PACC Talk

Aug2012PACCtalk-web
PACC logo
Celebrating 48 Years
of Building Community Together!
In This Issue
Annual Meeting Recap
PACC ♥'s NYCHA Residents
Desiging 40 Vanderbilt
Green Infrastructure Grant
Upcoming PACC Events
........................................

Follow PACC on the Web!




........................................
Our 2010-11 Biennial Report
Our biennial report is now live and available for download! Read more about our achievements over the last two fiscal years.
download our annual report
 
Download the report here.
........................................
FREE Financial Workshop Series
Register now for our FREE Personal Financial Course sponsored by M&T Bank every Tuesday from Sept 2nd until Oct 4th.
 Call 718-783-3549 *315 or email us to register.
........................................
First Time Home Buyer Workshop
Register now for our September installment of our First Time Home Buyer Courses. Sessions are held every Thursday on these dates: Sept 6th, 13th, 20th and 27th.
FTHBJan2012
 
Call 718-783-3549 *10 or email us to register.
........................................
Tenant and Community Organizing
Know your rights!
Do you need information on lease renewals? Illegal lockouts? Paying back rent?  PACC is now offering two legal clinics a month.

To attend the legal clinic and speak with a lawyer, you must make an appt. Call 718-522-2613 *024 or  email us.
saturday hours
Saturday Hours: 
The main office is open the first Sat. of every month. Come by with your tenants rights questions or just stop in to say hello! [flyer]  
........................................
NSP2 Program

First time home ownership is obtainable with the NSP2 program. This new initiative allows for up to $80k in forgivable loans toward the purchase of a previously foreclosed house.

paccNSP2 To see if you are eligible, make an appointment by calling 718-783-3549 *10 or by sending us an email.
........................................
PACC Talk Aug 2012  
PACC TALK...
...Read about the pursuit of building an equitable, diverse, engaged and flourishing community in central Brooklyn.
PACC's 48th Annual Meeting is a HUGE Success!
On the evening of Wednesday June 27th, over 100 PACC staff, board, members and friends gathered at the ART NY space in Fort Greene for PACC's 48th annual meeting. Before the program started, guests enjoyed welcome cocktails by Olivino Wines and a wonderful dinner catered by Peaches Restaurant, which recently became our newest commercial tenant.



At the meeting, PACC shared our successes over the past year and presented awards of distinction to three individuals who have contributed greatly to upholding our statement and for their work in the communities of Central Brooklyn. Councilman Albert Vann was presented the 2012 Howard Weiss award for his long standing contributions on behalf of PACC and his constituents, in preserving affordable housing, strengthening communities through his support of foreclosure prevention and assistance as well as his role in getting the Responsible Banking Act passed in May.

This year we also recognized two of our allies in supportive housing, Mr. Matthew Bremer and Ms. Yolanda Gibbs. Bremer is the principal architect of Architecture in Formation AIA, whose firm designed 40 Vanderbilt Avenue, our 98 unit supportive housing building for single adults in the Navy Green development. Bremer was presented the Community Service Award for his innovation in architecture for under-served and special needs individuals. Yolanda Gibbs, a Rental Assistance Coordinator in the Special Needs Division of the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) was presented the 2012 Amos Taylor Award. Gibbs received the award for her willingness to advise and serve our supportive housing programs which include both 40 Vanderbilt and Gibb Mansion. Deb Howard, our Executive Director said, "We are so proud to honor these three individuals as an opportunity to publicly thank them for their hard work and dedication to the communities we serve."



Before the program concluded, PACC Board of Directors held an election and members elected Ms. Romy Goldman to our board. Goldman, Founder and President of Gold Development LLC, has more than 15 years of experience in real estate development and construction management and we look forward to working with her over the next fiscal year. Jabir Suluki and Lincoln Restler were both re-elected for their 3rd term. Guests were able to take part in a raffle in which the grand prize was an iPad2, generously donated by TGI Solutions. More raffle items were donated by Crunch Fitness, the Peaches family of restaurants, Madiba South African Restaurant and Olivino Wine Bar. Thank you all to our sponsors, members, event staff and attendees for making this year's annual meeting the most successful one yet! To see more pictures from this event, click here.
Economic Empowerment for NYCHA Residents

PACC is partnering with New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) in a new comprehensive program that will provide financial counseling to NYCHA residents and give them access to variety of services including workforce development and adult education. Known as Resident Economic Empowerment & Sustainability or "REES" for short, the program will help families to stabilize their finances, rebuild the credit, and better plan for the future.

 

As a NYCHA Zone Partner, PACC will provide financial counseling and asset building to NYCHA residents in Downtown Brooklyn and Red Hook. "Many people have unresolved financial issues such as outstanding debts, bad credit, or judgments," says Charrisse Smith, PACC's financial counselor. "We will work with NYCHA residents to better manage their personal finances, repair their credit, reduce their debt, and save money for the future."

 

 

Priscilla Etheridge was one recent client of PACC that received financial counseling, while praising the guidance of Ms. Smith: "I learned how to understand my credit report and how to get out of debt," said Ms. Etheridge. "Charrisse was very supportive. I could give her a call anytime if I had any questions, and she kept me focused on my long-term goals."

