KMOV Puts Rise and Emerald Ridge Groundbreaking On The Air

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KMOV_Stephen

Click on the image to see the article and the media piece KMOV Channel 4 did on Rise and the groundbreaking of Emerald Ridge.

 

Rise Training – Community Development and Food Access: Innovative Strategies and Impactful Solutions

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Community Development and Food Access: Innovative Strategies and Impactful Solutions

Join Rise as we engage community development corporations (CDCs) and other stakeholders around the relevant topics of food access within the context of place-based community development. We recognize that there are CDCs and other community organizations located in food deserts and/or have residents within their service area with limited access to affordable nutritious food. Individuals and organizations will be equipped with innovative strategies for social and economic development that yield impactful solutions.

Guiding questions for this workshop include:
  • What is a food desert? How does it impact our local communities and development corporations?
  • How can community development corporations grow local food systems to better our neighborhoods, increase access to healthy affordable food, facilitate job creation, and ultimately promote economic growth and sustainability?
  • How can we expand our local economy through the food sourcing of local agriculture and entrepreneurship?
  • What best practices and successful business models should be considered?
  • How can we work with local farmers to support our urban food system and increase access to healthy food?
Date: Friday, March 28, 2014
Time: 8:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Location: Harris Stowe State University
AT&T Library Telecommunity Room
RSVP: Contact Brian Hurd
Technical Assistance Program Manager
333-7012 (tel) or [email protected] (email)

NNIP Elects Eleanor Tutt for Executive Committee

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On January 3, 2014, Eleanor Tutt, Data Management Coordinator for Rise, was elected to serve on the Executive Committee of the National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership (NNIP).

NNIP (www.neighborhoodindicators.org) is a collaboration of the Urban Institute (www.urban.org) – a nonpartisan economic and social policy research center – and local partners in 37 cities to further the development and use of neighborhood-level information systems for community building and local decision-making.  NNIP partners focus on democratizing information – facilitating the direct practical use of data by city, community, and neighborhood leaders.

Rise became the 32nd NNIP partner in 2009 in partnership with four universities – Washington University, University of Missouri Saint Louis, Saint Louis University, and Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.  Rise’s commitment to democratizing data is evident in initiatives such as Neighborhood Data Gateway (www.datagateway.org), as well as our individualized data and outcome measurement technical assistance to Community Development Corporations.  Eleanor has actively represented St. Louis at NNIP partnership meetings as an attendee and presenter since 2008, and Rise is hosting the next NNIP meeting, which will be held in St. Louis, April 2-4, 2014.

NNIP is important not only because of the data, but because of how the data is used.

Through the work of NNIP partners, neighborhoods and communities benefit from increased access to data on a wide range of topics from property conditions to public health, and assistance in the direct practical use of that data to design impactful programs, influence policy, and measure success.  NNIP partners focus on building the capacities of local institutions and residents, resulting in stronger programs, collaborations, neighborhoods, and regions.

Our commitment to democratizing data and the work of NNIP is yet another component in Rises’ ongoing commitment to “lifting our communities”.

Congratulations Eleanor!

Emerald Ridge Groundbreaking Ceremony-Partnership in Action

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A groundbreaking ceremony is scheduled on February 10, 2014 for Emerald Ridge (formerly the East Alton Defense Area Redevelopment).

In partnership with SWIDA (Southwestern Illinois Development Authority), Madison County, and the Village of East Alton, Rise will develop 46 new single-family homes in East Alton, Illinois.  The site will consist of 34 single-story and 12 two-story single-family detached homes.  The redevelopment will replace 91 obsolete housing units in the area and the majority of the new homes will be occupied by existing neighborhood residents.  This project is currently in its pre-construction phase and is expected to be completed in early 2015.

The ceremony will be hosted by the Village of East Alton and will begin at 10:00 a.m.

309-319 Ohio Ave.

East Alton, IL  62024

(across from the  parking lot entrance to the Keasler Recreation Complex)

There will be a photo gallery featuring pictures of the defense area as it is and renderings of the finished development.

Complying with the nationally-renowned Enterprise Green Communities program, homes will be built to meet or exceed Energy Star 3.0 standards, ensuring well-built, well-insulated, high performance homes. Five homes are designed to be fully accessible according the DOJ 2010 standards – the latest Americans with Disabilities Act standards. Resident utility bills will be reduced by measures like increased insulation, Energy Star appliances and lighting, low-flow fixtures, highly reflective roofing, and high-efficiency mechanical systems.

Proposed homes will be affordable to families earning 60% of the Area Median Income (exact income varies by family size).  Nearly two-thirds – 63% – of the East Alton population would be eligible for these homes.

We expect residents of the new homes to include but not limited to:

  • Ÿ  Teachers
  • Ÿ  Health care workers
  • Ÿ  Retail workers
  • Ÿ  Village of East Alton/County workers

For more information on the development please contact Mark Stroker at 314-333-7005 or [email protected] and for more information on the groundbreaking ceremony please contact Larry Perlmutter at 314-333-7008 or [email protected].