NOAH RESPONDS WITH TWO NEW COVID-RELIEF SERVICE LINES
These last nine months since the pandemic layoffs began in March have been very harsh. Throughout this ravishing time, NOAH has continued to respond to the needs of disadvantaged members of our community by implementing two critical, emergency assistance programs: Food Distribution and Rent Relief.
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NOAH's Phil Giffee with Chelsea Collaborative's Gladys Vega
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FOOD RELIEF: We know so many struggling and concerned individuals and families, who, through no fault of their own, have been hammered by job losses, housing insecurity, food shortages, school children afoot while living in very dense housing, oft times with other people who rent rooms from one another, as well as COVID-19 and other complicating medical issues. These are the worst of times for them. We have tenants and friends in the neighborhood who have been devastated by all this. It is amazing that people have been able to survive these harsh and stressful times so far!
Fortunately, East Boston non-profits and many funders have done an amazing job hastily organizing distribution associations. NOAH has been part of one 'Emergency Response Network' which has taken root in the community. We have invested $97,000 in food and other related emergency relief thus far, and will continue as time goes on. For example, Mal Nelson and Carlos Thrall of NOAH's Property Management Department know the plight of NOAH's 145 East Boston tenant families, 76 of whom have asked for help with rent, 77 of whom have lost income, 31 of whom we have helped to file for unemployment, 76 of whom have been given at least two NOAH food cards, and 53 of whom who have reported they have had COVID. Our office is officially closed, but Mal and Carlos been helping people in person and on-line fill out scores of unemployment application forms, rental assistance forms, and medical forms.
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Giving Out Grocery Gift Cards
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Diana Franco, who leads Homebuyer Services, comes in the office to give out food gift cards to people who have reached out to her. She posted a note on her Facebook page last spring and has been deluged with people from all over. We aim to help our brothers and sisters in East Boston, but we also know many in distress in Revere, Chelsea and beyond. Kimmy Salazar, a NOAH Rental Housing Advocate/Case Manager, has also been distributing grocery gift cards to Boston residents; as have several other Rental Housing Case Managers.
Melinda Vega, NOAH's Community Building Coordinator, has two small children, is a City Councilor in Chelsea, and is forced to stay close to home, where her husband is also a Chelsea Police Officer. Nevertheless, she is regularly helping out her famous activist mother, Gladys Vega, who founded The Chelsea Collaborative, one of the Commonwealth's most immigrant supportive organizations. Gladys' team turned their Chelsea HQ into a virtual grocery store in order to serve the area's most vulnerable people, thousands of whom immediately lost their jobs when the pandemic lockdown began mid-March. They have been doing fabulous work with COVID all around them! Kudos to Melinda, Gladys, and the whole TCC team!
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Food Distribution Prep
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Manlio Mendez, Senior Organizer, set up camp outside for 20 weeks at our Coppersmith Village development. Every Tuesday, he and local volunteers assembled food bags, in part with fresh produce from The Food Project, and handed out cartons and family toiletries through scheduled, socially distanced, visits to 100 families per week, including via The Soup Kitchen and Crossroads Family Shelter. We give them all credit for being on the front line of COVID responders. We do more than directly assist residents on our own, however. We have distributed funds to the following entities also serving on the front lines: Project Bread, Veronica Robles Cultural Center, Union Capital Boston, East Boston Soup Kitchen, Maverick Landing Community Services, Eastie Farms, and others. We have seen the extraordinarily long lines where our colleagues at The Chelsea Collaborative have been serving nearly 20,000 meals a week. Since East Boston and Chelsea have similar characteristics, we know that hundreds of East Boston families have been using that heroic service.
RENT RELIEF: NOAH's staff has also felt very privileged to have been able to work
hand-in-glove with the City of Boston in its Rent Relief Fund initiative, thanks to Mayor Walsh and DND Director Sheila Dillon. Thus far, with City/Federal Funds, NOAH has distributed over $1.8M to 525 households, some 35% of whom live in East Boston. Director Linda Foster's team of Kim Salazar, Sasha Penny, Daria Krechevsky-Lipsitt and Dajuan Frasier have been working non-stop with families adversely impacted financially due to the pandemic, including many female heads of household, enabling them to get the requisite paperwork completed and submitted in order to avoid any wrongful payments while yet getting the rent funds out as quickly as possible on behalf of distressed renter families. Funds have been paid directly to their anxious landlords, who are also struggling to pay their mortgages. The Governor wisely created an eviction moratorium, and, with the Legislature, also set aside over $200M to help tenants, landlords and small businesses alike.
