Homelessness and the Housing Dilemma

It is the contradiction of our times: To have so much empty and available housing stock and a growing homeless population. Today was one of those days where Housing was the main topic on my agenda.

First, I am locked into a debate about the housing crisis in New Orleans. The government is proposing to demolish substandard project housing units, while people are sleeping under bridges. There is an active protest against it.

Second, I attended a strategy session on transitional housing program for ex-offenders.

We, in Tarrant County, Texas, are solution-oriented. We are a very large and active community, working on various committees, sub-committees, and projects. For the past two-and-a-half years, we have been laying the groundwork for reentry of previously incarcerated persons (PIPs). A large percentage of those will have transitional housing needs.

Today, I was a proud part of the formation of the Residential Reentry Association, a support network of transitional housing for PIPs. We are changing the name from “Group Homes” to “Transitional Housing”.

I believe this concept works if we measure the basic unit in terms of “bed space”, rather than housing units. This would better facilitate cost accounting and resource management. Case management of clients can be streamlined through an in-and-out logging system, registering hours of service, and which types of services.

We have successfully identified the types of services PIPs need. Therefore, the Tarrant County Reentry Council is subdivided in 10 workgroups. The newly formed Residential Reentry Association will be part of the Housing solution, and work to expand capacity in terms of bed-space and sponsorship.

We recognized that sometimes PIPs will fall into the ranks of the homeless, but usually after some time at failing to reintegrate into society (The almost-made-it bunch). For the sake of the Reentry Housing strategy, this is a different demographic. The City of Fort Worth has appointed a homeless czar assigned the Herculean task of picking the homeless off the ground.

There has been a recent wave of evictions- from apartments and homesteads. The shakeout has created more homelessness. We are finding substance abusers and alcoholics falling into the ranks of the homeless. And, we see a rise in petty crimes and drug arrests.

More and more, as I drive around the neighborhood I see people belongings sitting on the curb. Some evictees are desperate enough to break back in, and squat under the cover of darkness, or until evicted again. Later, these abandoned houses become homeless haunts and drug houses. Eventually, these units fall victim to arson or demolition (and not enough demolition, at that).

Here is where I find myself in dispute with the property owners in New Orleans who are protesting the demolition of HUD Housing projects.

Protest is no solution. It may call attention to the problem, but the leadership behind the protest must have a proposed solution to offer. Otherwise, Tarrant County, Texas recognizes the homeless crisis. Why should we protest while we are the ones working on the solution?

As part of a proposed solution to PIPs falling back into homelessness, the Residential Reentry Association will probably evolve into a Group Home Owners Association, where reentry PIPs will be the collective owners of the place where they call home. And, when they leave, they will be economically viable self-sufficient citizens.

I admit that we are in the early stages of development. But the county realized that, with 500 releases per month, they must stop the bleeding and prevent these people from returning to a life of crime.

We must remove barriers and stumbling blocks that hinder reentry- such as a lack of state-issued legal identity (which would help Hispanic-Americans especially being released from prison). PIPs should also be able to receive state certification and licensure in the vocational fields for which they trained.

Mental Health must come to recognize “Arrested Development” as a psychological barrier to reentry, but not to be confused with MHMR. The deprivations created by incarceration can be corrected by re-socialization skills training, such as time management, computer literacy, and soft skills, such as telephonic skills, social etiquettes, anger management, and ethical behavior.

Our advice to the people of New Orleans- Get a grip and take control. The concept of a Group Home Owners Association is not farfetched from a solution to New Orleans dilemma.

Urban Village Planning

December 4 at 7:00 p.m.
Council Chamber of City Hall
1000 Throckmorton Street
Fort Worth, Texas 76102

The City Plan Commission received a staff briefing on November 16 and recommended that the City Council adopt all twelve urban village master plans. After receiving a staff briefing on the DRAFT master plans on Nov. 27, the City Council will hold a public hearing on whether to adopt the urban village master plans by reference into the Comprehensive Plan on December 4 at 7:00 p.m. in the Council Chamber of City Hall, located at 1000 Throckmorton Street . Please feel free to attend and give your comments to the City Council.

