New Hope Community Development Nonprofit Housing Corporation (New Hope)
When was it organized?
We come from Catholic origins. Focus Hope was the Catholic organization at the time and New Hope started similarly at a different parish in 1990. We received our nonprofit status in 1994.
Who is completing this survey? Name and role with organization:
Executive Director, Dana Christian
Choose one category that best fits your organization:
Community Development Organization (not sponsored by a church or agency or company)
Does your organization have paid staff?
Yes
If yes, what is your FTE staff? Within that, what is full time and what is part time?
1 full time, 2 part time
What is the annual budget of your organization?
$400,000 (Varies each year)
Describe the streets or locations that define your organization’s overall focus area (north, south, east and/or west):
- 6 Mile
- 8 Mile
- Southfield Freeway
- City Limits near Telegraph
Describe in detail the work your organization does, within the role categories below, along with the specific geographic area in which the work is done. Refer to the definitions below of the community development roles we are inquiring about. Include any partner organizations you work with, and how the work is funded or otherwise resourced. Use extra pages if necessary. If your organization doesn’t do work in one or more of the role categories, just skip that portion of the survey.
Please describe the work your organization does in community development:
Convening/Facilitating: General Description
- We join other community based organization’s transactions or single efforts.
- We’ll financially support smaller block club events.
- The block club association is active in a portion of our boundaries. Every year, they do a Back to School picnic. We are a sponsor of the event often buying a large quantity of their giveaways (school supplies).
Not all communities are equal and to have a lasting impact you have to have more than just resident support and funding support. If the political will isn’t there, it doesn’t work.
- O’Hair Park is a newer organization focused on the area surrounding the mid-sized public park adjacent to the high school. We write grants for them and are the more experienced housing partner.
- We sponsor events with the NW Youth Development Coalition.
- We focus on housing as our mission intends, we don’t have the staff to do community organizing, so we rely on our partners and other organizations to perform that function (often for a fee) helping to keep us community based.
- We facilitate meetings for the block clubs. One particular block club didn’t want the planning commission to approve the purchase of the Salvation Army building. I facilitated the conversation between the buyers and the block clubs.
Convening/Facilitating: Partner Organizations
- O’Hair Park Community Association
- EL78
- NW Youth Development Coalition
- Convening/Facilitating: Funders
- General operating money
- Grants written in co-partnership with block club and associations
Convening/Facilitating: Important Outcomes or Lessons
Outcomes:
There would be less support for resident initiatives.
Lessons:
Not all communities are equal and to have a lasting impact you have to have more than just resident support and funding support. If the political will isn’t there, it doesn’t work.
Resident Engagement/Empowerment: General Description
- Until recently, our board is made up of 90% of the original founding board members. Most of the board members still live here or are people who left, but are still committed to the area. This is good and bad because those who have moved away can be removed from today’s methods and the population that’s still here. The board as a whole is different from the population that we now have but having people that still want to serve the neighborhood is not popular, so it’s good to still have a community service mindset on the board. We are just now beginning to transition of new leadership on the board.
It’s a different day. It’s not the same way it was where we could knock on doors and move an issue forward for our neighborhood. You have to do it differently now and social media plays a huge part in that.
- We have seven board members.
- When the economy collapsed, the new development ceased so we focused on the soft sides of housing needs and crisis. We do foreclosure prevention and homebuyer education both in this area and citywide.
Resident Engagement/Empowerment: Partner Organizations - EL78
- NW Youth Development Coalition
- O’Hair Park Community Association
Resident Engagement/Empowerment: Funders
- General operating funds
- Funds from partnerships
Resident Engagement/Empowerment: Important Outcomes or Lessons
Outcomes:
- There’s more pride in the community.
- We demonstrate curb appeal through resident engagement. People don’t mind living in a neighborhood with a strong block club.
Lessons:
It’s a different day. It’s not the same way it was where we could knock on doors and move an issue forward for our neighborhood. You have to do it differently now and social media plays a huge part in that.
Economic Development: General Description
- We’ve purchased and re-sold 70 properties in suburban Detroit over four years in partnership with a for-profit partner through the National Community Stabilization Trust Program. In response to the economic crash, the banks returned their distressed properties to cities that were most affected by the collapse. The trust makes discounted, before market properties available to nonprofit developers.
Neighborhood impact is a burning trail. As you get out in front and blaze a new trail some of it burns behind you, even though there’s always a pipeline ahead, when you look back, some of what you’ve already done has already declined.
