On December 3, 2012, I had the opportunity to meet with Mr. Joe Garlick, Executive Director of NeighborWorks Blackstone River Valley in Woonsocket, RI. Neighbor Works restores abandoned houses, builds new homes, and revitalizes neighborhoods to improvement the quality of life for Woonsocket residents. They are committed to rebuilding neighborhoods and communities!
Mr. Garlick gave me a thorough overview of public housing and low-income housing, and highlighted their newest development an 80-unit, affordable, elderly housing project, called the Meadows. He talked about the development, which took five years to get off the ground. The Meadows also provides the residents with a full range of social services to older adults over 62 years of age. Residents' payment sources consist of social security and pension payments.
We toured the new facility, which was incredibly beautiful on a gorgeous lot with a wonderful view. The building, itself, was designed to encourage community through activities and functions. Mr. Garlick also gave me a tour of many of their family housing projects, which were equally impressive including a newly renovated after-school program (building), in which, the teachers also live in the building - rent free!
I left the meeting feeling energized and excited about the look and feel of the new elderly housing project. Mr. Garlick also provided me with the name of a colleague, who is involved in LGBT Housing (Cheryl Gladstone - The Enterprise Foundation). I will follow up with Mr. Garlick with a thank-you note. I will contact Ms. Gladstone in the coming weeks.
No comments:
Post a Comment