The role of BNCP is to develop the capacity of residents as leaders to drive community change and remove barriers to revitalization efforts. The capacity building process develops relationships, increases knowledge and skills for residents, community partners and businesses to access resources that will convert their neighborhoods into places of opportunity.

BNCP is currently working in parts of Ward 1 and Ward 3. We are looking for resident volunteers to develop a neighborhood plan that will spark neighborhood revitalization. Could that person be you? If so, contact the BNCP office located in Holmes STEM Academy at (810) 767-8054.

The post Seeking Resident Volunteers to Develop a Plan for Neighborhood Revitalization appeared first on Metro Community Development.

Click Here to Watch the ABC12 Interview

The post First at Four Focus: Show Me The Money appeared first on Metro Community Development.

FLINT (WJRT) – (1/08/15)

David Alston has struggled to make ends meet. He was a hard working man, until he fell on hard times a few years ago.

“I lost my employment. I was with CMH part time,” said Alston.

There are days where it’s hard to even get a meal. But he finds solace at My Brother’s Keeper: A homeless shelter for Men and Veterans.

” I love Brother’s Keepers here. Their doors are always open to people that’s considerate,” said Alston.

Charles McGee is a shelter adviser at My Brother’s Keeper. He says when they run out of room, it breaks his heart to turn people away.

Click Here to Read More and Watch the Video

The post Local volunteers and agencies conducting homeless count at the end of the month appeared first on Metro Community Development.

http://youtu.be/4V0G6A4lG9w

The post Micro and Business Loans with CEDAM’s The Bright Side appeared first on Metro Community Development.

Almost everyone knows that homeownership is a good way to build assets and wealth, but during the bank-created economic recession, hundreds of thousands of Americans were—and still are—facing mortgage foreclosures. Saving homes from foreclosure can be thought of as a real estate transaction, but for CDCs it is an intervention to help people avoid losing their major and sometimes only asset, and simultaneously to help whole communities resist decline.

Flint, Michigan is one of the iconic communities devastated by the nationwide foreclosure crisis. However, homeowners like Regina Richards, who had been laid off from one of her two jobs, might have lost their homes due to a build-up of unpaid property taxes and other expenses had it not been for the ability of an organization called Metro Community Development. The group provided her with financial counseling and eventually helped her get access to a program that provided zero interest loans to struggling homeowners. Metro Community Development[1] gets it that the issue isn’t simply housing units, it’s people. “Families lose assets, and those who don’t, lose value in their assets,” Metro Community Development CEO Ravi Yalamanchi said. “It’s a huge challenge.”

CDCs and their intermediary partners do themselves a great injustice when they boil down their activities and accomplishments to the production of housing units or, perhaps even more narrowly, how much money they have borrowed from banks and other lenders to make affordable housing happen. Housing production is an old-fashioned, myopic, and frequently inaccurate lens on what nonprofit community development corporations do.

Click Here to Read the Entire Article

The post Heroes, Heroines, and Others in Nonprofit Community Development appeared first on Metro Community Development.

FLINT, MI – Regina Richards sits confidently in her home, thankful she was directed to a local organization that helped her save her home from tax foreclosure.

Richards, 48, has lived in Flint all her life and never thought she would be in a situation where her property tax bills would build up and the city she loved would threaten to take her home from her.

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The post Flint-area nonprofit helps save homes from tax foreclosure appeared first on Metro Community Development.

FLINT, MI – A way of raising food with fish farms and gardens nourishing each other could bring self-sustaining, locally-grown products to Flint-area neighborhoods, farmer markets, stores and restaurants through a unique project.

It’s a big goal, but it would make a great impact, said Ravi Yalamanchi, CEO of Metro Community Development.

Metro Community Development, a program that helps disadvantaged youth obtain an education and job training, is partnering with Kettering University to create an aquaponics farm, which would put a fish tank on the bottom with a soil bed that has produce growing on the top of the tank.

The system works with waste from the garden used as food for the fish and the water in the fish tank pumped to the plants. After the water is cleaned through the garden, it is recycled back into the fish tank.

Click Here to Read More

The post Aquaponics farm project could bring self-sustaining, fresh fish, local produce to Flint appeared first on Metro Community Development.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSeHWrVAnKY&feature=youtu.be

The post Metro is CEDAM’s 2014 Community Economic Development Leader of the Year appeared first on Metro Community Development.

Years after the real estate market collapse, families are still struggling to pay their mortgage and keep their homes, but there is help available.

A group called Metro Community Development is offering free counseling to Genesee County homeowners that are in the foreclosure process or dealing with other financial challenges.

ABC12 spoke with a woman who took advantage of that help.

Wynn McCree was one step away from losing her home. She says this program changed her life.

McCree moved into her Flint home in 2005, but her new home came with several challenges.

After McCree bought it, she injured her ankle, which left her out of work.

For four years in a row, she faced foreclosure.

Click Here to Read More and Watch the Interview

The post The Step Forward Program helps homeowners struggling to pay mortgage appeared first on Metro Community Development.

Show Me the Money Day offers a great opportunity for residents of the Flint-area to connect with the many financial institutions, nonprofits, service agencies, and other organizations that offer financial products, credit repair, homeownership programs, free tax preparation information, and more.

Local financial institutions that are members of the Flint CRA Bankers Forum are Chemical Bank, FirstMerit, First Place Bank, Fifth Third Bank, Flagstar Bank, Independent Bank, Chase Bank, Flag Star Bank and the State Bank. Numerous prize drawings throughout the day, including a $500 gift card and gas cards.

Click here to watch the ABC12 News Coverage

The post Show Me the Money Day 2014 appeared first on Metro Community Development.