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LATE SUMMER 2016 NEWSLETTER    
Youth Recognition Certificates 
COMMUNITY BUILDING & ENVIRONMENT

The Youth Leadership Crew members had a ver y busy summer, and accomplished a great deal! Pictured are State Rep. Adrian Madaro and CBE Director Chris Marchi along with two NOAH youth leaders, Michael Passariello and Alma Acuna. In the photo, Michael and Alma are displaying certificates of recognition received from Sal LaMattina of the Boston City Council on behalf of their successful environmental work. The Youth Crew led another fabulous summer boating safety and kayaking initiative, serving 3,190 participants this year. They also continued their popular Friday night Family Movie Nights in the Park programming, maintained the Our Garden site (carbon free!) and initiated a new campaign around proposed changes at the Sumner Tunnel.  

Back: Lorene Schettino & Diane Modica, East Boston Foundation & Javier Ceciliano, Spinelli's, Along with Some of the Children at Donor 'Thank You' Event  
The O'Donnell Schoolyard Summer Program & The East Boston Youth Soccer Program both saw successful seasons, serving 105 children at the 7-week Schoolyard and 62 children through the 8-week Soccer programs. ESOL lessons continued to be held on-site for parents at the O'Donnell Schoolyard this year. Many thanks to all of the 2016 Summer Schoolyard donors, including The East Boston Foundation, the major program sponsor!    
  
APWG Dutch Consulate Presentation 
EB ClimateCARE is making good progress towards building a more resilient East Boston in the face of future storm-surge flooding and other threats related to climate change. The ClimateCARE team is continuing the Working Group (APWG) meetings with residents and city and state partner agencies; and working sub-groups have been created. Massport, led by Robbin Peach, has taken a leadership position among agencies.  
Shoe Shop Place  
REAL ESTATE NEWS    
   
Shoe Shop Place in Middleborough has been completed, and residents began moving in this summer. It is expected to be fully occupied by November. The  $9 million Shoe Shop development created 25 affordable family rental units. Many thanks to all our wonderful project partners!

Coppersmith Village:
Construction is scheduled to begin this fall. The total development cost is approximately $38 million to construct this 71-unit mixed-income project, which will have both apartments and townhomes. Many thanks, again, to Mayor Marty Walsh and to Governor Charlie Baker and their administrations for their support of this much-needed project.    

East Boston Acquisitions Working Group:
Working with Boston
310 Saratoga Street
DND via a new funding program, a dedicated group of East Bostonians,  including NOAH, the East Boston CDC, local religious organizations, and concerned housing activists,
continues to work towards developing a financially viable acquisitions program to purchase triple-deckers, with a mission of keeping rental units at affordable levels for working families. Rents have risen 40% over the last four years. Working to help combat the impacts of gentrification in the neighborhood, we are looking to retain affordable rental homes. NOAH has just purchased its first property under this initiative, on Saratoga Street. If you have any leads concerning this new program, please contact ED Phil Giffee at 617-418-8240. 
 
 Director Diana Franco
& Counselor Jaselia Gratini
HOMEBUYER SERVICES UPDATE

The Homebuyer Services (HBS) department oversees four bilingual service lines including first-time homebuyers, foreclosure prevention and mitigation, VITA tax preparation and financial capability/literacy. The department continued to assist high numbers of clients this year, with 61 new and 43 ongoing (104 total) client families served through foreclosure prevention and mitigation counseling; 103 households helped with tax preparation; and with 287 first-time homebuyer class graduates and 69 financial capability graduates. Pictured: two of the HBS counselors representing NOAH at this summer's Latin Festival at City Hall. There were about 4,000 attendees who enjoyed the Festival and who were also able to learn about our organization's programming.

One of the HBS programs, Financial Capability, has just completed a 'before and after' study
Volunteer Olga Vasquez-Garcia, Citizens Bank
of participants, and learned that those students who provided follow-up surveys four to six months after class completion saw a 66% increase in their savings levels, with a mean increase in savings of $4,350. This is a very encouraging outcome, demonstrating measurable  gains in clients' overall financial well-being. The data indicates that our clients' increased financial knowledge is leading them to make smarter financial choices. Pictured: Volunteer Spanish language financial literacy instructor Olga Vasquez-Garcia, Asst. Branch Manager of Citizens Bank's Revere Branch; Citizens Bank is a long-term supporting partner of this initiative (thank you!).

Dates and times for the Department's high-impact, bilingual, low-cost First-Time Homebuyer education, no-cost Foreclosure Prevention and Mitigation workshops and its next free Financial Capability class are listed in the Calendar below. All counseling is free. If you are interested in learning more about our Homebuyer Services activities,  please contact Director Diana Franco at 617-418-8266. 
Nathan Hoefgen-Harvey 
& Rachelle Kredentser
NEW FACES AT NOAH!