But, unfortunately, the eviction moratorium lifted, and already-struggling families have been forced to make even more harsh decisions. Far too many families already have eviction court appearances scheduled. NOAH and other CDC's, as well as some of the area's largest landlords, have signed a pledge not to evict anyone until March 2021. With a new administration in Washington DC, there may be more stimulus funds to help states deal with these economic chasms so damaging to our economy and health alike. NOAH's own rent collections are down by 15-28%, which hurts our ability to pay our own mortgages. We are entirely grateful to our many lenders who have postponed or extended mortgage payments for months on end. They recognize that we are all in this together!
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Weekly Groceries & Supplies Distribution
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We also are grateful to our own Board for donating funds individually as well as from our organizational reserves so that NOAH could quickly administer to our beleaguered and much-loved community. Overall, East Boston's response has been amazing! So many people have stepped up, and it is heartening and a wonderful tribute to our fabulous neighborhood. We thank the following for their investments in us which have enabled us to get quality food and household items, as well as other emergency relief, to local residents in very short order. We thank United Way of Mass. Bay/Merrimack Valley, NeighborWorks America, The Food Project, Dignity Matters, Fresh Food Generation, Hope & Comfort, Gillette, Equal Exchange, New England Coffee, as well as NOAH's reserves and our own Board members, who graciously donated to our weekly food box distributions and other COVID-19 relief efforts. And, as noted above, the City of Boston's Rental Resiliency Fund has invested millions of dollars in rent relief, for which we are thankful. NOAH is one of only three non-profits in Boston selected to distribute these precious dollars which are saving renters from being evicted, and some apartment owners from wholesale bankruptcies or foreclosures. We are very, very grateful indeed.
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Potential 2030 High Tide Storm Surge Flooding
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EAST BOSTON RESILIENCE ASSEMBLY
We thank the East Boston Neighborhood Health Center, the City's Office of Emergency Management, the Boston Public Health Commission and the 80 diverse, bi-lingual people who attended the first neighborhood Resiliency Assembly on Saturday, November 14th. Resiliency, or the fastest way to regeneration, is key to both personal and community wellbeing and recovery. EBNHC presented how they have dealt with COVID-19, which remains a scourge in our communities. (We ALL have to work continue together to beat back this pandemic). Boston OEM and BPHC shared with us how they collaborate, and how they interact with agencies such as EBNHC and other first responders when an impending climate or other natural disaster, such as damaging hurricanes, floods, fires or other emergencies, strike. BPHC also showed us what is essential for 'Go-Kits' which are what families need to assemble prior to any emergency.
Dr. Paul Kirshen presented a dramatic animation of how a storm surge would overwhelm Liberty Plaza, flood Central Square, cascade into the tunnels, and isolate parts of the neighborhood. Maverick Square would be threatened in this model - and could be overwhelmed if the storm were to be a few inches higher than in the past. Note: In the modeling, we used the January 2018 'Bombogenesis' storm and projected what it would do in 2030 if no green or gray infrastructure is added by then. In addition, NOAH's youth team prepared a short video which reminded us that the climate and the community we are building now is what they will soon inherit. They said they want to work to solve problems as they grow, but they are fearful of what is being passed to them for their future. Participants then gathered in Breakout Rooms to discuss how they would respond in such an event.
NOAH's goal in organizing this assembly was to help alert the community as to what will happen to the people and property in East Boston if we don't respond in an organized manner to climate challenges - or other natural catastrophes, including COVID-19. Storm surges, flooding our streets and tunnels, damaging our critical infrastructure, are coming; as are extreme temperatures, which threaten young and old alike. WE NEED TO BE PREPARED. One lesson learned from our keynote speaker, Rich Serino, who used to run Boston's EMS, and later was national Deputy Director for FEMA, is that, in his experience, people and communities recover faster if they are prepared beforehand and if they operate collaboratively together: The Whole Community approach. There is no 'secret sauce' to Resiliency. It is simply solid preparation ahead for the execution of critical plans; active collaboration among first responders and community agencies/small businesses/churches/elected officials; and personally caring for one another's well-being, particularly the most vulnerable among us.
