National CAPACD News - November 2009

National CAPACD News – November 2009

In this month’s newsletter:
   1) ACTION TA Program Grant Announcements
   2) Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement (CNHA) receives $50 million in New Market Tax Credits (NMTC) award
   3) Hyeok Kim will co-chair King County Executive Dow Constantine transition committee
   4) Federal Policy Update: 
   5) First Multi-lingual Foreclosure Rescue Fair in the San Gabriel Valley – December 5, 2009
   6) Treasury Announces New Efforts to Increase Permanent Loan Modifications for Homeowners
   7) National CAPACD Job Opportunities
   8) Save the Date: June 6-9, 2010! National CAPACD’s 11th Annual Convention.

1) National CAPACD News: ACTION TA Program Grant Announcements

National CAPACD is pleased to announce the start of another ACTION program year. With generous support from Citi Foundation, National CAPACD is able to make strategic investments in partnerships around the country that are designed to lift up the expertise of local member organizations as seasoned community development practitioners, and to increase the technical skills and capacity of emerging community-based development organizations.  

This year, National CAPACD opened the selection process by inviting proposals from our network.  With a total of fifteen applicants, it made for a thoroughly competitive process. Only six projects were selected. We warmly congratulate the following collaborations on being selected to participate in the 2009-2010 cohort:
 
Guam Communications Network (GCN), Long Beach, CA
GNC will be working with the Asian Pacific AIDS Intervention Team to develop a community needs assessment for the Pacific Islander communities of southern California.

South of Market Community Action Network (SOMCAN), San Francisco, CA
SOMCAN will be working the Veteran Equity Center to build their capacity in affordable housing advocacy at the local level, on behalf of Filipino American veterans who have been left out of federal housing programs due to their recent win over compensation for veterans’ benefits that were long overdue. 

Asian Economic Development Association (AEDA), St. Paul, MN
AEDA will develop economic development strategies to help mitigate the negative impacts of the development of a light rail in St. Paul on local API small businesses.

Korean Resource Center (KRC), Los Angeles, CA
The KRC will work with the Little Tokyo Service Center to implement a scattered-site senior housing development in Los Angeles’ Koreatown.
Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement (CNHA), Honolulu, HI
CNHA will provide assistance to Kahua, Inc. with the purpose of developing a self-help affordable housing program that is geared toward housing development on Hawaiian Homelands.

Asian Pacific American Legal Resource Center (APALRC), District of Columbia
APALRC looks to build upon their work in D.C.’s Chinatown to begin linguistically appropriate tenant’s rights education to other limited English proficient Asian immigrant communities in the greater D.C. area, such as the neighborhood of Columbia Heights.
 
For more information please contact Hieu Truong, Program Coordinator, at .

2) In the Field: Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement (CNHA) receives $50 million in New Market Tax Credits (NMTC) award

CNHA, one of National CAPACD member organizations recently announced their success in securing $50 million in New Market Tax Credits for the state of Hawaii.  CNHA partnered with Alaska Growth Capital, a subsidiary of an Alaska Native Corporation, Arctic Slope Regional Corporation to apply for the allocation from the U.S. Department of the Treasury. The Native Hawaiian NMTC Program will be used to deploy capital to the facility needs of Native Hawaiian communities, with a particular focus on the needs of Native Hawaiian charter schools and Hawaiian Home Land communities across the state.

CNHA and the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation (ASRC) partnership were among 99 awards made last month by the US Treasury Department, where $5 billion in tax credits were issued nationally to attract capital investments to low-income geographical locations.  CNHA was successful in applying to receive $50 million dollars of these funds and bringing them back to the state of Hawaii.  Under the Obama Administration the New Market Tax Credit program is part of a national economic recovery effort to move capital into projects that create jobs and stimulate local neighborhoods. 

CNHA and ASRC have already begun meeting with Hawaiian leaders to identify viable projects located within census tracts eligible for investment, identifying capital investors for the tax credits, and putting together financing models to leverage project funding needs.     

For more information on the Native Hawaiian New Market Tax Credit Program, contact Robin Danner by email at or by phone at 808-596-8155, toll-free at 1-800-709-2642. Visit their website.

3) In the Field: Hyeok Kim will co-chair King County Executive Dow Constantine transition committee

Hyeok Kim is the Executive Director of Inter*Im Community Development Agency, a National CAPACD member organization that develops affordable housing in the International District in Seattle, WA.  Ms. Kim and State Senator Fred Jarret will co-chair the transition team for incoming King County Executive Dow Constantine, who is replacing Ron Sims, now Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.  Congratulations Hyeok!

4) Federal Policy Update:  Promoting Transit Justice in St. Paul, MN

With the support of CAPACD staff and members organizations, Asian small businesses in St. Paul Minnesota filed a civil rights complaint with the Federal Transit Administration to protest discriminatory treatment by their regional transit agency.   The complaint charges that plans for developing a light rail line through the largest concentration of Asian small businesses in the state failed to assess the likely adverse impacts on minority businesses during the three to four year construction process.  Asian Economic Development Association in St. Paul has helped organize the businesses to raise concerns about project and to promote practices that would prevent the displacement of community serving shops and services.  In October, CAPACD organized a meeting between AEDA director Va-Megn Thoj, DOT and FTA officials in DC.  The complaint is presently under investigation. 

