AHA will continue to facilitate and provide linkages for AHA-assisted families to human services providers to ensure healthy outcomes with the goals of (a) economically independent families; (b) educated children; and (c) self-sufficient elderly and disabled persons.
Concentrating families in poverty has resulted in huge social costs to the families and to society. AHA recognizes that changing the housing alone will not address many of the underlying problems faced by the 12,263 residents still residing in its conventional public housing communities as of January 31, 2007. Most of these residents are desperately poor, subsisting on an average annual household income of just over $11,063, well below the national poverty level. Concentrated poverty, furthered by the on-site delivery of social services, has disconnected families from mainstream society. Many families impacted by the long-term affects of concentrated poverty are marginalized as citizens and have been stripped of their dignity and sense of belonging to the larger community.
AHA is committed to ending the warehousing of low income families in concentrated poverty and to creating healthy, market competitive, mixed-use, mixed-income communities where families can thrive. Market competitive, mixed-use, mixed- income communities offer quality housing, schools, employment opportunities, retail, amenities, and a wider range of choices and opportunities. To ensure that families are successful, AHA has adopted three guiding philosophies in delivering services to families impacted by revitalization. First, all families must be served and benefited by Human Development and Support Services Programs, especially during community revitalization. Second, families who have lived in concentrated poverty must have comprehensive, hands-on support to connect them to mainstream society and new opportunities. Third, Human Development and Support Services Programs must be outcome driven with the expectation of success for all families.
AHA has raised its expectations and standards grounded in the belief that all human beings have unlimited potential. AHA believes that repositioning its family communities into mixed-use, mixed-income communities is vital to the long-term success for families and neighborhoods. To augment this repositioning, AHA has implemented important policy changes to inspire and facilitate families to achieve their life goals regardless where they choose to live. The policy changes have two objectives: (a) families must take personal responsibility and accept and fulfill their role in this effort, and (b) families must embrace and be held accountable to maintaining the standards of quality set in their new surroundings and must be contributing members in these communities.
AHA has developed the following supporting activities and policy changes that focus on self-sufficiency by facilitating opportunities for families to build wealth and reduce their dependency on subsidy, ultimately becoming financially independent.
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Supporting Activities
A1. Work/Program Participation Requirement. AHA’s work/program participation policy requires that (a) at least one non-elderly, non-disabled adult household member maintain continuous full-time employment and (b) all other non-elderly, non-disabled adults maintain work or participation in a combination of school, job training and part-time employment as a condition of the household receiving and maintaining subsidy assistance. AHA will continue to implement its Work/Program Participation Requirement at the Affordable Communities as a part of the PMCOs routine operations. In addition, this policy states that AHA may require residents to attend economic independence or training programs if referred by AHA, its representatives or agents as a condition of receiving and maintaining subsidy. These programs include, but are not limited to, job skill/training programs, assessment services, coaching and counseling services, the Good Neighbor Program and programs offered by the City of Atlanta Workforce Development Agency (AWDA).
A2. Connections to the Service Provider Network (SPN). AHA will continue to implement and refine its referral system that connects AHA-assisted families with the services provided through the Service Provider Network (SPN) - a network of established Atlanta-based service providers with demonstrated capacity that serve as a resource for families preparing to participate in the workforce and/or to become part of the mainstream. These processes ensure that families have access to employment, training, and supportive services resources. To link families to the SPN, this referral system uses AHA staff as well as on-site resident services staff at AHA-owned communities, Housing Choice staff, and the providers of Human Services Management described in Part III of this plan. During FY 2008, AHA will continue to explore ways to improve the process of connecting AHA-assisted families to needed services. The agency will particularly develop ways to better connect the “hardest to serve” population who are often plagued with undiagnosed mental illness and illiteracy. AHA also plans to expand its contractual relationship with AWDA to serve as the “Section 3 Clearinghouse” for training and preparing AHA clients and client-owned businesses and matching them with employment and contract opportunities offered by AWDA business partners and AHA contractors.
A3. Service Provider Network. AHA will further develop and maintain a network of established Atlanta-based service providers (the Service Provider Network or SPN) as a resource for AHA-assisted families to prepare themselves for participation in the workforce and to become part of the mainstream. During FY 2008, AHA will continue to identify funding to support the work of the SPN and assist member organizations in developing programs and services to meet the ongoing needs of AHA-assisted families. AHA will also identify additional service providers that offer job training/placement services, and mental health and counseling services to meet the needs of those families that are hardest to serve. In addition, AHA will recruit quality service providers from predominant areas where AHA-assisted families reside. AHA will also continue the development of the following partnerships initiated in FY 2007: (1) Georgia Rehabilitation Outreach and Morehouse School of Medicine to provide intensive mental heath services to families; (2) Atlanta Metropolitan College, Georgia State University, and the Atlanta Public School System to provide long-term GED preparation to individuals who require two or
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more years of educational training; and (3) Manpower Corporation to serve as an employer placing residents/participants in long-term and contract-to-hire job opportunities.
A4. CATALYST Resource Guide. AHA will continue to publish and distribute the CATALYST Resource Guide which provides information on organizations which offer educational services, disability services, employment and training, homeownership counseling services, childcare, and senior supportive services. During FY 2008, AHA will develop a metro- wide guide focusing on resources in predominant areas where families reside.
A5. Housing Choice Family Self-Sufficiency (FSS) Program Re-engineering. During FY 2008, AHA will close out the former HUD FSS Program and develop a new simplified FSS Program. The new FSS Program will be marketed to tenant-based and project-based voucher participants as well as to AHA public housing assisted tenants at the Affordable Communities and Signature Properties. The newly designed FSS Program will provide a flat escrow available only towards the purchase of a home.