Southeast Cluster Planning

The Southeast Cluster of Urban Villages includes: Berry/Riverside, Berry/Stalcup, Near East Side, Oakland Corners, and Polytechic/Wesleyan. The City of Fort Worth has contracted with Freese and Nichols, Inc. for the preparation of redevelopment plans and implementation strategies for the Southeast Cluster of Urban Villages.

DRAFT Master Plans and Plan Summaries

Berry/Riverside Village DRAFT Master Plan and Plan Summary
Berry/Stalcup Village DRAFT Master Plan and Plan Summary
Near East Side Village DRAFT Master Plan and Plan Summary
Oakland Corners Village DRAFT Master Plan and Plan Summary
Polytechnic/Wesleyan Village DRAFT Master Plan and Plan Summary

Berry/Riverside Village


Berry/Stalcup Village


Near East Side Village


Oakland Corners Village


Polytechnic/Wesleyan Village

What Part of Illegal (Alien) I Don’t Understand

Some pundit asked, “What part of illegal don’t you understand”, as it relates to immigration- which, to me, implied that the issue was so simple that even a caveman could understand.

Count me among the stupid, because I have a problem understanding the “ill” part of “illegal”. It seems more like “ill-will”. I especially had a problem back in the 1950s and 1960s with the “ill” part when it came to children being born without a father being called “illegitimate children”- bastards, as bad word in any language. Now I get the same connotation from “illegal immigrant”- the same ill-will prejudice that led to wholesale humiliation of single mother back then.

Words do not a thing made. Calling somebody “illegal” or “illegitimate” does not make a person so. Therefore, I am unimpressed with the highly charged language being used in the immigration debate. I think that I better understand the nature of the people who create such prejudicial semantics of delusion. Hate language produces hateful attitudes, ask any illegitimate child who grew up without a father, how they were treated.

As for the Great Immigration Debate of today, over which all the presidential candidates seem to be stumbling, this is a case example of how charged up language can obscure the issue.

We must recognize that every human being has rights. It may be possible to deny a person civil rights when they have no constitutional standing in a US court of law. But nationalism is subordinate to internationalism where human rights are primary in the court of world opinion.

There are three problems involved in the US Immigration Debate. The so-called illegal immigrant is attracted to the United States by prospects of opportunity, like 1800 gold rushers to California and land grabbers to Texas. We open the door to citizenship for some and close the door on others.

Nevertheless, there is a large US market for cheap labor- the cheapest of which is the undocumented worker. On the one hand, they are welcome to participate in the job market by some, while despised by others- no consensus but rather a mixed message. We just assume that they teach US immigration law in Guatemala in lieu of mixed messages emanating out of the states.

But practice supersedes ideologues. Undocumented workers are here in the US and they are working. And, like it or not, they are an integral part of the national economy. If they were not, there would not be crops spoiling in the fields.

For many years, it was okay to wink at immigration laws as long as we could get cheap goods and services, and the immigration population posed no political threat. The problem arose with the second generation, the Americanized Latino, born an American citizen with illegal parents. They have voting rights and legal standing in a court of law.

Suddenly, we seem overwhelmed and immigration becomes a hot-button issue- not because of mass migration from south of the border, but because the brown population is growing faster in numbers and political strength than we anticipated.

Closely the border means stopping the bleeding. Mass deportation is an attempt to protect the wound and stop infection. But the wound is self-inflicted.

What part of “illegal” I don’t understand is how we can criminalize others for our own self-inflicted wound. We want to outlaw 12 million people and deport them because we made the mistake of relaxing our borders and lowering the barriers way back when it was convenient.