For more information on National CAPACD’s policy and advocacy work, please contact Gen Fujioka, Senior Policy Analyst at .

5) Resources: Multi-lingual Foreclosure Rescue Fair in the San Gabriel Valley – December 5, 2009

With the support of Bank of America, National CAPACD has partnered with the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), and the National Urban League to conduct a series of education and outreach event for communities of color who are facing foreclosure.  The Alliance for Stabilizing our Communities, as the partnership is formally named, will hold a multi-lingual Foreclosure Rescue Fair in the San Gabriel Valley in Southern California this weekend.  The fair is one of the 40 rescue fairs in 27 communities nationwide.  HUD-approved housing counseling agencies and attorneys will be on site to provide one-on-one foreclosure counseling sessions and foreclosure prevention workshops.  Services will available in Chinese, Korean, Tagolog, Thai, English and Spanish.

EVENT INFORMATION
Date: December 5, 2009
Time: 10AM – 2PM
Location: South El Monte High School in El Monte, CA

For more information, please contact Jane Duong, National AAPI Housing Program Manager at .

6) Resources: Treasury Announces New Efforts to Increase Permanent Loan Modifications for Homeowners

On November 30, 2009, the U.S. Department of Treasury announced new efforts to increase borrower conversion into permanent loan modifications through the Home Affordable Modification Program.  Since the beginning of the announcement of the program in February 2009, many borrowers have been approved for 3-month trial modifications, but few borrowers have been able to convert their trial modifications into permanent, sustainable loan modifications.  The new announcement from the Treasury Department reflects new efforts to encourage and improve permanent modifications.  A few notable changes announcement include Treasury imposing monetary penalties and sanctions on servicers that fail to meet their performance obligations.  Performance reports on all participating banks will now include rates of permanent modifications in addition to trial modifications which will allow counselors and advocates to determine how well servicers are assisting borrowers.

Also important for counselors are guidelines that require that borrowers submit timely documentation to be considered for a permanent modification.  Borrowers that received a trial modification prior to October 1, 2009 have until December 31, 2009 to sign a permanent modification agreement including submitting all required documentation.  Trial modifications received after October 1, 2009 will also have timelines associated.  To streamline this process, Treasury has detailed a documentation submission process on their website and included information describing the trail modification period and how to convert to a permanent modification.  http://makinghomeaffordable.gov/understandtp.html

National CAPACD is interested in hearing and tracking your experiences with the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) and the new procedures for assisting borrowers into permanent modifications.  Please feel free to share your thoughts at National CAPACD’s social network:  http://nationalcapacd.ning.com/forum/topics/obama-administration-kicks-off.

For outreach materials on the Making Home Affordable and Home Affordable Modification Program in Korean, Chinese and Vietnamese, contact National CAPACD at .  Requests may also be faxed to 202-223-4144.  There are additional fact sheets available in Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese and Tagalog online at http://www.makinghomeaffordable.gov/ads.html

7) Call for Applications:  Assets for Independence Program

The Office of Community Services (OCS), within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is now accepting grant applications of up to $1,000,000 for the Assets for Independence Demonstration Program (AFI). The next round of applications is due on January 15, 2010.
 
Community-based, faith-based, and other organizations – such as state, local and Tribal government agencies– that assist low-income people to become economically self-sufficient are encouraged to apply.  Applicants provide clients financial education and assistance while they save earned income into a matched savings account called an Individual Savings Accounts (IDAs).

More information can be obtained by downloading step-by-step guidance and suggestions for project development to help with application guidelines by contacting the AFI Resource Center at: (866) 778-6037. Visit http://www.acf.hhs.gov/assetbuilding to get your free copy of the AFI Project Builder, federal program announcement and related forms. 

8) National CAPACD Job Opportunities

National CAPACD is now hiring for the position of Operations Coordinator.  The Operations Coordinator will be responsible for activities such as database maintenance; communication systems management; fiscal systems administration; human resources administration and related operations and administrative functions.

We are continuing to accept applications for the Development and Communications Manager.  We seek an experienced, creative and energetic individual to implement our development, communications and events strategies. 

Qualified candidates for either position should send their cover letter, resume, salary history and 2-page writing sample to Romana Lee-Akiyama, Deputy Director at .  These positions will remain open until filled. 

Click here for a further description of the Operations Coordinator and the Development and Communications Manager.

9) Save the Date:  June 6-9, 2010! National CAPACD’s 11th Annual Convention.

National CAPACD’s 11th Annual Convention will be on June 6-9, 2009 in Washington, D.C. The Sponsorship Form and/or Exhibition Form are available now. 

If you have any questions please email or call 202-223-2442.

Stay tuned for updates!