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Community
Action
Solutions |
| Volume 1, Issue 12 |
June 2000 |
National
Town Hall Meeting June 15 in Washington, D.C. The National Association of Community Action Agencies (NACAA) will host a National Town Hall Meeting as part of “Dialogue on Poverty 2000: Leading America to Community Action” on June 15 in Washington, D.C. The Town Hall Meeting will provide an opportunity for people from across America to present ideas for ensuring adequate income, meeting basic needs, and securing safe and affordable housing, according to John Buckstead, executive director. This is one of the last steps in a process of developing a national agenda and action plan to address the causes and conditions of poverty. “We will summarize and present results of local and state dialogues taking place around the nation and use that input to develop a national action plan,” Buckstead added. Oklahoma hosted its statewide Dialogue on Poverty on May 4 in the State Capitol building in Oklahoma City. The National Town Hall meeting will feature representatives from the state dialogues. They will participate in panel discussions on the best strategies to address jobs/income, housing, and basic needs issues. NACAA is also inviting members of Congress and their staff, key representatives from the Clinton Administration, and staff from other national policy and advocacy groups. For more information about the Town Hall Meeting, visit NACAA’s website (www.nacaa.org) or call NACAA at 202-265-7546.
Community Action Development Corporation executive director Brent Morey reports that 12 apartments have been rented in the historic Hotel Frederick that was recently converted into affordable housing for the elderly. The building, which had stood empty, was renovated to create 29 one-bedroom apartments that can be rented by income eligible individuals 55 years or older. The city of Talihina has donated a parcel of land to KiBois Community Action Foundation. Carroll Huggins, executive director, reports the 320 x 300 foot parcel of land is a “choice building site” located adjacent to public school property. KiBois plans to immediately start construction on a building for Head Start and later add a public transit facility. Central Oklahoma Community Action Agency has a web site located a www.cocaa.org on the Internet. By a click of a button, web surfers can get more information on programs such as Head Start, Retired Senior Volunteer Program and Emergency Services. Georgia Forthum, executive director, Opportunities, Inc. and Steven Dow, executive director, Community Action Project of Tulsa County, were among those attending the 2nd Annual Fannie Mae Partner Summit in Washington last month. Dow presented on IDAs and the Fannie Mae Lease-Purchase program during one of the breakout sessions. Delta Community Action and Lexington Assessment and Reception Center were recognized during Quality Oklahoma Team Day 2000 for a house they jointly renovated for a physically challenged man in Purcell. Gov. Keating presented the award at the Capitol. Jim Sconzo, executive director, Community Action Agency of Oklahoma City and Oklahoma/Canadian Counties, reports in the May issue of CAA Insights that the agency has, since July 1999, placed new roofs on 46 homes, installed central heat and performed plumbing repairs on 86 homes, performed electrical repair on 37 homes bringing them up to code, completed exterior maintenance work on 77 homes, weatherized 159 homes, and totally rehabilitated four homes.
Printing firm provides jobs to challenged adults Northeast Oklahoma Community Action is helping developmentally challenged adults learn a skill through a partnership with the Delaware County Friendship Homes. Northeast leases, for a modest amount, silkscreen and printing equipment to Court Yard Printing in Jay.
Court Yard is a subsidiary of Delaware County Friendship Home, a nonprofit organization that provides housing and training for challenged adults. Gary Davison, job coach, manages production and Cathy Hughes manages sales & business activities. The walls of the small reception room are adorned with t-shirts featuring logos for a variety of companies, organizations, and schools. Right now, explained Davison, the company is doing a lot of t-shirts and caps for Little League baseball teams. As summer approaches, area marinas and other tourist oriented business will begin ordering products for resale. During the summer months, the company will typically put to work two residents of the Friendship Home. The emphasis is to provide training so the clients can obtain mainstream type jobs, Davison said. Court Yard can do silkscreening of up to six colors through a process where the graphic prints directly on the shirt. It can also do transfer prints of up to two colors. The company can cut logos and letters out of vinyl for advertising on vehicles or windows. It has a small press capable of printing newsletters, flyers, and brochures. For more information, contact Davison or Hughes at 918-253-2189.
Survey
identifies emerging issues for Head Start programs A variety of emerging patterns of decisions, funding, services, and quality enhancement efforts have been identified from community planning efforts, a survey of Head Start programs shows. They included:
Presumptive
eligibility: Letting health care providers and certain community-based organizations enroll children while a regular application is pending holds promise as a strategy for improved outreach, access to care, and enrollment, according to an issues brief prepared by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Health Resources and Services Administration. Presumptive eligibility for children is a way for states to empower health care providers and certain other organizations that serve low-income children to give temporary Medicaid cards to children. To be eligible, children generally must have a gross family income below Medicaid eligibility levels. To keep coverage, families must follow through on the regular application process by the end of the following month or the temporary coverage will expire. The presumptive eligibility option allows states to move enrollment into the community in a way that would not otherwise be possible under Medicaid rules. There is not a specific presumptive eligibility provision for separate child health programs under the Children’s Health Insurance Program as there is in Medicaid. Nonetheless, states can implement presumptive eligibility in exactly the same way in separate child health programs as in Medicaid, in order to create a seamless system of children’s health coverage.
How does it work? An employee of a “qualified entity,” such as a Head Start program, asks a family coming to Head Start whether their children need health insurance. If so, the Head Start worker gives the family a simple form with questions about total family income. Often all the needed information may already be in the Head Start file. The Head Start workers compares the income information on the application to a chart showing income eligibility for children’s health coverage. If family income is below the eligibility level, the worker determines that the family is “presumptively eligible.” Presumptive eligibility for children was enacted in 1997 as a state option for the Medicaid program, according to the paper. But as of February 2000, only five states had actually implemented the option: Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Mexico, New Hampshire, and New Jersey.
