c
c
s. yo y
rmed with bric s, mortar, and a
he p of faith, Black churches are ep­
ping in to provide decent and sometime
completely ne housing for inner city
re 'dents ho otherwi might never be
ble to afford it. Even in the midst of
economi h d times in th B c com­
munity and the nation generally, this
effort to give home to the homele
remains dom-told story of cce .
Sometime the building proj ts are
de igned for special group ch the
elderly and handle pped. In Birmingham,
I. for e ample he etropolitan
E Zion Church recently dedicated
million complex rving this pur-
po.
ore often in the major urban area
hou in mini trie are aimed at the home­
less, opping-bag ladi and other
treet person ho re totally de titute.
e Yor City i id to have at lea
36 000 per n eeping in the reets
every night.
81 churche have gone even farther
th n providin emergency housing for the
very poor ho ever. ow there are con­
certed effort oing on in veral citie
to build moderately-priced homes for
even middle-cl member.
One of the be e ample of this i
the ehemiah Project in Brooklyn
hich icon tructing a total of 5,000
hou priced at 40 000 and even more.
Three and four-bedroom house will
carry higher price g, but ill ill be
up to 40 percent belo the current
m ret. Be' g built on cant land
o n d by the city the hou are uni-
que in th t they do not depend on fund
from the federal government (even
though the city government i providing
not only land, but al insured loans to
home buyer .
An or nization known E st Broo -
lyn Churche has undert en this v
project. Th 36 Blac congre tions
b longing to the ecumenical group
h e rai d more than 12 million. The
city of e York will give loan to buy­
er totaling another 10 million, under
the arran ement.
The Rev. Clarence illiam pa or
of Southern Bapti t Church in East e
Ciy
• •
rls
Continued from 1 .
o remedy the ituation Lenard n
id he upported changing the civil r­
vic requirements from required five
year on the force prior to taking the
te t to t 0 year on the force.
Board members Freddie oore and
at rick urphy voted to the city
ttorney for an opinion on whether or
not th Civil Service Board could aive
the five year requirement. .
Lenard n told th Board that he
could e two explan tion for the thre
f ilure. "Ei her the te t ha changed or
our personnel i not what it used to be
he ide
He e plained he felt that tho offi­
cer currently on the force were not
tudying they u d to.
Fire Chief 0 vid Lincoln id he
could Jive with the five year requirement.
c
OCTOBER 19 - 25, 1983 THE CITIZE
PAGE 3
o
o
Sometime the ere constructed
under what wa known Section 8
federal monie and built housin on it
own. Two large apartment project
ere constructed by the United Hou
of Prayer and privately financed. Ob­
server y this achievement is all the
church compo d mo Iy of \'I ry poor
and marginally-ernployed person can
ccomplish by itself and for it If.
In every major city there are succe
ories based on hat Black churche
are chieving in the area of housing.
Perhap no church has done anything
quite on the scale of the Rev. Leon: Sul­
livan' Zion Baptist Church in Philadel­
phia. Using hat he called 'the 10-36
plan," Sullivan led several hundred
church member in pledging to give
lOa month for a total of 36 month
above and beyond their regular church
Allen Temple B ptist Church started
ith only 600 members but on 1 d his
congregation in not only con ructing
housing but in also helping get r bili­
tation loan for poor people ho alre dy
owned their 0 n home and ere being
pre ured into selling them to hite.
In this y, not only ere ne d elling
provided for tho without any, but
tho ho already owned property
ere enabled to keep them. A con­
quence, hite regentriflc tion in me
Bl ck area 0 Oakland ha been dis­
couraged. Phe church also build a
small factory.
In Harlem there are also glo in
ories of pride from housing or .
Thre churches there h ve been parti­
cularly involved: St. Phillips Epi op
pored by Dr. oran eston: Can n
B prist Church led by Dr. yatt Tee
contributions. ithin one year, as a
re ult, a I million garden apartment
complex was completed.
Iter three years' recalls Sullivan,
the group h d grown to 600 investors
and we were able to build with conven­
tional mortgages, a 2 million shopping
center.' Eventually the plan brought
in more than 6000 participants and was
responsible for 'initiating factories de­
veloping a chain of inner-city food
markets and buying office buildings
and other properties.'
On the est Coast churche are
similarly active in housing concerns.
