Community & Economic Development
Charlie Sifford (120th) & Western DPSS Building Development.
VV-CDC is a non-profit, faith-based, organization established to maximize economic development opportunities for community residents, develop a fresh approach to the revitalization plans that create a new community image, spirit, and atmosphere within the Vermont/Manchester Corridor, increase individual and business prosperity, and carry out the mission of its visionary founder,
Dr. Betty Price.
One way Social Scientists and Economists describe this activity as economics concerned with the production, distribution, exchange, and consumption of goods and services. Economists focus on the way in which individuals, groups, business enterprises, and governments seek to achieve efficiently and economic objective.
As an agency of change, VV-CDC is committed to help improve the quality of life for residents of the Vermont/Manchester community by using a well planned, collaborative approach and participation with community residents, faith-based organizations, businesses, service providers, landowners, City and government officials, educators, and law enforcement that promotes public safety, business, home ownership, employment opportunities, quality commercial & retail space, medical & health awareness, mentoring and other social services that make for a more productive and healthier urban village community.
A. Vermont Corridor
VV-CDC’s mission to help restore the Vermont Corridor and revitalization of the Vermont\Manchester community is a vital part of the vision set-forth by its founder Dr. Betty Price. To help create an atmosphere for change for the Vermont\Manchester community and by working with community groups, Council District #8, the Mayor’s Office, and various City departments and their constituency to change and/or enhance the quality of life for area residents social-economic development activities such as: the Neighborhood Beautification, Task Force Symposium, and other related community events have helped build support for such projects, recruit volunteers, and with other media campaings to address community issues of concern about public safety, land development, public transit and public services, as well as, other local area planning.
Through public and private partnerships, VV-CDC has obtained community grants for projects, established and developed many-many relationships with public officials, corporations, and related groups in support of various programs and projects, in association with Crenshaw Christian Center.
Civic Engagement strategies have created a presence for VV-CDC, while clearly distinguishing between that of economic development activities. Organizing is the process of teaching people how to campaign and build public power for access towards self-sufficiency. While economic development creates the brick and mortar that increases the local economy in various ways: access to jobs, business, training, commercial development, creating housing, and other revenue generating activities.
B. Continuing Education
Vermont Village CDE Goals:
1) Academic Assistance: Improving Academic Performance through the integration of one-on-one mentoring into the comprehensive provision of academic assistance;
2) Enrichment: Improving behavior and social interaction and expand the perspectives of students through the provision of character-building and personal development activities and incorporating enrichment activities and mentor services;
3) Family Literacy Services: Facilitating members of students’ families in need of improving their English literacy skills or in learning English as a Second Language.
C. Family Preservation
VV-CDC has collaborated with the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) Vermont Corridor Community Advisory Council (VCCAC) (formerly Century Office and Hawthorne Office Advisory Council) participates on the Advisory Council. VCCAC was established to aid DCFS in providing the best services possible for children and families by promoting prevention, protection/safety/well being/mental health, education, permanency and emancipation. They are also committed to working together in a collaborative manner to prevent child abuse and the separation of families, if at all possible. VCCAC’s goal is to ensure that families in our community receive culturally, competent and supportive services by identifying strengths that promote family unity and re-unification.
Additionally, VCCAC helped identify services needed in the community and support and/or promote programs that educate families to services that are varied, integrated, empowering, culturally and linguistically appropriate and easily accessible. It will be necessary to develop training that would blend caregivers and providers that address the following areas:
1) Education,
2) Health/Mental Health Services,
3) Juvenile Court/Legal Services
D. Mentoring: Youth & Young Adults
VV-CDC has developed collaborative partnerships with organizations that provide established mentoring programs in the following areas:
Children Uniting Nations (CUN) is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing quality mentoring relationships for children at-risk and foster care youth. CUN strives to recruit and train community volunteers to help build self-esteem, life skills and improve educational outcomes.
CUN offers (4) types of mentoring programs:
a) Relationship based Mentoring. (Mentoring Partnership for Los Angeles Youth);
b) Academic Mentor Centers that provides the proper ongoing academic support in grades 6-11
c) Single Day Events. Mentor just spends one day with a mentee at a CUN outreach event or Dodger Day; and
d) Be a Friend. Simply stay in touch by sending appropriate cards, letters and gifts like a pen pal.
We have provided extracurricular activities to low-income youth throughout South Los Angeles. In Service Planning Area 6, the 0 – 17 population consists of 398,856 individuals. Based on ethnicity the breakdown is as follows: 71.8% – Hispanic/Latino, 26.1% – Black, 1.3% – White, 0.7% Asian/Pacific Islander, and 0.1% – American Indian/Alaskan Native. Within in this population we are targeting children between the ages of 13 and 17. Our goal is to enroll 35 youth, which are at least in the 9th grade, with at least 8 youth Since 2007, we have worked with Soledad Enrichment Academy (SEA) and Youth Opportunities Unlimited Alternative High School (YOU); and since 2011 we have worked with Augustus Hawkins High School. At these schools we serve on safety advisory committees, utilize classroom space to mentor, and provide extracurricular activities. Some of our partners in this effort are a part of the California Endowments Building Healthy Communities; include the Los Angeles Unified School District Local 7 and the Los Angeles Child Guidance Center, Probation, and LAPD.
E. Economic Development
Economic Development is an incident or business activity of sorts that causes a situation to change or progress favorably within a community. This can be achieved through new or improved developments that eliminate blight, prevent undesirable uses from occurring, and recruiting the kinds of businesses needed to occupy vacant space. To attract the desired uses for new development in underserved areas, takes vision and commitment to achieve economic growth outcomes. Areas with considerable distressed properties can deter new economic development activity.
