Press Room


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ALABAMA POWER FOUNDATION AWARDS $25,000 GRANT
 TO HOUSING FUND OF CENTRAL ALABAMA
FOR NEW INCUBATOR FOR NON-PROFITS WHOSE CORE MISSION
 IS AFFORDABLE HOUSING DEVELOPMENT

BIRMINGHAM, Ala., March 20, 2006 – The Housing Fund of Central Alabama announced today that the Alabama Power Foundation has awarded the Fund a $25,000 grant for operation of its first-ever Non-Profit Incubator.

The Incubator began classes and diagnostics in November to non-profits in the Fund’s 12-county region that applied and were selected for the two-year program. The incubator is designed specifically for agencies whose mission is to significantly increase the supply of quality housing for low- to moderate-income families.

 “We thank the Alabama Power Foundation for its generous support of this program,” said Michele Jenkins-Utomi, Chief Executive Officer of the Fund and its umbrella organization, the Housing Enterprise of Central Alabama (HECA). “We know that the Foundation is committed to making Alabama a better place to live for all of us, and that certainly describes the work of these incubator participants. They’re working everyday to transform their communities.”

Participants have been enrolled in more than 30 classes in areas such as governance, agency management, resource development and housing development through the Birmingham-based Nonprofit Resource Center of Alabama (NRCA). The Fund is collaborating with NRCA and New York-based Local Initiative Support Corporation (LISC) on the project. LISC has conducted capacity assessments of each non-profit, and is overseeing real estate development and business plan development coursework.

This incubator “without walls” exposes non-profits to the best practices and practitioners in the industry, said Lois Chenier, the Grants Officer for the Fund who oversees the program. “The curriculum and diagnostics offered are all about increasing the capacity of these groups so that they have the tools they need to build and renovate significant numbers of houses, and become agents for change in their neighborhoods and communities,” she said.

The participants in the 2005-2007 Incubator include:
 
• Aletheia House: Chris Retan, Executive Director, Birmingham;
• Outreach, Inc.: Frank Dominick, Executive Director, Birmingham;
• West Anniston Community Development Corporation: Jonathan Dow, Executive Director, Anniston;
• Westside Community Development Corporation: Louis Barnett, Executive Director, Tuscaloosa.

Participants are working to complete a five-year business plan, and those plans will be presented during a ceremony on Wednesday, March 22 at Compass Bank, 15 South Twentieth St. in downtown Birmingham. The event begins at 1 p.m.

The Capacity Building Advisory Committee (CBAC) serves as community advisors to the Fund. Co-Chairs for CBAC are Mimi Tynes, Former President, The Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham, and Maria Campbell, Chairman, Financial Services, SC&B Strategic Solutions. Both CBAC and the HECA Board approved the budget and curriculum for the program. Total cost for the incubator is more than $219,000.

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About the Housing Fund of Central Alabama: Based in Birmingham, the Fund is a non-profit affiliate of the Housing Enterprise of Central Alabama that opened in 2003 to increase the production of moderately priced housing by providing grants to non-profits for core operating support on a limited basis, technical assistance and programs related to capacity building in the non-profit affordable housing development community. The Fund also may partner with HECA, a for-profit lender, to provide financing to qualified private and non-profit developers to build and renovate single-family and multi-family housing for moderate-income families. The Fund also supports ancillary services such as homebuyer training and credit counseling, which help to guarantee the success and sustainability of communities.  The Fund has an initial grant pool of $1.9 million.

Major investors in the Housing Fund and its incubator are: AmSouth Bank, Regions Bank, Compass Bank, New South Federal Savings Bank, First American Bank, The Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham, the Stringfellow Health Fund of the Community Foundation of Calhoun County, the Walker Area Community Foundation, State Farm Insurance Companies® and the Wachovia Foundation.

The Fund serves 12 counties in Central Alabama: Bibb, Blount, Calhoun, Chilton, Cullman, Etowah, Jefferson, St. Clair, Shelby, Talladega, Tuscaloosa and Walker

For more information, please contact Tabitha J Lacy, HECA and Fund Communications, 205-323-9888 or tlacy@housingenterprise.com.