As a result of the Assembly, NOAH will follow up in two areas: a) work with local leadership to promote more inter-agency Resiliency Planning; and b) continue to work on and promote Green/Gray infrastructure possibilities, especially focusing on Liberty Plaza, Border Street and the Maverick Square areas. At a later time, we will share our dramatic animation among those mostly interested in Climate-related matters. If you have any questions about NOAH's East Boston resiliency work, please contact Executive Director Phil Giffee at 617-418-8240 or pgiffee@noahcdc.org.
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EAL ESTATE UPDATE
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Aileron Development's First Day of Work
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Aileron in East Boston
Construction has begun in East Boston on the first phase of the Aileron project, which will create seven homeownership units, four affordable and three market rate. The development will be a mixed-income, artist-focused one, and will also have 33 rental units, 24 of which will be affordable, as well as studio/gallery spaces. Thank you to Mayor Mary Walsh, the Boston CPA Committee, and to Boston DND for their wonderful support.
Taunton
We submitted a One Stop funding application to the state DHCD for our 38-unit, mixed-income, $18M historic renovation project for downtown Taunton on Sept 30. Unofficial word is that the project could be funded shortly! There was a lot of re-working of the financing and unit mix with Town officials during the spring and summer. They are supporting a mixed-market project, so that a variety of units are available for all income groups in this prized, downtown location, where the Town has invested millions of dollars in capital improvements over the years.
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Union Block in Taunton
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Like many Gateway Cities, Taunton is in favor of affordable housing, but aims also to add workforce and market units whenever possible. We get that. Not easy on the revenue/income side of the ledger, but we work hard with municipalities who are willing to invest in this model to pull it off. State partners such as Mass Housing seem willing to step in and assist in this complex endeavor. To be noted, there are two business owners who are selling their top two floors to NOAH but they will retain ownership of their businesses, which number eight in total, in a complex condo arrangement. More details in the next newsletter if we are funded in this One Stop round.
Ayer & Attleboro
Over the past several months, we have obtained a Purchase & Sale (P&S) and a Letter of Interest (LOI) for two other properties in Greater Boston: Ayer and Attleboro. In Ayer, we are performing due diligence on an 8-acre site where we plan on a 150-unit, two-phase TOD project about 1 mile from their commuter rail station. The Town has been very encouraging of our purchase, which makes things go so much more smoothly. In Attleboro, we intend to purchase an old mill building and adjacent properties so that we can build 110 mixed-market TOD units less than a quarter mile from their commuter rail stop. Lots of building going on just south of downtown in that area. Again, the town has been supportive of our re-development efforts. The goal in our work, outlined in our Strategic Plan, is to create a blend of affordable/workforce and market rate units in which all income groups can benefit. Units may be designed a bit different due to COVID and Work From Home (WFH) changes, but quality housing remains a dire need in the Commonwealth.
If you have any real estate leads concerning potential properties for sale or development in the Greater Boston area, please contact NOAH's Phil Giffee at pgiffee@noahcdc.org or 617-418-8240.
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50% INVESTMENT TAX CREDITS NOW AVAILABLE!
NOAH has received a full allotment of $200,000 in 2020 State CITCs. Community Investment Tax Credit (CITC) donation funds are used to underwrite our programming, including the Climate Change, Children's and Youth, ESOL, Homeownership & Homelessness Prevention, and emergency food provision service lines. We could not run these valuable initiatives without your enduring support. Please consider investing in us this year.
Utilizing CITCs, donors making a gift of $1,000 or more receive half back (50%) in state tax credits or rebates. A $500 net donation can work like a $1,000 donation to help NOAH offer free programming to seniors, disabled individuals, families, and children in need. I f you are able, please consider a CITC investment now! Please reach out to Linda Miller-Foster, Director of Fundraising, at 617-418-8246 or linda@noahcdc.org for more information.