- We’ve done 30 acquisitions for land contract sales and renovations.
- New Hope built 27 new construction single family homes for sale.
- We’ve done several rehabs over the years.
- We haven’t done green space or public use installations yet, but were considering it now.
- We used to facilitate clean ups and board ups with EL78; they would have one every quarter. We would partner with them, but funding became limited.
Economic Development: Partner Organizations
- EL78
- ARP Partners
- Amandla CDC
- USNAP-BAC
- CDAD
- CEDAM
- National Community Stabilization Trust
Economic Development: Funders
- State funding
- Program income
Economic Development: Important Outcomes or Lessons
Outcomes:
- We’ve purchased and re-sold 70 properties in suburban Detroit over four years in partnership with a for-profit partner through the National Community Stabilization Trust Program. In response to the economic crash, the banks returned their distressed properties to cities that were most affected by the collapse. The trust makes discounted, before market properties available to nonprofit developers.
- We’ve done 30 acquisitions for land contract sales and renovations.
- New Hope built 27 new construction single family homes for sale.
- We’ve done several rehabs over the years.
Lessons:
Neighborhood impact is a burning trail. As you get out in front and blaze a new trail some of it burns behind you, even though there’s always a pipeline ahead, when you look back, some of what you’ve already done has already declined. You can move along faster for a lasting impact, but true sustainability requires longer termed resources.
Resident Support: General Description
- We’re certified HUD and MSHDA Housing counselors. We conduct financial literacy workshops.
- We prepare and submit residents’ applications for Step Forward Rescue Funds if their homes are in mortgage or tax foreclosure.
Information is powerful. Not everyone follows the information they are given, but at least they better understand things that you don’t learn in school.
- We train homebuyers in the do’s and don’ts of buying a home to prevent a housing market collapse again.
Resident Support: Partner Organizations
- MSHDA
- HUD
- National Community Stabilization Trust
- LISC/City of Detroit
- Enterprise Community Partners
Resident Support: Funders
- MSHDA
- HUD
- National Community Stabilization Trust
- LISC/City of Detroit
- Enterprise Community Partners
Resident Support: Important Outcomes or Lessons
Outcomes:
Families buy homes, repair their credit and learn about personal finance. There were some years where we would service 700 people a year. We see about 150–200 people now, but it’s been around 3,000 families overall.
Lessons:
Information is powerful. Not everyone follows the information they are given, but at least they better understand things that you don’t learn in school.
Community Planning and Advocacy: General Description
Advocacy:
- We advocate for individual residents through foreclosure.
- We rarely advocate for major issues individually; that’s why we joined CDAD, CEDAM and NCRC. Unfortunately, advocacy can be a thankless, unfunded job so doing it as a group is better.
The small community plan needs to be in line with the larger city plan. When the administration changed, the plans changed. This community doesn’t fit the concept that every community should have all a resident needs within a walkable area.
Community Planning:
In order to be certain that the things that we build and want to build aren’t just my ideas, I asked MSHDA to support a planning firm to complete a resident driven neighborhood plan. We wanted the plan to be the people’s plan for their neighborhood and we rebranded the area calling it the Upper Westside Plan. The planning company met with all the neighborhood stakeholders and held many resident meetings over several months so that people could identify an activity to complete from the plan. One of the participant’s plans was EL78 and they did a pocket park. O’Hair Park was newly formed at this time and has been planning a vacant lot program. We created a method where you don’t have to serve the community in a vacuum.
Community Planning and Advocacy: Partner Organizations
- MSHDA
- EL78
- O’Hair Park Association
- Residents
- CDAD
- CEDAM
- McKenna
- NCRC (National Community Reinvestment Coalition)
Community Planning and Advocacy: Funders
MSHDA
Community Planning and Advocacy: Important Outcomes or Lessons
Outcomes:
- It’s user friendly for any community representative small or large.
- We rebranded our area.
- Two community groups/associations were created.
Lessons:
- The small community plan needs to be in line with the larger city plan. When the administration changed, the plans changed. This community doesn’t fit the concept that every community should have all a resident needs within a walkable area.
Finally, please rank each role 1 to 5, with 5 being the most frequent role, and 1 being the least frequent role carried out by the organization.
Convening/Facilitating: Frequency Rank
3
Resident Engagement/Empowerment: Frequency Rank
4
Economic Development: Frequency Rank
4
Resident Support: Frequency Rank
5
Community Planning and Advocacy: Frequency Rank
2
This information is current as of 11/3/2018