|
NOAH turned 25 this month! The Board and staff of NOAH want to thank you for supporting the important work in which the organization has been engaged these past years. I remember NOAH's first day, when we got a call to assist a Vietnamese family which was being intimidated by an absentee owner over nasty conditions in an Eagle Hill apartment. The owner was also threatening them with eviction. East Boston has always been a welcoming community (and it should be proud of itself) but that event was a too-common experience in those days. If memory serves, we got the landlord to back off. Today, we receive many different kinds of calls every day, ranging from foreclosure prevention assistance requests to requests for help in developing affordable housing. Last week, I went to visit a suburban town where owners want to sell their interest and develop nearly 100 units of housing. I'm not yet sure what will happen, but there remains a continuing need for quality, affordable housing, not only in East Boston, but in cities and towns throughout the Boston region. So whether NOAH responds to seniors who need their homes repaired, a young family needing an affordable rental apartment, or yet another family facing a draining foreclosure - or to residents who need an advocate to help fix up a schoolyard, create open space or preserve our precious environment - NOAH will continue to answer the call. We hope to receive your good will and support through the next 25 years. We need you. We thank you. It's been a honor to be of service. Pictured: NOAH Executive Director Phil Giffee.
|
NOAH Turns 25 Years Old|
We are excited by the many children who signed up to begin the summer program at the O'Donnell Schoolyard, over 50 for the first week alone. This will be our 16'th year offering the bilingual program to disadvantaged youngsters. Up to 200 children attend over the course of the summer. We want to extend thanks to the many financial supporters who help make it happen, including the East Boston Foundation and the Procter & Gamble Foundation, as well as numerous local businesses and residents. Boston firefighters, police, Science Museum staff, APAC youth and others help us to create an enriching and fun summer for East Boston children. If you can help support this much-needed program, please click here to sponsor a child today! For more information, please contact Linda Miller-Foster at617-418-8246 or lmillerfoster@noahcdc.org. |
|
Looking for a way to give back to your community? NOAH is looking for Spanish- and English-speaking volunteers to donate about six hours of their time to help us administer NeighborWorks America 'Success Measures' surveys to residents near the densely populated Eagle Hill section of East Boston. A local gift card will be given to volunteers in appreciation of their assistance. The project is part of an important effort to discover residents' impressions of how their neighborhoods can be improved. Volunteers can gain valuable experience in community outreach, data collection and data analysis. All volunteers go out in pairs. We will be holding two training sessions at the NOAH offices during the last week of July. Please contact Michael Majzoub at mmajzoub@noahcdc.org if you have any questions or would like to volunteer. |
Volunteers Needed for East Boston Neighborhood Surveys |
NOAH has received $100,000 in funds, administered by Attorney General Martha Coakley's Office, in order to give small grants to households who have undergone a foreclosure due to a subprime mortgage. Stabilization grants average around $1,500 each. Funds can be applied for to help pay a family's first and last month's rent for a new apartment, a security deposit, moving expenses, old utility bills, storage costs, etc. We wish to thank the Attorney General's Office for facilitating this valuable assistance for Massachusetts residents. NOAH offers free foreclosure avoidance education and counseling for Massachusetts homeowners. Workshops in Spanish and English are held every Monday evening; and counseling is offered in English, Spanish, French and Portuguese. For more information, please contact Diana Franco at 617-418-8266 or dfranco@noahcdc.org. |
Grants for Households in Need |
Thank you to the Deloitte and Touche LLP volunteers who recently spent a day helping transform our youth-run community garden on Border Street, located across from the Umana Barnes Academy. The project was part of Deloitte's annual Impact Day, where employees volunteer to help in area communities. Greg Comeau, a NOAH Board member and a Partner with Deloitte & Touche LLP, helped facilitate this project. Fifteen volunteers cleaned the garden space, prepared the soil, and planted vegetables and herbs. They worked tirelessly, planting everything from broccoli and tomatoes to rosemary and basil, and even rediscovered our blueberry bushes, which had been lost in a hillside of waist-high weeds. We are very grateful! |