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2020 CENSUS ACTIVITIES
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Creating Video on Census Completion Featuring State Rep. Adrian Madaro
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The Community Building and Environment Department staff advocated for all East Boston residents to participate in the 2020 Census. To support these efforts, NOAH developed bilingual service announcements featuring State Representative Adrian Madaro, City Councilor Lydia Edwards, Veronica Robles of the Veronica Robles Cultural Center in East Boston, and NOAH's Executive Director Phil Giffee to help spread awareness on a local level. NOAH also created customized Census-related items to give to those who completed it, and
provided ongoing remote and limited in-person support to community members who need help completing the Census. Throughout the season, NOAH advocated for 100% participation in the Census via social media and within the community.
Kudos to Manlio Mendez, Senior Community Organizer, and the whole CBE Team, including the NOAH Youth Organizers (N-YO) for their important work on this key initiative.
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NOAH Youth Prep for Census Sign-up
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CBE YOUTH LEADERS: N-YO
NOAH's Youth Organizers (N-YO) continue to work remotely on all of their initiatives. They have designed creative strategies to continue their environmental sustainability initiatives while socially distant. This year, the youth hosted bilingual virtual Environmental Justice tours of historic East Boston landmarks, creating presentations on platforms such as Prezi. They continued their Tree Canopy activities, including watering and maintenance, as well as providing information about requesting a tree, asking for assistance, how to become actively involved, and the benefits of a Tree Canopy in East Boston. The teens meet virtually on a regular basis.
If you have any questions about N-YO please contact Melinda Vega, Community Building and Environment Coordinator, at 617-418-8243 or mvega@noahcdc.org.
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Thank You & Masks from Tenant
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NOAH'S Property Management staff are keeping all of NOAH's residents safe by sanitizing properties and informing residents about important resources. Some staffers have helped residents in filling out unemployment paperwork and other assistance-related applications. Tenants in extreme need have received assistance with food provision, as well. NOAH's staff are working very hard to maintain and upgrade the NOAH offices with all necessary new safety precautions to comply with state regulations concerning COVID. The photo shows just one 'thank you' note from a grateful resident, in this case, one who donated two hand-made masks to Mal, in thanks for all his hard work.
If you have any questions, please contact Mal Nelson, Director of Property Management, at 617-418-8245 or mnelson@noahcdc.org.
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HOMEBUYER SERVICES
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HBS Receives CHAPA Seal Renewal
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NOAH's Homebuyer Services staffers continue to provide bilingual workshops, classes, and counseling to clients remotely, via Zoom. Since the pandemic started, the department has tailored its First-Time Homebuyer classes and Financial Capability workshops to address the unique challenges presented by COVID-19. They also developed a very popular Webinar on Foreclosure Prevention during the pandemic and offered it in English and in Spanish. The Department just received a renewal of its CHAPA Seal of Approval for its Homebuyer Education activities, as well. The staffers continue to have various bilingual guest speakers from financial institutions and other companies to provide expert advice to workshop and course attendees.
If you have any questions about the Homebuyer Services Department, please contact Director Diana Franco at 617-418-8266 or dianaf@noahcdc.org.
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RENTAL HOUSING/HOMELESSNESS PREVENTION SERVICES
As noted above, since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, NOAH's Rental Homelessness Prevention Services Line has been partnering with The City of Boston Office of Housing Stability to help with the City's Rental Relief Fund initiative, in addition to its other rental counseling service lines. Kudos to Mayor Marty Walsh, DND Director Sheila Dillon, and the whole team at OHS for establishing this program! The Rental Relief Fund assists Boston households who are facing a financial hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic and are in need of financial assistance to cover rent expenses.
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City of Boston residents have demonstrated a dire need for financial assistance to maintain housing. In April, the City announced the first round of its new Rental Relief Fund, which allocated $3 million in funding to provide financial assistance to residents at risk of losing their rental homes due to pandemic-related job losses and/or income-reduction. By May 1, NOAH had received the City funds and began immediately distributing rent relief payments. In June, the City conducted a lottery for the second round of $5 million in funding for this program. This fall, the third round of rent relief distribution began.