(Continue Part II)

Opportunities for Diversity Candidates for Open Railroad Positions

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Patsy Curtis 817-887-8084

Opportunities for Diversity Candidates for Open Railroad Positions

DATES:
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11 - 6:30 PM
(Or)
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 15 - 10:30 AM

(Please be early to allow for finding parking space)

ATTIRE:
BUSINESS - Shirt, Tie, Slacks required

LOCATION:
777 Main St., 11th floor Fort Worth, TX 76102

ITEMS TO BRING:
Resume and 3 letters of reference

QUALIFICATIONS
**MUST be willing to travel. If you are not willing to travel (or an option to relocate),

No need to apply:
**Must have a High School diploma or GED
**Must not have any Felonies
**Must be able to pass a HAIR FOLLICLE drug test.

(NOTE: They do have a weight requirement although they don't say it publicly. If you have any misdemeanors, outstanding tickets, etc, the information MUST be disclosed and handled appropriately.)

**Need to show that you can pass a basic Math test (5-7th grade).

TESTING: You can practice by going to WWW.MATH.COM and clicking on Basic Math. You have to answer the practice questions first and then you will be given a final test at the end.

Alternatively, you can go to Barnes and Nobles and pick up a 5th grade TAKS math book.

EXPECTATIONS/ASSISTANCE

**You need to be able to take a timed math test with no calculator. (HINT: You need to answer EVERY question- the KEY being to answer first all the questions you are sure of first, then going back and answer the more difficult questions. The last 2 minutes of the test, if you have blanks. Make an effort to guess a, b, c, etc., until all questions are answered. Unmarked answers will be counted as incorrect.)

**There will also be a behavioral portion of the test...The answers to these questions are neither right nor wrong. The testing applicant MUST take a position that is all one way or all the other. (HINT: Do not be in the middle. No to answer will automatically be counted wrong.)

**There will be a reading/comprehension portion as well. You can also study with a 5th grade book at Barnes and Nobles. (NOTE: Do not to take these practice sessions lightly. Many people just do not remember things from the 5th grade, as proven by the hit TV show. It is not a matter of intelligence. To pass the test, you really must practice.)

(EG Note: Additional Reading/Comprehension ad may be found at RHL SCHOOL)

At the session, we will go over---positions available, how to apply, locations, types of gangs, etc., Testing procedures, drug testing, etc.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Please be 15 minutes early. These are the only 2 sessions scheduled. These sessions will be informational and will answer any and all your questions.

Staffing Dynamics
777 S. Main
Suite 600
Fort Worth, TX 76102

2007 Renaissance Communities Economic Development Summit

Observations & Commentary By Eddie Griffin


Words of Thanks

Since the 2005 Economic Summit, the City of Fort Worth has come a long way towards revitalizing its core thanks to the diligent leadership of Congressman Michael C. Burgess, in collaboration with Mayor Mike Moncrief and the City Council, Tarrant County Commissioner Roy Brook, State Representative Marc Veasy, State Senator Kim Brimer, and a great supporting host of other elected and appointed officials and citizens. Working together as a community, this is “The Fort Worth Way” of doing business.

The 2007 Renaissance Communities Economic Development Summit was a 12-hour marathon of reviewing our progress and forecasting the challenges before us.

Continuum

Summit I and Summit II focused primarily upon East and Southeast Fort Worth, with demographics in zip code areas 76103, 76104, 76105, 76112, and 76119. This year, the geographic scope of development has expanded to encompass the 76140 communities of Forest Hill and Everman. Because of the widened scope, the urban villages are now referred to as the Renaissance Communities.

Brief Review

The City of Fort Worth has always had a master development plan, even prior to 1900. The urban sprawl of the 1970s led to a migration from the core inner city. This pattern, spurred by desegregated housing, resulted in an abandonment and neglect of the city epicenter. By 1980, downtown Fort Worth was literally a ghost town after business hours, which then became a magnet for homeless transients.