HUD
lead regulation training set for Sept. 12-14 On Sept. 15, 2000, a new Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) regulation on the evaluation and reduction of lead-based paint hazards in federally-owned and assisted housing takes effect. ICF Consulting will present a three-day “Training on the Final HUD Lead Regulation” Sept. 12-14 at the Ramada Plaza Hotel, 930 E. Second St., Edmond. OKACAA is funding three days of training this fall through a HUD HOME Technical Assistance grant so there will be no charge for the training. However, participants will be responsible for their own lodging and travel costs. The changes will affect how grantees under HUD’s Community Planning and Development (CPD) programs design and implement their programs. The course was developed to address the regulation and its implications for implementation of CPD-funded programs. Prior to 1978, lead-based paint was used for both interior and exterior work on numerous houses, many now occupied by low-income families. In 1978, lead-based paint was banned. Even low-level lead poisoning, usually contracted from household dust or soil from deteriorating lead-based paint, can cause loss of attention span, behavioral symptoms and, in severe cases, brain damage.
Housing
and Energy
Conference Aug. 14-17 The Oklahoma Housing and Energy Conference is scheduled for Aug. 14-17 at the Biltmore Hotel, I-40 & Meridian, Oklahoma City. The conference will provide opportunities to learn about and review rehab and building techniques using energy saving technologies, said Robert Meador, president, Oklahoma Weatherization and Housing Advisory Council. Other program tracks will focus on lending and financial partnership options for housing developers. The conference is designed for housing and energy program managers, field and inspection crews, developers, municipal and county housing program staffs, community development housing organizations, tribal housing groups, and lenders. The conference is sponsored by the Oklahoma Weatherization and Housing Advisory Council, Oklahoma Association of Community Action Agencies, Oklahoma Department of Commerce, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Oklahoma Housing Finance Agency, Oklahoma Fannie Mae and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development program. For more information, contact OKACAA at 405-524-4124.
New
HUD study shows explosion of subprime loans in black and low-income
neighborhoods HUD has released Unequal Burden: Income and Racial Disparities in Subprime Lending in America — a study that shows the number of subprime home loans is skyrocketing in predominantly black neighborhoods and low-income neighborhoods. While expanding access to credit is critical, there is growing evidence that some lenders may be engaged in predatory lending that is making homeownership far more costly for blacks and poor families than for whites and middle-class families. To obtain a copy, visit the HUD USER web site at: www.huduser.org/publications/fairhsg/unequal.html. Subprime lending involves providing credit to borrowers with past credit problems, who cannot qualify for the conventional prime market. Subprime lending can include predatory lending, which hits homebuyers with excessive mortgage fees, interest rates, penalties and pre-paid credit life insurance charges that can raise the cost of homebuying by thousands of dollars for individual families.
Electric
utility restructuring bill fails in House
After
days of behind-the-scenes wrangling and with only minutes remaining in
the final day of the legislative session, the House of Representatives
killed a bill to restructure the state’s electric industry. The measure that would have allowed consumers to choose their electric provider was defeated by a vote of 56-41. Even if the bill had not been defeated, Governor Frank Keating had hinted that he might veto the measure. There was concern the bill did not contain adequate consumer protections and was designed to protect the current electric providers and against new entrants into the market. In a final flurry of activity, the Senate passed the bill 26-17 on the day before the Legislature was to adjourn. But the House sent the bill back to a joint House-Senate committee for further revision. The 178-page bill that finally emerged did have the support of Attorney General Drew Edmondson but Corporation Commissioner Denise Bode urged the House to defeat it. In 1997, the Legislature set the deadline of July 1, 2002 for the state to deregulate its electric industry. The legislation was intended to implement that law.
Utility
news briefs A
new study finds that very few consumers have switched energy providers
in deregulated states, reports Dow
Jones Newswire. According to a Cambridge Energy Research Associates report cited in the Electric Consumers’ Alliance Monday Briefing, 2.8 million out of 60 million potential natural gas customers have switched suppliers. And out of 116 million electric consumers, 750,000 have changed their provider. The study found Georgia is the only state to see a significant turnover rate. ——- Also in Monday Briefing is a report from the Wall Street Journal that shortages of electricity are a strong possibility. The Journal says deregulation has caused confusion and concern. There are concerns by old-line utilities about being able to recoup investments necessary to add capacity in a truly competitive market. The good economy which has prompted Americans to buy up appliances that gobble up electricity quickly which is also driving this concern. ------- The reliability of North America’s electricity-supply system has been “considerably eroded” during peak usage periods because of power demands imposed by the economy and loss of coordination capabilities due to utility deregulation, the Energy Department said. Outlet, published by Oklahoma Municipal Power Authority, reports in its May issue that a study of eight “power reliability events” last summer, which included power outages and voltage fluctuations, suggests that the problem may be even worse this summer. Responsibility for planning to deal with outages “has become blurred.” In addition, the utilities and the government haven’t made the system upgrades needed to prevent regional power grids from breaking down. A panel of 19 federal, state and academic experts conducted the study for the Energy Department. Deregulation efforts in 25 states have made it more difficult for system operators to respond to periods of peak demands. The study notes little attention has been paid to fixing aging distribution systems that aren’t large enough to bear the new interregional traffic. Electricity
can’t be stored like other commodities so it cannot respond to the
laws of supply and demand. Regional systems that break down can result
in a commodity that, regardless of price, “might not be deliverable at
all,” the report notes.
Copyright © 1997 OKACAA All Rights Reserved |
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