The challenges for local non-profits are: removing blight which thwarts new uses that hurt the district’s image, avoiding conflict of vision which undermines best usage of improvement efforts, while making economic restructuring a priority to spur revitalization. A best practice of eliminating any undesirable use or blighted building is to convince the existing property owner to take action. Community pressure; on the one hand, along with an offer of technical or financial assistance, may convince owners to change tenants, sell to a new owner, or alter development plans. When the problem property is abandoned or the owner is unwilling to take action; changing the site control to alter economic restructuring is sometime necessary.
Through acquiring or having owners’ participation, a property can be restructured to attract a new developer or user to purchase the property. Skilled development groups can also intervene on zoning and permitting matters to prevent proposed projects that will bring undesirable uses to an area. If they can succeed in stopping an undesirable project, practitioners can then approach the property owner and offer to help create a new plan that meets both goals of the owner and local community vision. By developing vacant land and underutilized buildings, encouraging developers and existing property owners to develop property can help shape projects for capital and public uses.
Every development carries significant financial risk that requires special development expertise in acquisition, renovation, and leasing. Finding tenants who reflect the vision for the community in a district can be capricious because inner-city commercial real estate projects often face large funding gaps that require grants that can range from several hundred thousand to several million dollars. Collaborating with real estate developers to help build capacity of non-profits is the order of today!
F. Financial Literacy
As a part of VV-CDC’s commitment to help improve the quality of life for the residents of the community, one component is to ensure that community residents have access to financial education programs that help them obtain practical knowledge and skills to make informed financial choices throughout their lives.
With access to financial education, individuals can learn to make wiser choices in all areas of personal financial management, with a special emphasis on budgeting, basic savings, credit management, consumer protection, home ownership and retirement planning.
VV-CDC envisions that this will be carried out in the following ways:
• Perform public outreach to increase awareness;
• Furnish technical assistance to financial education providers;
• Broker partnerships and coordinate with those who provide and need financial education;
• Provide information for the “unbanked” or “underbanked”, those off the financial grid, to develop trust in financial institutions and understand that opening bank accounts and establishing credit are prerequisites to success in the 21st century;
• Hosts and/or present financial seminars and workshops. VV-CDC’s efforts will include encouraging government, private and public sector agencies to promote financial literacy; coordinate access to financial education, and establish and/or serve as a clearinghouse to provide information about financial education and empowerment. People of the community face specific challenges and hurdles with regard to accessing needed financial services. Despite these challenges, steps will be taken to improve understanding and utilization of financial services.
G. Business Development & Training Center (To Be Considered
With the employment trends and digital divide on computer readiness, repair, and networking, more than ever, individuals must consider careers in technology. Sales of computers are increasing every year and the job market for this field is booming. The Business and Legal Reports indicate that careers in this field will continue to grow over the next 10 years, placing a demand on this nation, such that, people are being recruited abroad to fulfill employment here in the United States.
The overall poverty rate and the incidence of poverty remain high, during a sluggish economy. The average poverty rate for California remains in double digits, along with the housing crises. Many poor families are not receiving the support they need. Often times, people are turned away for services because they do not meet certain company profiles or criteria. VV-CDC recognizes that many of these community members are disadvantaged youth; homeless; and the long-term unemployed. The lack of education leads to disparate measures, hopelessness, and poverty. College is a choice that many have not considered until it is too late.
The picture today, for this community, is that many people have been or are currently under some type of supervision or assistance, and therefore the dilemma for VV-CDC becomes “how to” assimilate people back into the mainstream via the work force and education, after being either on welfare for a number of years, homeless, on SSI and General relief. A full service resource center, copying service, computer lab, and other re-entry type services most be considered to address these populations that exist in and around the Vermont\Manchester area.
H. VV-CDC Social Services
Goes without saying that Family Law issues can not be avoided, when you have matters that arise from within and beyond the church parishioner. With the spiritual program of the church, a social service programs that exist on the grounds would help to make people more self-sufficient. Being all things to all people, puts the church “with the City” in a position to not just give away, but rather extending-a-handout to help you. VV-CDC has to posture itself on effective means and ways to help defray and offset direct cost to providing economic support to existing and expanding outreach efforts through our CDC.
With the understanding of distinct correlations, between the services being provided, opposed to who the service provider is; keeps the separation of church and state aligned. However, the outcomes are on the same pathway to success for better results that lead to wealth, health, and spiritual prosperity.
In conclusion to the matter, community-based matters are broaden by the social economic level of a community. These ills are not being suggested to provide the service, but rather to point out the needs that village people may encounter, during the course of a life time. All of the circles listed, outline the complex array of how a society is linked through referral, existing services, and what it takes to heal a community.
I. Health Awareness
As a part of VV-CDC’s commitment to help improve the quality of life for the residents of the community, another, yet so often forgotten, component
involves health. VV-CDC will collaborate with leading experts in medicine, nutrition, and fitness practitioners. Starting with prenatal care thru seniors’ citizens; enabling community residents to make informed health care choices and have equal access to health information. This in return will provide lifechanging skills for residents on having a healthier life span. Health is Wealth!
VV-CDC will serve as a clearinghouse between health professionals and the community to provide direct access to sources on quality consumer health information, and help provide an integrated approach to health and fitness including but not limited to the following:
Healthy Start; Health related fairs, mini wellness fairs, medical malls, workshops and seminars;
• General Wellness: nutrition tips, herbs and health, exercise and fitness basics;
• Disordered Eating Awareness, Obesity;
• Healthy eating, dietary habits, weight loss and control. Researchers have found that healthy diets may help children pass tests and do better in school.
• Nutrition (diet), “We are what we eat”;
• Money Saving Tips in grocery shopping and nutritious food preparation;
• Stress Reduction Awareness, exercise, relaxation and time management techniques.
