing. Leaders presented testimony on the impact of abandoned housing on their families and their neighborhoods. O.N.E. allies discussed the effects of abandoned housing on the homeless population and told the crowd that a few homeless individuals have died because they froze to death inside open and dangerous homes. Representatives from HUD, property management companies, the Indianapolis Police Department and Rep. Julia Carson's (D -IN) office attended the meeting and pledged their support for dealing with the abandoned housing crisis. This public meeting is part of O.N.E.'s year long strategy to eradicate abandoned buildings from Indianapolis's east side.
Washington, DC
NTIC Community Reinvestment Organizer Gail Parson and National Housing Organizer Cathy Clump traveled to the NTIC/Fannie Mae Partnership Meeting in Washington D.C. NTIC affiliate organizations updated Fannie Mae on the progress of the NTIC Experiment loan product and the Refinance Initiative. The meeting also provided an opportunity to discuss HUD's Asset Control Area program as a possible way of increasing the rehab and resale of vacant homes.
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
1st Quarter Accomplishments
NTIC receives honors, awards and
appoinments during the first three months of 2003
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