The first revitalization initiative began with the downtown demographic zip 76102, the 1993 Downtown Revitalization Plan. This master plan turned downtown Fort Worth around. The concept was to turn downtown into a mixed zone of commercial and residential urban village. As new downtown urban condos and apartments went up, business returned to the revitalized downtown area. The urban village also took on a vibrant casual nightlife.

The Urban Village concept is based upon condensed mixed-use close quarter living in pockets similar to an all-in-one village. The restoration plan has been so successful for the downtown area that master builders are now bringing in million-dollar condos, and rebuilding every square foot of the downtown area into a new cityscape.

The new downtown plan also includes a Trinity River Vision, which would transform the Trinity River corridor into riverfront commercial development and lakeshore subdivision of new businesses and housing, along with a new community college campus.

This is modern urban design at its finest.

Urban Village Clusters

In the coming new phases of development, we will hear more and more about Urban Village clusters, with strategies for redevelopment patterned after the successful downtown revitalization plan.

In expanding the scope to encompass more of congressional District 26, the Summit examined urban village clusters in demographic zip code areas of 76103, 76104, 76105, 76112, 76119, and now 76140, which includes the Everman-Forest Hill communities.

The I-35 corridor is now the main artery of a housing boom through areas that were once grazing pastor. The urbanization of the cities of Everman and Fort Hill has given these communities a new demographic identity, and a new need for mass transit.

I-35 is in need of widening and new avenues and highways are being designed to alleviate traffic congestion and mitigate regional air pollution. The I-20 corridor that runs through Forest Hill presents new commercial opportunities along its frontage properties.

The inner-city core communities have identifies a number of potential urban village sites, five of which are included in District 26 target zone. These urban villages are being zoned for mix-use, heavily concentrated around key arterial intersections, where townhouse and lofts will coexist with street level businesses.

Schools & Workforce Development

The 2007 Renaissance Communities Economic Development Summit was a quantum leap over the last two years economic summits, insofar as we began to look at the development of “human capital”. We looked at the high level of unemployment and underemployment in the area as a potential workforce, in need of marketable skills.

In order to build a viable people, they must have “livable” wages. Therefore, one of the objectives of last year’s Economic Summit was to increase minimum wage to a livable level. This year the US Congress passed the first minimum wage rate in 10 years, thereby directly impacting the homeless and day labor district. The first year’s raise was $0.70 an hour, and similar increases will be coming annual for the next two years.

This potential but latent workforce is part of the Workforce today and Workforce of the Future. To help residents in this area over the poverty hump, various agencies have begun collaborating in transitional welfare-to-work strategies, through self-sufficiency. This year’s summit included a job fair and faith-based grant funding seminars.

Finally, we looked at the workforce pipeline with the idea of channeling more people into higher skilled and high paying jobs. We began examining the role of schools in preparing the workforce of the future. Currently, the ISD educational objective is academic achievement and preparing students for post-secondary education. But not every child is college bound, as noted by Representative Marc Veasy.

HR panelists repeatedly identified deficiencies in today’s pool of future workers, which could or should be addressed at the middle and high school level. Missing are soft skills in communications, business etiquettes, and socialization. Missing are math and science skills to fill the void of retiring baby boom engineers and technicians. Missing are vocational skills in machine shop technology at a time when digital machining is reaching a new apex in close tolerances. There is a new for new precision machinists, quality control inspector, electrical technician, and other blue and white-collar skills for the local defense industry. There is a need for medical technicians and clerics for the ever-growing local medical industry.

Many of the high needs fields do not require a college degree. Vocational and technological skills, along with a degree or certification, can be achieved in two years or less of post-secondary education. And, many of the skill sets can be achieved through duel enrollment, tech prep, or contractual education.

During the 2006-2007 school year, the Workforce of the Future subcommittee helped to implement a professional development in tax preparation for high students that would result in certification as qualified tax preparers, immediately employable, with a potential future in the accounting field. A similar professional development program in the medical and nursing field has been ongoing at one of the high schools since the early 1990s. Other specialized skills development programs at the middle and high school level are on the drawing board.

