South Bend Common Council Community Relations Meeting

TOPIC: Community Relations Communication Meeting
August 2, 2017, 6-8 pm at WUBS Radio Station
Councilpersons Present: Regina Williams-Preston, Jo Broden
FOLLOW-UP MEETING - August 10, 2017, 6pm at the LaSalle Branch Library for the showing of "Holding Ground" and the Dudley Street Initiative
Preview at:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUerVOi623E 
* Circle Keepers are offering free Conflict Resolution Services
* JP Consortium out of Chicago was "considered too radical" and was not hired for the Needs Assessment.   Prosperity Now out of DC is being considered
* If people are losing their homes due to Code Enforcement Fines there may be assistance to remove them so their homes are not sold in the upcoming Tax Sale. Code Enforcement fines are being tacked onto the Property Tax Bill instead of being separate which causes people to lose their homes.

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT
Owners of property in South Bend, if you have received a notice that your property will be sent to tax sale, there may be help available to save your home. If your tax statement has “special assessments” related to penalties from code enforcement, you may be able to have those penalties dismissed. Please call the Community Forum for Economic Justice at 574-222-4966 to get help today! The last day to get your home out of tax sale is September 1st so it is important for you to call as soon as possible. Again, if your house is going to tax sale and you have special assessments related to code enforcement on your tax bill. PLEASE CALL: Community Forum at 574-222-4966.
* Meagan Thompson says SSI is about $773/mo for those on disability making options for the disabled very limited.
* Cheryl Ashe suggests there needs to be affordable multi-family units
* South Bend has 53% making less than $46K a year according to the ALICE report
* South Bend has a 28% poverty level
* South Bend has a 42% poverty level for African-Americans
* South Bend has a 20% unemployment rate for African-Americans
* Current Gentrification trend is to acquire and consolidate parcels for high end development, displacing long time residents
* Reclaim. Remain. Rebuild.
* Recently $5M was given to a developer for high-end units where the Studio Apartments will start at $1,200/mo
* Pam Meyer - Over 30 years of investment, $75M in federal funds have basically been invested in 2 track areas, one bing the NNN Area
* An extremely low percentage of Minority Contractors have been used for projects. They are still waiting for the information detailing this from the City. Info they could find suggests $90M in contracts went to white women owned companies and only $300K to Minority Contractors. 
  $12K in purchase orders went to 2 Minority Contractors.
(Note: We do not have the source of these figures.)
* Reference was made to a "Section 3 Federal Program"
* Survey will be conducted by Emmanuel Cannady of Notre Dame, a 2nd year PhD student in the Sociology Department and Karl Nichols, Executive Director of Community Wellness Partners 
 * Questions will ask about how safe people feel in their neighborhood, what resources they want to see in teh neighborhood and if their physical and mental health is impacted where they live
* Survey to make sure people aren't displaced - 2 parts to the survey will ask 240-300 homes to participate, pay survey takers and have focus groups
* Poverty has a toll on both mental and physical health
* Anne Mannix, a trained City Planner is suggesting new construction of 3 Bed/2 Bath homes for $175K where people with an income over $30K/year and less than $50K/year would be eligible. She mentioned a cooperative of mutually owned homes on Oak Street created $255/mo to $595/mo rentals
* Jose Arevalo - Suggested around $40K would be an average for Rehabing homes in the area
* This program is suggesting 100 new homes and 400 rehabed homes to help revitalize the area
SUGGESTIONS:
* Utilize already existing data to show a map of homeowners in the area with "Homestead Credit" designation
* This would also narrow down who might qualify for the rehabilitation projects as "Owner Occupied Homes"
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