NOFA for Public and Indian Housing Family Investment Centers: Notice of Demonstration

SUMMARY: This Notice announces the Department's intention to contribute

up to $1 million from the Family Investment Center (FIC) program to

assist in developing a center to anchor an integrated family support

network in the Sandtown-Winchester neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland.

The system of services and outreach to which the demonstration will

contribute will increase the intensity and variety of educational and

supportive services available to eligible residents. The Department had

indicated in a Notice of Funding Availability published earlier (59 FR

9592, 9592; February 28, 1994) that it would be publishing notice of

such a demonstration. This notice provides guidelines for the use of

these funds and invites comments on the proposed demonstration.

DATES: Comment due date: September 6, 1994.

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments regarding

this notice to the Rules Docket Clerk, Office of General Counsel, Room

10276, Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 Seventh Street,

SW, Washington, DC 20410-0500. Communications should refer to the above

docket number and title. Facsimile (FAX) comments are not acceptable. A

copy of each communication submitted will be available for public

inspection and copying between 7:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. weekdays at the

above address.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Valerie Piper, Special Projects

Officer, Special Actions Office, Room 10232, Department of Housing and

Urban Development, 451 Seventh Street SW, Washington, DC 20410;

telephone (202) 708-1547 (TDD users may call the Federal Information

Relay Service at (202) 708-9300 or 1-800-877-8339). (Other than the

``800'' number, telephone numbers are not toll-free.)

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Paperwork Reduction Act Statement

The information collection requirements that would be applicable

through this notice have been approved by the Office of Management and

Budget, under section 3504(h) of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980

(44 U.S.C. 3501-3520), and assigned OMB control number 2577-0189.

Authority

Section 22 of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C.

1437t) provides for the establishment of Family Investment Centers

(FICs). On February 28, 1994, the Department published a Notice of

Funding Availability announcing the first competition for grant funds

under the program (59 FR 9592; amended at 59 FR 18570 (April 19, 1994)

and 59 FR 29816 (June 9, 1994)). In the February 28 notice, the

Department also indicated that it:

* * * intends to use $1 million for purposes of demonstrating ways

for families living in public and Indian housing in a neighborhood

undergoing a concentrated effort of local revitalization to gain

access to education and employment activities to achieve self-

sufficiency and independence, by enabling housing authorities to

develop training and support services. These funds will be used to

mobilize public and private resources to expand and improve delivery

of services, to provide funding for essential training and support

services that cannot otherwise be funded, to improve the capacity of

management to assess the training and services needs of eligible

families, to coordinate the provision of training and services that

meet such needs and to ensure the long-term provision of such

training and services. The Department expects that this funding will

demonstrate the importance of comprehensive support services in

contributing to the local neighborhood revitalization.

59 FR 9592 (February 28, 1994)

In accordance with the requirements of section 470(a) of the

Housing and Urban-Rural Recovery Act of 1983 (42 U.S.C. 3542), this

notice describes the proposed demonstration and invites public comment.

Any changes made in this demonstration as a result of the Department's

consideration of public comments, and any extension of time for the

commitment of funds necessary because of these changes, also will be

published in the Federal Register. The Department will not commit funds

for the proposed demonstration until after the latest of: (1) the date

the Department has considered any comments received in response to this

notice; (2) September 19, 1994, which is 60 days after today's

publication date; and (3) the date the Department has received and

approved an application that meets the requirements imposed in this

notice and any subsequent notice announcing changes in the

demonstration. If funds are committed for this demonstration, the

Department also will publish in the Federal Register a notice

announcing this fact.

Background of Demonstration

Community Building in Partnership (CBP) is a long-term partnership

between the residents of the Sandtown-Winchester neighborhood, the City

of Baltimore (Maryland), and The Enterprise Foundation. CBP acts as a

focal point for coordinated planning and action to achieve objectives

set by the residents of Sandtown-Winchester, as supported by planning

professionals and City staff, over a two-year planning and program

design period. The Housing Authority of Baltimore City (HABC) also is

integrally involved in the effort to transform the neighborhood, which

contains over 850 units of public housing.

