NOAH's 22nd Annual Meeting
& Holiday Celebration
NOAH's Annual Meeting & Holiday Celebration will be held this year on Thursday evening, December 17, at Spinelli's Function Hall at 280 Bennington Street in East Boston. Come join old and new friends for an evening of food, fun and festivities! Enjoy roast beef, chicken, pasta, "Death by Chocolate" cake, and more. Childcare with pizza and cookies in adjacent room; cash bar. Details on speakers and program to follow. We have much to share and celebrate with you. Tickets are $20 per adult and $5 for children ages 3 to 10. Please respond by December 14 to Jahaira Sanchez at 617-567-5882 or jsanchez@noahcdc.org. We hope that you can make it!
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NOAH Awarded Round 3 Congressional
Foreclosure Mitigation Funding
NOAH is grateful to NeighborWorks America and the National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling Program for a recent award of $142,000 in Round 3 NFMC funding, of which approximately $22,000 is designated for a partner organization, Nuestra Communidad. NOAH had received a total of $328,403 in two prior rounds of Congressional funding. We instituted our Foreclosure Prevention & Mitigation service line in October of 2007 in response to overwhelming local and regional need. Since then, we have served just under 1000 families in 55 cities and towns in the Greater Boston Region. Free weekly bilingual educational workshops are held at NOAH's East Boston office every Monday evening at 5:00 PM, except for holidays. If you have any questions about the program, please contact Carolina Trujillo at 617-418-8267 or ctrujillo@noahcdc.org. |
NOAH Selected as Finalist for 
2010 Social Innovator Award
The Social Innovation Forum, an initiative of Root Cause, has selected NOAH as one of five innovative, results-oriented housing/homeless nonprofit organizations competing to receive access to over $100,000 in cash and services. Over 45 leaders in business, philanthropy, and the nonprofit sector reviewed 135 applications across five Social Issue Tracks for the 2010 Social Innovator Award. The five Social Innovators will be announced and celebrated during an event in Cambridge on Tuesday, December 8, from 5:30 to 7:30 PM.
Chris Gabrieli, a social impact investor and Chairman of Mass2020, explains the Forum: "We are all looking for nonprofit organizations we can invest in with confidence. The Social Innovation Forum is a unique and impressive program that provides a great opportunity to learn, leverage our resources, and meet dynamic social entrepreneurs who are making a real difference in our communities." ZUMIX, the energetic East Boston youth/music organization, is a prior award winner.
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Real Estate Update
NOAH has five pipeline projects within Greater Boston/eastern Massachusetts that, together, will create 166 affordable new homes for area residents. In Holliston, Cutler-Heights has received TCAP funding, and construction is expected to start this winter. In North Andover, financing for the Stevens Corner project is falling into place with an equity investment from MHIC. We continue to work out additional details around construction and permanent financing, and expect to close by the end of the year. In Sudbury, Carlisle and Webster, we are making progress and have initiated the permitting processes. For additional information, please contact Toby Kramer, NOAH's Director of Real Estate, at 617-418-8259. (Illustration from Sudbury project drawings.)
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 Halloween Party at the Urban Wild
On Halloween afternoon, the NOAH/CCAG youth hosted a community Halloween party for area children and families. A good time was had by all! The E3C crew hold events at the Urban Wild on Condor Street during the year to bring public awareness to the site as well as to issues surrounding access to the waterfront and restoration of the local environment. If you would like information about any of the E3C initiatives, please contact Diana Baldelomar, Youth Program Coordinator, at 617-418-8243. (Pictured are NOAH youth and staff surrounding a 'Trash Monster' puppet, symbolic of the many environmental issues that E3C and all the youth address on an ongoing basis.)
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EPA Filming On Site At NOAH
Environmental Scientist Caitlyn Whittle Hunt (pictured right) and Videographer Marco Rivera (left) from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently filmed NOAH's Dr. Brenda Cotto-Escalera, Director of Community Building & Environment (center) and Community Organizer Melinda Vega (not pictured) for a Mystic River Watershed Initiative webcast focused on industrialization in the watershed, access, and environmental justice issues. NOAH and CCAG are managing grassroots community outreach aspects of a major watershed collaborative project, and will soon be unfolding a series of educational workshops focussed on watershed-related issues. If you would like additional information, please contact Brenda at 617-418-8241.
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 Biking in East Boston on 11/11...
On Wednesday, November 11, Veterans' Day, from noontime until 3:00 PM, NOAH is helping to sponsor a biking event in partnership with the East Boston Health Center and the East Boston YMCA as part of the Boston Collaborative for Food & Fitness initiative (funded by the Kellogg Foundation). 'Bikes Not Bombs' is also involved in the event. The City will have 50 bicycles there for participants to use who do not have their own, courtesy of 'Boston Bikes', whose 'Bike Czar', Nicole Freedman, will be speaking. The event will start off at the YMCA with a bike ride around East Boston and finish up at the YMCA; and will feature free food, informational tables, and an opportunity for participants to sign up for a workshop starting at 2:00 PM. Workshop participants will be given free day-passes to the East Boston YMCA.