P-16 Workforce Pipeline

Cynthia Fisher Miller, an official of the local chamber of commerce and a member of the Workforce of the Future subcommittee, presented the concept of the “P-16 Workforce Pipeline”, in recognition that early childhood development is the true starting point for developing a strong and educated workforce of the future. This covers a time-span from birth through college graduation- with an added footnote that education will become a lifelong learning experience. This is the vision of the workforce of tomorrow.

The Fort Worth ISD now proposes a $593.6 million bond package to expand and upgrade the school system. As FWISD Superintendent Dr. Melody Johnson describes it: “If everybody at a particular high school turned on their Windows 95 at the same time, the lights in the school would go out.” Therefore, there is a need for new technological infrastructure.

Another major challenge for Fort Worth ISD, beside academic achievement, is catching up with the application of technology in the classroom. Already, most students have outpaced teaching staff in learning and adapting to the use of new technology. And, many gifted students feel held back. Dr. Jeri Pfeifer describes the eagerness of her AP math students at Everman High School to “get on with it”.

Another part of the student achievement strategy is the FWISD Project Prevail dropout prevention or student retention plan. It is designed to get all stakeholders- which includes business, parents, students, higher education, schools, faith community, and social services- committed and involved in the education of our children. Each group of stakeholders is given specific identifiable contributions that they can make in the overall effort.

College Prep

GO Centers are now set up in every high school, in order to “close the gaps” in academic and career achievements. The GO Centers are designed to put college-bound high school students on track. In conjunction with local community colleges, students can gain early college credits while still in school through Tech Prep or dual enrollment programs.

Needs and Challenges

Students still fall far short of modern industry needs in a global economy. We need to reexamine our education resources and capital assets. We have not gotten the best delivery system to convey curricula content. We have underutilized free or inexpensive online or multimedia educational resources. This may be due to chasing the TAKS test. But now that the state legislature is phasing out teaching to the TAKS test, we should revisit more advanced cognitive teaching programs, beginning with early childhood development.

Multimedia delivery system relieves teachers of much of the stress generated through direct interaction with students. Instead, students interact with multimedia tools and seek guidance from the instructor. Interactive multimedia education tools have a longer retention rate than verbose instructions.

The 80th State Legislature enacted a Virtual School bill that would, at once, supplement classroom instructions and later lay the groundwork for the future of education. Scholars recognize that the student of today can receive a full P-16 education online. Many industries highly value some online skills courses and certification program, such as Microsoft Office Software (MOS). For less than $20 per person, students can receive industry-recognized certificates of completion in WORD, EXCEL, POWERPOINT, and ACCESS, from the beginner level to the most advance. These skills may allow high school students immediate access into the job market as clerics or certified administrative assistants.

Conclusion

The first summit in 2005 was devoted to developing the scope of the community’s needs and challenges and organizing task forces to conduct fact-findings and probably strategies and solutions.

The second summit in 2006 returned with its findings. Advisories committees reported their findings and set out priorities and action items to charter the course.

This year, the summit looked at the cluster of Urban Villages comprising the Renaissance Community, in relationship to the larger district scope in transportation, business, and workforce development needs.

How do we pull the diverse components of these Urban Villages renaissance strategies? Terri Wade-Ottley is designing a project management system that will identify the development projects we aim to accomplish and its quantifiable components, benchmarks, schedules, and completions.

On the other hand, the Summit convened the faith-base community to look at grant opportunities for collaborative work, now being carried out by individual and isolated organizations. A host of federal agencies from Region VI demonstrated target objectives by the government, as it related to communities, with demographics similar to the Renaissance communities.

It was an exciting marathon that energized some 200 representatives of the community. There is a greater sense of partnership between public, private, religious, and community-based organizations.