HUD Awards $4 Million to Asheville Housing Authority

The grant will provide funding to Asheville Housing Authority for the rehabilitation of the Reid Center facility. Photo: Urban News

Money to create education centers for children and adults.

by Johnnie Grant

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded 10 public housing authorities throughout the U.S. nearly $34 million in grants that will be used to create early childhood and adult education and training facilities for public housing residents. Among the grantees was the Housing Authority of the City of Asheville, which received the Capital Fund Education and Training Community Facilities (CFCF) Program grant award of $3,997,348.

This grant will provide funding to Housing Authority of the City of
Asheville for the rehabilitation of the Reid Center facility which will
offer these education and job training programs. The grant award is
designed primarily for public housing residents, but can be utilized (in
part) by residents of the surrounding community who are seeking
educational and employment services to achieve long-term economic
self-sufficiency.

  “This funding helps public housing agencies that want to provide these
services, but lacked the resources. This is an investment to make
certain we connect affordable housing with quality education and
training resources,” said HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan.

The grant applicants were also required to identify at least one
education and/or training-supportive service provider that would partner
with the housing authority to provide education and employment services
at a facility. All the grantees met and surpassed this requirement by
forming partnerships with many local organizations within their
communities.

Members of the Southside and Asheville Public Housing community in a meeting with David Nash, Assistant Director of HACA (far left), and Green Opportunities board and members to discuss the Reid Center redevelopment and implementation process. Photo: Urban News

The Housing Authority of the City of Asheville (HACA), partnered with
Green Opportunities as a non-profit service provider that has worked
closely with (HACA) on several recent long-term renovation projects.
David Nash, Assistant Director of HACA, reiterated that, “the
competiveness of the grant application was based on the job training
component that we will implement, and puts participants in the Green
Opportunities program to work doing the renovations on the Reid Center
building.”

Green Opportunities will use their grant funding to train approximately
210 people, and/or residents of public housing, with educational
opportunities for at least 156 of these persons to obtain technical
certifications.

The approximate timeline for redevelopment of the Reid Center will start
with a Green Opportunities and resident’s council meeting on July 1,
2011, with monthly meetings planned throughout the redevelopment
process. The property acquisition between HACA and the City of Asheville
will take place around September 1, 2011, and training recruitment will
begin in late summer or early fall as well.

The design and construction phase of the Reid Center will begin around
March 1, 2012. Reconstruction is slated to begin around June 1, 2012,
with a target date of completion by June 1, 2014.