For purposes of this demonstration, the Department will make up to

$1 million available to the HABC for use in establishing a FIC in the

Sandtown-Winchester neighborhood. The funding will be used in

accordance with the statutory requirements of the FIC program to

contribute to an integrated network of supportive services for public

housing and other neighborhood residents.

The system of services and outreach planned by the community, CBP,

the City, and the HABC will not only increase the intensity and variety

of educational and supportive services available to neighborhood

residents, it will also establish a delivery system involving residents

who will work with neighbors to ensure progression towards self-

sufficiency. Residents involved as ``Family Advocates'' will work with

trained social workers to manage the most complex cases. Together with

service providers, the advocates and case workers will form ``Family

Support Teams'' and will create a new system to integrate, at the

community level, the multiple supportive service programs that affect

most Sandtown-Winchester residents.

The focal point of this service provision and outreach activity

will be a Family Resource Center located in a City-owned facility on

Mount Street in Sandtown-Winchester. Most of the funding provided under

this demonstration will be used to renovate and expand the Mount Street

facility. Remaining funds will be used for service coordination by the

Family Support Teams and for core support services. Core support

services will help families and individuals to overcome personal

difficulties that inhibit their readiness to work, and will include

such services as literacy and G.E.D. training and drop-in day care.

In addition to the FIC funding proposed under this demonstration,

public and private organizations will support the Family Resource

Center, its core services, and the Family Support Teams. This network

will deliver necessary services to public housing residents as part of

the larger community, through the community-wide system developed by

HABC, the City, and CBP. The Department believes that the institutional

integration--of which this demonstration will be one part--will enhance

the quality, continuity, and impact of support provided to public

housing residents. HABC will be a particularly active partner in this

endeavor, drawing upon its experience with the Family Development

Center at Lafayette Courts, which provided one of the models for the

national FIC program.

Core support services and Family Support Team activities supported

by FIC funding provided under this demonstration will be targeted to

ensure that a proportionate number of public housing families are

served. Funding from other sources will support the provision of

services to other neighborhood residents. Private foundations and the

City of Baltimore have both committed funding and in-kind donations to

the project. The Department expects that this demonstration will

leverage more public and private funding as the project progresses.

The Department will allocate up to $1 million to HABC to carry out

its part of the project, pending receipt and approval of an application

that is consistent with program and submission requirements as

established in this notice and any subsequent notice issued after the

comment period has closed.

Sandtown-Winchester

Throughout the nation, collaborations between community-based

organizations and private foundations are establishing partnerships to

address the full range of human needs in disadvantaged communities--

public safety, education, job training and placement, health and human

services, housing and open space development, and others. These

comprehensive community development and revitalization efforts seek not

only to accomplish specific projects, but also to build community-based

institutions that will continue to provide for residents' needs over

the long term. Government at the local, State and Federal levels, as

well as corporate partners and intermediary development organizations,

have become involved in these projects to varying degrees.

In Baltimore, the CBP comprehensive community-based strategy is

especially well-advanced. Working with the CBP, the City of Baltimore

and its Housing Authority have made the transformation of the Sandtown-

Winchester neighborhood one of their highest priorities. The CBP

partnership aims to ``transform all of the dysfunctional conditions and

systems in Sandtown to enable all residents to achieve their highest

potential.'' The dysfunctional systems the partnership addresses cross

the full range of typical public and human services.

Additional Federal, State, and private participants in the

transformation of the neighborhood include: the United States

Departments of Housing and Urban Development, Transportation, and

Health and Human Services; the Maryland State Housing Finance Agency

and Community Development Agency; the National Community Development

Initiative; the Kellogg Foundation; the Abell Foundation; the Mott

Foundation; the Goldseker Foundation; the Strauss Foundation; Baltimore

Gas & Electric Company; NationsBank; Habitat for Humanity; local

churches; and many local community development groups, including

Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development.