NOAH is one of three non-profit organizational partners assisting with this effort. Since the beginning of the program, NOAH Case Managers have been working harder than ever to effectively screen applicants while distributing approximately three months of rent to their landlords on their behalf as quickly as possible. To date, NOAH has been able to distribute over $1.8 million in rent payments to assist over 525 households in maintaining their rental housing through this initiative. This service line was added as an adjunct to the City of Boston-funded Emergency Housing Assistance/EHAP program (which helps fire and other emergency victims with short-term hotel stays and apartment move-in grants), the Family Safety Net/FSNP (which places newly homeless families in a hotel while they obtain shelter); and the Financial Assistance/FAP program (which helps Bostonians prevent an eviction or obtain a new apartment home, with City-funded rent grants).
If you have any questions about the Rent Relief or other Rental Counseling Programs, please contact Linda Foster, Department Director, at 617-418-8246 or linda@noahcdc.org.
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One of Many Zoom ESOL E-Classes Held Remotely
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ESOL PROGRAMS
NOAH's ESOL and U.S. Citizenship courses have ALL been held remotely during the pandemic. A special thanks to English for New Bostonians and Tech Goes Home for donating Chromebooks to ESOL students without IT access, and for helping NOAH's staff and students adjust to remote learning! With the Chromebooks, students were able to
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ESOL Student with Her
New Chromebook
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continue their education because they had improved access to online coursework. Classes have recently ended for the semester and will resume again in the fall. In June, NOAH's ESOL instructors held a remote 'virtual' graduation for Level Two ESOL students completing their work. Best of luck to all the graduates in their future endeavors!
If you have any questions about this programming, please contact Manlio Mendez at mmendez@noahcdc.org or 617- 418-8242.
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LATINX TRAILBLAZER NOMINATION
& BOSTON HARBOR HERO AWARD
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Manlio Mendez Featured at Award Ceremony
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Manlio Mendez was nominated by State Representative Adrian Madaro for the Massachusetts Black and Latino Legislative Caucus's Latinx Trailblazer Award! This award celebrates Latinx trailblazers who work to make our commonwealth a vibrant, and ever-improving home. Congratulations Manlio, and THANK YOU for all of the wonderful work you do for the community!
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Boston Harbor Hero Award
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In addition, NOAH was awarded a Boston Harbor Hero Award for its continued efforts to help build a more resilient waterfront in East Boston. At a Zoom award presentation, our ED Phil Giffee accepted the award on behalf of the CBE staff and community volunteers who make this work possible. We are so grateful to the support we receive from Save the Harbor/Save the Bay and others each year to keep this programming active.
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NEIGHBORWORKS WEEK & NOAH
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NeighborWorks Week Zoom Staff Meeting
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Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, area residents have struggled with high unemployment, housing issues, and food insecurity. NOAH remains hard at work to ensure that vital resources still get to the people who rely on them daily. During times of crisis, we must reassess our goals and strategies and also stay flexible and pivot quickly to reach them. Community residents, now more than ever, need emergency hunger relief, financial education, rent relief, foreclosure mitigation, homeownership education, ESOL and other related housing and neighborhood services. That's why NOAH has moved all in-person classes and counseling to virtual sessions, and added the two new service lines of Rent Relief and Emergency Food Access. With the support of NeighborWorks America, NOAH and sister NW organizations across the nation are enabled to do perform these critical services.
To create long-lasting change in East Boston and beyond, we all need to work together. NeighborWorks Week serves to bring attention to and help illustrate many ways to work together each year. When we do so, we listen to others' input and can create a stronger product than if we worked alone. Throughout the year, NOAH and other NeighborWorks organizations build and maintain relationships with state and local partners to create opportunities for residents. This year, because of the pandemic, NOAH conducted its annual NeighborWorks Week activities virtually, including its Zoom Staff Meeting. NOAH is a proud NeighborWorks network member, ensuring that individuals are provided with essential services that create a clear pathway to economic opportunity.
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MANY THANKS TO ALL OUR GREAT SUPPORTERS!