Deloitte Volunteers Help 'Our Garden'|
All of us at NOAH want to say 'THANK YOU' to our recent funders, including United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley, NeighborWorks America/NFMC, the Massachusetts Division of Banks, the City of Boston, Citizens Bank, the Alfred E. Chase Charitable Foundation (Bank of America Trustee), Proctor & Gamble Charitable Foundation, the East Boston Foundation, the TD Bank Charitable Foundation, HUD, One United Bank and Sovereign Bank. Many, many thanks to these and to all of our generous funders! |
Thanking NOAH's Generous Donors|
In June, NOAH staff and volunteers held a marketing campaign to perform outreach to senior and disabled resident homeowners in East Boston, Charlestown, and the North End of Boston. Sixty community churches and social service agencies were reached, and advertisements were placed in community newspapers. The Senior Homeowner Services Program serves low- and moderate-income disabled clients or those 62 years of age and older who own their own homes and are in need of home safety repairs. Since the program began in 1987, NOAH has performed over 7300 safety- and emergency-related repairs. Common repairs include fixing window cords and sashes or replacing windows, installing safety grab bars, restoring or replacing floors, porches or roofs, and more. Broken heating systems can be repaired or replaced, as well. For larger-scale rehab projects, 0% interest rate deferred payment loans may be available. We are always eager to help new clients. If you or someone you know could benefit from this program, please call Program Manager Anthony D'Andrea at 617-418-8265. Anthony has been at NOAH all of its 25 years; he was the first person that NOAH Executive Director Phil Giffee hired! |
Senior Homeowner Services|
Many thanks to our incredible volunteers, our generous sponsors, the many members of the Chelsea Creek Action Group, and our hard-working staff for making the 9'th Annual Chelsea River Revel a tremendous success! With over 1000 people attending, NOAH's NeighborWorks Week event raised awareness for the Chelsea River as a resource for our community, helped build a stronger community, and reached hundreds of people with information about NOAH's many programs and services. Residents enjoyed canoeing and kayaking, two road races, live music and dance, environmental boat tours, an expo of pedal-powered machines, and much more! Pictured: The Start of the Annual Kiddie Race. |
9'th Annual River Revel|
Tree Planting at Patrick Kennedy School
|
 Please Take a Minute to We would very much appreciate it if you would go to our Facebook page through the link below, and hit the "Like" button - thanks!
|
|
Upcoming Events First-Time Homebuyer Classes The next English course will meet on Tuesday evening, August 14, Wednesday evening, August 15, and Tuesday evening, August 21, from 6:00-9:00 PM. The next Spanish course will meet on two Saturdays, September 22 and 29, from 9:30 AM-2:30 PM. To receive a City of Boston certificate, attendees must be present at all sessions. Students learn from industry guest speakers, including Home Inspectors, as well as from NOAH staff, on how best to purchase a home and about appropriate loan products. For more information, please contact Diana Franco at 617-418-8266. Loan Modification/Foreclosure Prevention Clinics Monday evenings, July 16, 23, and 30, August 6, 13, 20 and 27, and September 10, 17, and 24, from 5:30 to 8:00 PM at NOAH. This workshop is the initial counseling and education session for NOAH's foreclosure prevention and mitigation counseling. Attendees should bring recent mortgage-related correspondence or paperwork. These sessions are held in Spanish and in English. All of NOAH's foreclosure prevention education and counseling sessions are free of charge. Workshops are held weekly, except for holiday weeks. For additional information, please contact Carolina Suarez at 617-418-8263.
Chelsea Creek Action Group (CCAG) Meetings The next CCAG meetings will be held on Wednesdays, August 8 and September 12, at 6:15 PM at the East Boston Social Center, 3rd Floor. Regular CCAG meetings are held on the second Wednesday of each month; newcomers are welcome. For more information please call Kim Foltz at 617-418-8241. CBE Community Meeting: 'No Ethanol By Rail'
The next meeting about the proposed ethanol transport via railway through local neighborhoods wil be held on Tuesday, July 17, at 6 PM at the Chelsea Collaborative on Broadway in Chelsea. For additional details, please contact Kim Foltz at 617-418-8241. |
  |
|
Consider Making a BIG impact with Even a SMALL Donation!
Please consider making a secure $10 or $25 tax deductible donation to
NOAH today. To donate online, click here. |