This event was designed to raise awareness of the difficulties of biking within East Boston due to the existing built environment. NOAH and its partners are looking to start an active coalition of residents and non-profits who can work on policy change around this issue. Everyone is welcome to participate. For more information, please contact Diana Baldelomar, Youth Program Coordinator, at 617-418-8243.
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 NOAH Receives City of Boston
DND Contract Award for Senior Services
NOAH is very pleased that it has been awarded another contract with the City of Boston for its Senior Homeowner Services programming. This much-needed funding enables NOAH to serve low- and moderate-income seniors and handicapped residents in East Boston, Charlestown and the North and West Ends of Boston with minor and emergency repairs, as well as with referrals to other home-repair related services offered by the City. If you know of someone who may need our assistance, please have them contact Program Manager Anthony D'Andrea at 617-418-8265 or adandrea@noahcdc.org for more information or to schedule an appointment.
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East Boston Survey Volunteers Needed! 
NOAH has been chosen as one of ten organizations in the nation for a NeighborWorks America pilot initiative. Using an evaluation package comprised of tools from the 'Success Measures Data System' software, we are assessing baseline conditions to measure progress over time for post-foreclosure community stabilization activities in target neighborhood areas of East Boston. Some vital dimensions of community stabilization will be assessed, including physical conditions, housing market health, and community image, confidence and management. We are looking for a few more English-speaking and Spanish-speaking volunteers to help survey community residents as part of this project; volunteers will receive stipends. For more information or to volunteer please contact NOAH's Erin Ennis at 617-418-8249 or eenis@noahcdc.org.
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Upcoming Events
All events are held at NOAH at 143 Border Street in East Boston, unless indicated otherwise.
Bilingual Foreclosure Clinics
Monday evenings, November 9, 16, 23 and 30 and December 7, 14, 21 and 28 from 5:00 to 8:00 PM at NOAH. This is the initial counseling and education session for NOAH's foreclosure prevention and mitigation counseling. Attendees should bring recent mortgage-related correspondence and paperwork. These sessions are held in Spanish and in English. All of NOAH's foreclosure avoidance education and counseling sessions are free of charge to distressed homeowners. For additional information, please contact Marie Constance Theodossiou at 617-418-8263.
First-Time Homebuyer Classes
This two-day class meets on two consecutive Saturdays. One is being held on November 7 and 14 in Spanish, and another on December 5 and 12 in English, from 9:30 AM to 2:30 PM. To receive a City of Boston certificate, attendees must be present at both 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 BHA Program Assistant Zaragoza Guerra at 617-418-8261.
East Boston Biking Event
On Wednesday, November 11, at noontime, this event will start at the YMCA. Everyone is welcome; the City's 'Boston Bike's' is providing some bicycles for those who do not own one, but wish to participate. For more information, please see the details above or contact Diana Baldelomar at 617-418-8243.
State Treasurer's 'Money Conference'
Our housing counselors will host a NOAH table at the 'Money Conference: Rebounding from a Recession' - presented by Treasurer Timothy Cahill in conjunction with the YWCA New England Regional Council - on Saturday, November 14, at the Sheraton Boston Hotel. The free conference will focus on money management for all income levels and currently has over 1000 people registered to attend. NOAH's counselors will also cohost the New England Credit Advisory Council's (NECAG) table to promote the Survival Kit, a new resource for consumers to survive debt. More information about the conference is available at: www.themoneyconference.com. Chelsea Creek Action Group (CCAG) Meetings
The next CCAG meetings will be held on Tuesday, November 10, and Tuesday, December 8, at 6:30 PM at 80 Border Street, room 130. CCAG meetings are now held on the second Tuesday of each month. Newcomers are welcome. For more information, please call Director of Community Building & Organizing Brenda Cotto-Escalera at 617-418-8241.
Safe Deleading Training for Homeowners
In an effort to combat the rising rate of lead poisoning among children in East Boston, the Boston Public Health Commission is holding free training sessions at NOAH throughout the year. Some of the trainings will be geared for homeowners, and others will be geared towards contractors. The next of these will be held for homeowners and/or their representatives on Thursday, November 19, from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM. For more information, please contact Linda Miller-Foster at 617-418-8246.
English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL)
Another session of ESOL coursework has begun. Level I classes are held every Tuesday and Thursday evening. Level II classes are held each Wednesday and Friday. The ongoing English Conversation Group meets each Saturday morning from 10:00 AM to noon; newcomers are welcome! Please contact Community Organizer Manlio Mendez at 617-418-8242 for additional information.
NOAH's 22nd Annual Meeting & Holiday Celebration
This will be held on Thursday, December 17, at Spinelli's in East Boston. Everyone is welcome to attend; pre-registration is requested. Tickets are $20 for adults, $5 for children. For more information or to register please contact Jahaira Sanchez at 617-309-6336.
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Make a BIG impact with a SMALL donation!
Please consider making a $25 tax deductible donation to NOAH today. To donate through PayPal, click here. |
Thank you for your interest in NOAH! You can find out further information about NOAH events at our web site calendar at www.noahcdc.org.
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