NOAH wants to say THANK YOU to all our wonderful recent funders who have supported us before and during the COVID-19 pandemic:
Several anonymous donations, Adrian Madaro Committee, Alfred E. Chase Charitable Foundation Bank of America N. A. Trustee, Balloon City, Boston Duck Tours, Boston Forging & Welding, The Boston Foundation, Boston Private Bank, Bushrod H. Campbell and Adah F. Hall Charity Fund, Capital One Bank, Cambridge Savings Bank, Century 21 Mario Real Estate, the City of Boston, Greg Comeau, Dignity Matters, Lauren DeMayo, Eastern Bank, East Boston CDC, East Boston Health Center, The East Boston Foundation, English for New Bostonians, East Boston Harborside Community School, East Boston Savings Bank, Equal Exchange, Rose Fiore, the Food Project, Fresh Food Generation, Gillette, George & Carolyn Koehler, Good Sports, Hackett Feinberg, Harvard Memorial Church, Rick High and Anne Perkins, Home Décor, Hope & Comfort, HUD, HYM Investments, James Healey Living Trust, Jean Staropoli, Jevali Restaurant, John Antonellis, Krisna Janak, David Lank, LISC AmeriCorps, MA Attorney General's Office, MA Division of Banks, Mifflin Memorial, Mike and Hale Lake, The Narrow Gate Architects, Namir Kallab-Dick, Needham Bank, NeighborWorks America, NeighborWorks America COVID-19 Emergency Operational Support, New England Coffee, People's United Bank, Santander Bank, Santarpios, Sammy Carlos, Marc Savatsky, Save the Harbor Save the Bay, Spinellis, Tacomania Restaurant, TD Bank Foundation, Webster Bank, Wells Fargo Housing Foundation, Young Leaders, United Way of Massachusetts Bay & Merrimack Valley, United Way COVID-19 Relief, Verizon-LISC Small Business Recovery Fund, the Wickman Family Foundation and Timothy Zeitler.
We would like to say a special 'Thank You' to two of the NOAH Board members who held birthday fundraisers for us this year! We are grateful to Marc Savatsky and David Lank for choosing to support NOAH in this very special way, raising over $4,000 in new funding.
With our generous supporters, we are able to continue to create and maintain more sustainable neighborhoods, community services and affordable housing opportunities than ever before. We want to give a special shout-out to Citizens Bank for its wonderful ongoing support of our Financial Literacy programming. And, as always, a great big THANK YOU to long-time funding partners NeighborWorks America and United Way of Massachusetts Bay & Merrimack Valley! If you would like to make a donation, please reach out to Linda Miller Foster at linda@noahcdc.org or 617-418-8246 or donate online on NOAH's website!
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UPCOMNG BILINGUAL EVENTS 
Annual Meeting
NOAH is holding its 33rd Annual Meeting virtually this year! Join us on Thursday night, December 17th, from 6-7:15 PM for an event featuring two local comedians (Adam Gabel and Usama Siddiquee); along with a video highlighting much of NOAH's social services work this year. Register for NOAH's Annual Event now by clicking here. If you have any questions about the event, or wish to sponsor, please contact Director Linda Foster at617-418-8246 or linda@noahcdc.org.
First-Time Homebuyer ClassesNOAH's next English First-Time Homebuyer (FTHB) course will meet virtually on 12/1 and 12/2 from 9:30 AM to 1:30 PM. The next Spanish language First-Time Homebuyer course will be held on 12/5 and 12/6 from 9:30 AM to 1:30 PM. Participants will learn from experienced industry guest speakers, including home inspectors, loan officers, insurance agents, and real estate attorneys, as well as NOAH HUD-certified counselors. For more information about either FinCap or FTHB classes, please contact Director Diana Franco at 617-418-8266 or dianaf@noahcdc.org.
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 PLEASE 'LIKE' US ON FACEBOOK!
NOAH's Facebook page has 4,446 Likes and 4,679 Followers! If YOU haven't done so already, we would really appreciate it if you would go to our Facebook page through the link below, and click the "Like" button - THANKS!
And, did you know we have two great Facebook groups?
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Make a BIG impact with a SMALL Donation!
Please consider making a secure tax deductible donation to NOAH today. To donate online, CLICK HERE.
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