NOAH welcomes two new NeighborWorks America VISTA volunteers: Rachelle Kredentser and Nathan Hoefgen-Harvey. Rachelle is a May graduate of Brandeis University, with experience in non-profit social media campaigns and in writing articles while working for her local newspaper. Nathan holds a bachelor's degree from Hampshire College and a recent Master's degree from BU. He has worked as an ESOL instructor; and has volunteered for several years for the Samaritans. Rachelle and Nathan will be continuing to help build NOAH's capacity to serve low-income residents through fundraising, online marketing, and other related efforts. Thank you, and welcome, Nathan and Rachelle!

NOAH AWARDED 2016 CITCS      

A reminder! NOAH has been awarded $150,000 in 2016 CITCs, the maximum allowed. Donors get half back in state tax credits or rebates with CITC. We are looking for donors who'd like to double the impact of their donation dollars! It's easy to do. Any individual or corporation can make a donation of $1,000 or more for a 50% state tax credit or refund. And, depending on your federal tax bracket, a $325 final net donation could work like a $1,000 donation to help NOAH offer free or very low cost programming to seniors, disabled individuals, families, and children in need. For more information, please check out our website, contact your tax professional or call us at 617-418-8246.  
ThankYous MANY THANKS TO ALL OUR FUNDERS!

A ll of us at NOAH want to say THANK YOU to all our recent funders, including: John & Todd Antonellis, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Brian & Jeannine Archibald/Metavante Corp., Boston Duck Tours, Boston Forging & Welding, Lawrence Braman, Cambridge Savings Bank, Bushrod Cambpell & Adah Hall Charity Fund, Capital One, Century 21 - Mario Real Estate, Channel Fish, City of Boston, Deloitte, East Boston Diamond Exchange, East Boston Foundation, East Boston CDC, East Boston Dental Associates, East Boston Neighborhood Health Center, East Boston Savings Bank, Elton & Hampton Architects, English for New Bostonians, EPA Healthy Communities, Rose Fiore, James Healy Trust, Kiwanis Club of East Boston, Kirshon Paint, Sal LaMattina, LISC, Neenah Estrella-Luna and Marcus Luna, MA Attorney General's Office, Adrian Madaro, Ruggiero-Mazzarella Funeral Home, Narrow Gate Architects, NeighborWorks America, Santander Bank, Save the Harbor-Save the Bay, Smolak & Vaughn LLP, Spinelli Ravioli, TD Charitable Foundation and Webster Bank. 

Without our wonderful supporters, we could not maintain our client services or programs at their current high levels. With them, we continue to create and maintain more sustainable neighborhoods, community services and affordable housing than ever before. We are so very grateful to all of them! We want to give a special shout-out to Citizens Bank for its wonderful ongoing support of our Financial Literacy programming and to The Kresge Foundation for its generous funding of the East Boston ClimateCARE resiliency work.
And, as always, many thanks to long-time funding partners NeighborWorks America and United Way of Massachusetts Bay & Merrimack Valley. Thank you all.    
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Events Calendar Pages

UPCOMING EVENTS


First-Time Homebuyer Classes
The next English First-Time Homebuyer course will meet on 
September 17 and September 24 from 9:00 AM to 2:30 PM
at NOAH. The next Spanish First-Time Homebuyer course will meet on
October 15 and 22 from 9:00 AM to 2:30 PM. Students learn from industry guest speakers, including home inspectors, as well as from NOAH staff, about how best to select and purchase a home and about appropriate loan products. Also, we are offering individual online course sessions in both English and Spanish. For more information, please contact Dept. Director Diana Franco at 617-418-8266 or dfranco@noahcdc.org.  
 
Loan Modification/Foreclosure Prevention Clinics
Our next free bilingual Loan Modification/Foreclosure Prevention clinics will occur on the following Monday evenings: September 19 and 26 and October 3, 17 and 24 from 5:30 to 8 PM at NOAH. These workshops are the initial counseling and education sessions for NOAH's foreclosure prevention and mitigation counseling. The sessions are held in Spanish and in English. All of NOAH's foreclosure prevention education and counseling sessions are free of charge. Workshops are held weekly, except for holiday weeks. For additional information, please reach Carrie Tennant, Esq. at 617-418-8264 or ctennant@noahcdc.org. 

Financial Capability Classes
The next free bilingual Financial Capability course will be held at NOAH on Saturday, October 1, from 9:30 AM to 3:30 PM, and on Monday, October 3, from 6:30 to 9:30 PM.  To register, please contact Carrie Tennant, Esq. at 617-418-8264 or ctennant@noahcdc.org.

Wells Fargo Home Preservation Workshop 
NOAH will host a special workshop exclusively for Wells Fargo mortgage clients on Thursday, September 22 from 10 AM to 7 PM at the Embassy Suites Logan Airport. For additional information, please contact Dept. Director Diana Franco at 617-418-8266.

ESOL & US Citizenship Classes
Another session of ESOL coursework will begin the week of September 26. There are two levels of courses. The next 10-week US Citizenship Class starts September 17, 10 AM to 12 PM. Please contact Manlio Mendez at 617-418-8242 or mmendez@noahcdc.org for additional information.

'Community Voices: An English Language Learning Tool' Presentation 
Public introduction to the new NOAH ESOL language learning tool, with stories from East Boston residents, on Saturday, October 29, at 10 AM, at the East Boston Public Library. 

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