A6. Human Development & Support Services. AHA decided several years ago that a critical component to the relocation process was investing in the affected residents during the development period, so that families would have an opportunity to work through any barriers to family or individual success in the newly revitalized community, in their new community with the Housing Choice voucher, or in another public housing assisted community. The Human Development and Support Services delivery strategy was designed by IMS Human Services (now called Integral Youth & Family Project – IYFP) in collaboration with AHA. IYFP piloted this program with the intent and purpose of working with each and every affected resident to provide intensive, ongoing life counseling and coaching, a connection to quality resources, and the promotion of personal responsibility. This program responded directly to the criticism by Senator Barbara Mikulski that the affected residents were not receiving the benefit of supportive services from the HOPE VI grant. AHA and IYFP determined that this was the best way to achieve that vision. The program has been very successful. AHA agreed that such an investment in the residents must and would happen during the development period while the real estate development activities were taking place in parallel.
During FY 2008, existing Human Development and Support Services service providers will continue to provide coaching and counseling and human development services to families affected by the revitalization of the former public housing communities: Capitol Homes, Carver Homes, Grady Homes, Harris Homes, McDaniel Glenn, Perry Homes, University Homes as well as four associated high-rises tied to the revitalization activities: John O. Chiles, M.L. King Towers, Antoine Graves and Graves Annex. In addition, AHA will expand the services to provide support to families being relocated as part of the Quality of Life Initiative (QLI). QLI is AHA’s plan to further deconcentrate poverty by phasing the relocation of families and demolishing 12 outdated, obsolete communities including two senior high-rises and 10 family communities during a three-year period. During FY 2008, human development and support services will be provided to affected families for a 27-
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month period and AHA will solicit additional organizations to serve as Human Development and Support Services service providers.
A7. Atlanta Community Scholars Awards (ACSA). Launched in 2003, the Atlanta Community Scholars Awards (ACSA) is an Atlanta Housing Authority (AHA) initiative which provides post secondary scholarships to eligible AHA residents to attend the college, university or technical school of their choice. The goal of ACSA is to encourage more youth assisted by AHA to consider and pursue higher education in preparation for the workforce. Encouraging lifelong learning is an integral component of AHA’s vision for building healthy-mixed-income communities and encouraging individual self- sufficiency. The United Negro College Fund (UNCF), one of the nation's oldest and most successful education assistance organizations, is committed to increasing opportunities for minority students and has partnered with AHA to provide fiscal oversight for grants and gifts received for ACSA and scholarship disbursements to awardees. Scholarships are awarded without regard to race, religion, gender, national origin or disability status. All candidates must participate in the ACSA scholarship application process and meet established eligibility criteria.
A8. Customer and Community Relations. AHA will continue the implementation of its customer and community relations phone line (1-888-AHA-4YOU) to respond effectively to citizen concerns and compliments regarding Housing Choice participants in their neighborhoods.
A9. Good Neighbor Program II. AHA’s Good Neighbor Program (GNP) is designed to coach and prepare AHA- assisted families to live and blend into the communities where they live and help them to understand and value their roles and responsibilities as good neighbors. The GNP was refined and updated as the Good Neighbor Program II (GNP II). The scope of GNP II training has been expanded to address a number of additional issues based on lessons learned during the first phase of the Program. Georgia State University was selected to implement GNP II. GNP II places greater emphasis on personal responsibility as well as steps and strategies that promote economic self-sufficiency. GNP II also covers, among other things, conflict resolution training, substance abuse and family counseling, and preparing a roadmap for moving off subsidy assistance.
A10. Individual Development Accounts (IDAs). In implementing this initiative, AHA plans to eliminate the existing earned income disregard and replace it with Individual Development Accounts (IDA) program for public housing assisted residents who are 18 to 61 years of age and who meet certain requirements. AHA has postponed the development and implementation of this program during FY 2009.
A11. School Attendance Requirement. During FY 2006, the Georgia state legislature passed a law that requires minors to be in school in order to receive a work permit. Because of this new law, AHA eliminated its FY 2005 requirement that 16 and 17 year olds work full-time if they are not in school and instead require all minors under 18 years of age to attend school as a condition of the household maintaining or receiving subsidy assistance. Although AHA has postponed
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the development and implementation of this initiative, the agency will continue to strengthen its partnership with Atlanta Public Schools, and will undertake a more aggressive enforcement of the lease requirement for youth to attend school. A12. Placed-Based Supportive Services Strategy Pilot. During FY 2007, AHA in collaboration with a number of partners continued the implementation of a placed-based pilot referred to as the NORC (Naturally Occurring Retirement Community) Project at Marian Road high-rise. NORC is a national program model that focuses on equipping adults to age in place and building the capacity of the community to support them in that process. The NORC at Marian Road places a strong emphasis on resident involvement with priorities set by residents and new initiatives capitalize on the economy of scale created by the concentration of individuals with similar needs. Led by the Atlanta Regional Commission’s (ARC) Division on Aging, the primary partners on this pilot include AHA, Visiting Nurse Health System, Piedmont Hospital, Jewish Family and Career Services, Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta and The Habitat Company (AHA’s PMCO for Marian Road) .
In partnership with AHA, the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) secured a $375,000 ROSS (Resident Opportunities and Self-Sufficiency) grant during FY 2007 that it will use to expand the focus of the NORC project to two additional AHA high- rise communities, namely, Cheshire Bridge Road and Piedmont Road. In addition, the NORC will be coordinating a “Leadership Marian” project to provide training to residents on leadership development, diversity, conflict resolution, team building and community development. A trained facilitator and translators will be hired to assist with developing better relationships and leadership among the residents at Marian Road and building strong “resident ambassadors” that can continue to keep the diverse ethnic population at Marian Road engaged and involved in the community.
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