The community of Sandtown-Winchester contains the 571-unit Gilmor

Homes public housing development, as well as over 300 scattered-site

public housing units. Nearly half of Sandtown-Winchester residents able

to work are unemployed; one-third of the residents have no health

insurance. The rate of death from influenza and pneumonia is 2.5 times

that of the City of Baltimore. The rate of HIV infection is double that

of the City, and is sixth in the State of Maryland. Students in local

public schools consistently perform far below state standards on

reading, writing, and math tests, and absenteeism is a major problem.

Forty-nine percent of all residents live in poverty, and five of six

poor children live in single-parent households headed by women. The

Sandtown-Winchester crime rate is one of the highest in the City.

Typical systems for delivering basic public services of employment,

human services, health, education, housing, and public safety have not

met the complex and interrelated needs of the residents in Sandtown-

Winchester, who have needs typical of residents in many disadvantaged

neighborhoods throughout the nation.

Large amounts of resources have flowed into the neighborhood from

various public and private sources, particularly from government

programs meant to address only distinct elements of the many

interrelated problems, which have persisted from generation to

generation, that are faced by Sandtown-Winchester's residents. CBP is

working to change the delivery systems for these programs and

resources, to make these services and housing opportunities more

accessible to and effective for neighborhood residents. Through the

Family Support Teams that will work with clients and their changing

needs, the Family Resource Center will transform the delivery system

for supportive services from a fragmented maze into a highly responsive

personal- and neighborhood-based system.

In addition to the core services planned to be available at the

Family Resource Center, public housing and other residents of the

Sandtown-Winchester neighborhood will be able to access other CBP and

partner activities and programs. The Family Resource Center, with its

outreach and case management capabilities, will identify residents'

needs, connect them to neighborhood-based and City-wide service

providers, and monitor their clients' progress.

Programs available to residents will include community-based job

training, job placement and small business technical assistance, and

health care that is focused on preventative measures and primary health

care needs. A new Neighborhood Development Center has begun to

coordinate the efforts of several community development corporations

and other housing providers to construct or renovate housing in the

area and to offer counselling and referrals for rental, special needs,

and ownership opportunities. Plans to treat substance abuse in the

neighborhood include residential, outpatient, support group, and in-

home counselling. Youth education and activities programs will include

targeted outreach to children from birth to five years of age, to

ensure school readiness through a variety of support strategies.

Extensive school to work programs and expanded summer recreation and

after-school activities involving parents are also planned.

Because of the initiative already taken at the local level and the

working partnership forged there, the Sandtown-Winchester neighborhood

transformation project is an ideal demonstration environment for

service delivery integrated across existing Federal program lines. Too

often, the requirements of Federal programs have dictated institutional

structures at the local level that stand in the way of comprehensive

delivery of housing and services to those who need these services to

achieve self-sufficiency. The City of Baltimore, HABC, and the

community have all come together, supported by The Enterprise

Foundation and many private contributors, to implement the Sandtown-

Winchester neighborhood transformation. This coordination creates a

rare opportunity for the Department to test the capacity of its

existing programs to serve in the context of a truly integrated and

comprehensive transformation effort.

Applicable Requirements

Through this demonstration, the Department will explore ways to

encourage neighborhood transformation partnerships by, for example,

meshing its programs to the needs of the local agencies to coordinate

the delivery of programs and services. The strategy to which the

demonstration will contribute will integrate public housing residents

fully into the services and activities available to the rest of the

community, in order to reduce the isolation often imposed by different

institutional delivery systems acting within small geographical areas.

In order to receive the funding proposed in this notice, the HABC

will be required to meet the applicable programmatic and application

requirements set out in the NOFA for Public and Indian Housing Family

Investment Centers (published at 59 FR 9592 (February 28, 1994), and

amended at 59 FR 18570 (April 19, 1994) and 59 FR 29816 (June 9, 1994))

and any subsequent notice that is published after the comment period

has closed.

When applicable, the certifications, findings, determinations, and

requirements listed by the Department under the ``Other Matters''

section of that NOFA also apply to this notice.

Authority: 42 U.S.C. 1437t, 3535(d), and 3542.

Dated: June 28, 1994.

MaryAnn M. Russ,

Acting Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian Housing.

[FR Doc. 94-17704 Filed 7-20-94; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4210-33-P