The Rev. J. Alfred Smith, pastor of the
•
BE TO H RBOR .- The city of
St. J 0 ph is a ing the city of Benton
Harbor to apply for a 1.3 million
Urban Development ction Grant
(UD G from HUD to help open the
propo d st. Jo ph Foundry.
UL Top Honors
E YORK - The most coveted
honor that the ational Urban League
can be to John . Jacob President of
the UL, announced.
On ovember 17th, 1983, at its
27th Equal Opportunity Day Dinner in
the ballroom of the ew ork Hilton
Hotel, the L will present the awards
to Vernon E. Jordan, Jr., former Pre i­
dent of the UL and George ei man
Chairman of th Board and Chief Ex­
ecutive Officer of Philip orris Inc.
John R. Opel, Chairman of the Board
and Chief Executive Officer, IB is
EOD Dinner Chairman.
alker; and, Second Canaan B pti
Church and Dr. J.P. Lad on.
est on alone has been credited with
bringing more than 600 million in
housing to Harlem. retired chairper n
of a Black savings and loan comp ny
e on is now 72.
11 along the ay there criti ism
eston remembers. People said it
couIdn t be done but it as. On e ain
the Blac church continues to do hat
me thin is imp ible provide
haven in the midst of hard time .
plant.
The city of St. J 0 ph employ no
minorities Sinclair id, but felt it ould
be no problem in e the city of Benton
Harbor ill be in for the UD G from
HUD.
The city of St. Joseph doe not quali­
fy for un G's since it i not a di tre d
city.
ean hile enton Harbor city com­
mi ioners t t 0 publi hearin in on­
nection with the UD G. One is t for
onday October 24 a 7:30 p.m. nd
one for ednesday October 26 t 12: 15
noontime.
ccording to HUD guideline for
UD G' the city of Benton rbor
mu recei e the greate t benefit from
the un G money.
It I up to the city to requir cer-
tan number of job ere ted by e
UOAG' It i up to B nton Har r
to decide how the 1.3 million will
sp nt hen paid to it b th foundry .
York believes the ehemiah Project
. evidence "that the po er of the church
is growing." Certainly, the churche '
influence ill be felt, if not their power,
a result.
In Washington, D.C., a group of
mo Iy Catholic churche (t 0 Epi opal
churches and one ethodi congrega­
tion so belong) in the poore are of
the city ve banded together to restore
and improve housing on me hat
aller scale. "The cluster wa formed
a a re ult of the Black C tholic com­
munity feeling that they really needed
to put together a church-oriented com­
munity action program," explain Erne
ither Jr., an a ciate director.
Dilapidated house, unsightly vacant
lot de rted buildings and apartment
building uffering from landlord neglect
all corne under the rutiny of the South­
ea Vicariate Cluster. Unlike some
other church-involved housing effort
thi one doe not provide as much actual
money toward con truction as it pro­
vide counseling and helps community
residents ta e charge of their 0 n re­
novation. So far much of the church
clu er' ucce has been in organizing
and a istin tenants organization.
'Th y even e you downtown to
te ch you how to find out who your
landlord is and hat your rights are
y one tenant.
mode appraisal of ucce is also
shared by one of the ministers con­
nected to the project. The Rev. Richard
Fowler United ethodi clergy­
per n, state: ' e don't usually get
everything that e are after. There i
much, much work to do. There' a lot of
potential that e havent't t pped. e
have made a dent but it s a small one.
On of the big changes ha happened in
the live of the people. They learn that
tanding up and fighting doe make a
difference. "
Also in the nation' capital, more
than a dozen partment complexe for
the poor have been build in a single
residential area affected by the riots of
the late '60s - and all of this has been
built by churches. Catholi, Baptist
ethodi t, Pentecostal and United
Church of Chri congregations have all
participated in the endeavors.
The formal request as approved
by the St. Jo ph city commi sion on­
day night when it agreed, in return to
share 25% of the ne ta e created by
the project.
According to st. J 0 eph city mana­
ger illiam Sinclair, th t ill mean ap­
proximately 3 500 to Benton Harbor
the first year of the plan; operation. The
amount will decline for each of the
next 11 years of the project the St.
Joe city manager explained.
In addition the 1.3 un G loan
will be repaid to the city of Benton Har­
bor if the foundry makes it.
St. Joseph ill also apply to th
tate for a community de elopment
block grant to help fund the foundry.
In addition an industrial revenue
bond ill be floated and the tate will
be a ed for an economi dev lopment
loan.
The propo d foundry ill be lo-
cated in the former uto Specialitie