 

The REES program is vital because up until now, many NYCHA residents had few opportunities for receiving financial advice. Through PACC's workshops and one-on-one counseling, we will help NYCHA residents develop emergency savings and improve their credit scores; access affordable mainstream financial products; and achieve financial stability.

PACC receives support for its counseling and workshops from two main funders-HSBC and JPMorgan Chase.

40 Vanderbilt Architect Matthew Bremer Looks Beyond Traditional Supportive Housing Model

PACC's new supportive housing development near the Brooklyn Navy Yard is now complete! We hope that the red-corrugated structure is a welcome addition to the neighborhood's diverse architecture. We wanted to follow up with our architect on a few ideas, and he admirably agreed to wax philosophical:
"In every aspect of the project, every point along the way, we really tried to push what was the standard supportive housing program to its limit, so that for each resident the notion of home and community was most exploited," says Matthew Bremer, Principal Architect at In Formation Architecture and designer of 40 Vanderbilt, the supportive housing building at the Navy Green development. "We didn't just take this as 'we're designing a supportive housing building,'" says Bremer. "We wanted to interrogate what that model was, in order to do the best supportive development that we could."

 

Even at first glance, it's obvious that 40 Vanderbilt is unlike other affordable housing projects, with its bright red-corrugated metal façade, funky window arrangement and double height lobby. "Our building looks totally different than most supportive housing buildings-most are orange brick and very tasteful and try to look like other buildings in the neighborhood," says Bremer. He also notes how the site played a role in shaping the building's unique look, as Navy Green incorporates elements of the surrounding neighborhood's "funky industrial character."

   


Bremer says that the choice to make 40 Vanderbilt stand out was not only informed by aesthetics and the specifics of the site, but also by a desire to create a strong sense of community among the building's residents. He and his team wanted to create a space and a living experience that was unique and special, giving residents something to bond and connect over. They also built in plenty of common space to facilitate these connections, and made an effort to make these spaces beautiful and comfortable for residents. The first-floor amphitheater, the wide, naturally-lit hallways, the large and vibrantly-colored stairwells, and the double-height lobby were all designed specifically to facilitate a sense of community among residents.

 

Now that residents are moving into their new apartments, Bremer hopes that they find their new home not only comfortable, safe and beautiful, but also interesting and stimulating. "Having met some of the residents that have moved in," he says, "I was really heartened to hear that they are really intrigued by where they're living. I feel very strongly that supportive housing can and should be just as interesting as new condos in Manhattan." view more pics 

PACC receives $208,000 Award for Green Roof Installations
PACC is proud to announce that we were recently awarded the Green Infrastructure Grant through the NYC Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). The award spearheaded by Alive Structures will fund the installation of green roofs on 15 Quincy, an inclusionary building for low income residents and 71 Monroe, the rear of our supportive housing residence, Gibb Mansion. The green roofs, covering 14,240 sq ft., will provide an eco-friendly component to our affordable housing buildings and provide residents with a common space and better quality of life. In addition to the roof top garden, 15 Quincy will also have a rain garden built on the rear terrace which will capture storm water runoff using irrigation tubes and plants that are ecologically fit to live in a wet environment. Alive Structures expects that the garden will convert the terrace into a dynamic, social and educational space that supports PACC's mission to enhance quality of life for our residents.

Proposed Roof Garden to be built on the rear of Gibb Mansion

From the press release: Launched by Mayor Bloomberg in 2010, the NYC Green Infrastructure Plan lays out a comprehensive strategy to improve harbor water quality by capturing and retaining storm water runoff before it enters the sewer system. The plan fulfills concepts originally introduced in PlanNYC to capture the first inch of rainfall on 10 percent of the City's impervious surface area in combined sewer watersheds over 20 years, reducing CSOs by approximately 1.5 billion gallons per year. Green infrastructure uses vegetation, soils, and other structural elements to absorb and evaporate water. Read more
Upcoming Events
click here to see all our upcoming events
 
-  8/17/2012 HPD's Down Payment Assistance Event [flyer]
Join NYC HPD, Veterans Affairs and PACC Home Services at this info session.

-  9/04/2012 Free Financial Course sponsored by M&T Bank [flyer]
Build your credit and grow your business in the process.

-  9/06/2012 September First Time Homebuyer Workshop [flyer]
Pre-register and become an educated first time home buyer!

- 11/03/2012 PACC's Fall Tree Giveaway at Magnolia Plaza [save the date!]
To find out more about PACC or to become a member, email us at pacc@prattarea.org and visit us on the web at www.prattarea.org
 
Sincerely, 

Deb Howard
Pratt Area Community Council

PACC Main Office  201 Dekalb Avenue Brooklyn, NY 11205  |  718-522-2613 (p)  718-522-2604 (f)
Home Services  |  1224 Bedford Avenue Brooklyn, NY 11216  | 718-783-3549 (p) 718-783-3061 (f)
Property Management & Social Services  |  218 Gates Avenue Brooklyn NY 11238  | 718-398-5100 (p) 718-398-5200 (f)