00:00:00.540 - 00:00:24.420

That people. If there's to ever be a change, first of all, Saolinsky said something he said, when people are given enough information about what's going on, they will generally make the best decision for themselves, and I believe that. Uh, Martin Luther King, sitting in a meeting

00:00:24.690 - 00:00:42.610

of about 30-40 people said if you're gonna do anything for people you gotta first have a faith in God, then you've gotta have a faith and a confidence in the people that you want to do something for and with. And I'm, I'm committed to that. So

00:00:42.840 - 00:01:02.979

when I went to Concord Village, the woman wasn't wrong, uh, the director. The drug dealers had total control of Concord Village Apartments, 200 units, another 110 units just a little south of that Eagle Creek village, they had control of that. There were 5 crime families, black

00:01:02.979 - 00:01:29.769

crime families for real, uh, entrenched there. I was dumb enough to knock on every door and to say to people, I was sent here to do 3 things. Collect rent or put you out, or to clean up the community. I don't want to put anybody out.

00:01:30.940 - 00:01:49.519

I'd like to clean up the community. I can't do it without your help. And the question becomes, do you want a better community? And obviously everybody said yes, so we organized block clubs. I also understood that and I, I worked to help the people to understand

00:01:49.519 - 00:02:06.599

that the problem begins at home. So if you got somebody in your house that's selling drugs or on drugs, we need to address those problems. You be honest about it and forthright, because if you want dope dealers out of here, then you've got to help me

00:02:06.599 - 00:02:26.259

to get them out. And we launched a campaign that same year, I believe it was 920 and when the first anti-drug march. Was organized a fireman, two firemen had been shot there on the property just weeks before that and it was not a place that even

00:02:26.259 - 00:02:46.020

the police uh had the confidence in getting anything done, but we began to launch a program to get all of the dope dealers out and off of that property. And over the course of 2 or 3 years, about 95, the first of all with the help

00:02:46.020 - 00:03:13.279

of the good Lord, and secondly with uh the Neighborhood Association, Westco, the Umbrella Association, Oen was president of that and with uh with the people themselves in the housing community. We were able to push drugs. The drug selling activity 2 or 3 blocks north of where

00:03:13.279 - 00:03:32.889

the property was and of course the people began to scream that we was running the property into their neighborhoods, but, uh, then. Olgin had already met uh Bob Woodson, and I think it was '94, 95 that I met this man. And I tell you, out of

00:03:32.889 - 00:03:52.669

all of the great names that I have met in my life, and I've met some. Bob Woodson stands head and shoulders. I say that with all sincerity, heads and shoulders, even with and above many of the well known names that are in our history books because

00:03:52.669 - 00:04:18.200

he has a love for people and he has a commitment to self-determination, and I, I love and admire and respect Bob Woodson and this NCNE family. Uh, so we, uh, were able to in 1994, Indianapolis Housing Agency successfully bidded for a Hope Six program which became

00:04:18.200 - 00:04:44.440

a real centerpiece of the kind of neighborhood change that the mayor had wanted to accomplish in Indianapolis with our Hope Six property, those uh 310 units, uh, were demolished in segments. And replaced with single family and duplex homes housing project does not exist there anymore. It

00:04:44.440 - 00:05:09.910

is a neighborhood community and a part of what the hood regs, the police uh uh system. The church, the families, uh, all of those things coming together because law and love must come together and they meet at the family table. The laws and the policies and

00:05:09.910 - 00:05:28.399

regulations helped to make that happen because now. Uh, criminal histories or problem. You got a problem trying to come into public housing generally speaking with a criminal history on a Hope 6 property you cannot come onto the property with a criminal history in drugs and violence,

00:05:29.010 - 00:05:47.859

and if you're not a senior or handicapped, you must have a working household income. Some people ask Does that mean you have to have a job? Yes, if you're able by that it means just that you have to have a job, a legitimate job, so that,

00:05:47.940 - 00:06:10.239

uh, that has helped tremendously because now we have a new developing neighborhood, but. The bigger thing that's important in the center of all of this to me is uh Uldren who also keeps it a well known secret for some reason because he does so many things

00:06:10.690 - 00:06:33.600

but he is also an elder in his church and we continue to lobby to get the church outside of the church house and into the street. And we organized West Side Community Ministries a couple 3 years ago and the fundamental purpose of WCMI is to elevate,

00:06:33.640 - 00:06:56.989

stimulate, strengthen, promote and encourage the family unit. God left us 3 things in this world, 3 institutions. It's the family unit, the church and civil government. And as one goes, so goes the other. If the family unit, wherever the family unit breaks down, the church is

00:06:56.989 - 00:07:19.059

weak and wherever the church is weak, the government is weaker that is a fact of life and so we focus our attention toward the family unit beginning with young people. And we've got, we, we do, uh, faith walks every Friday night we started that before, uh,

00:07:19.630 - 00:07:36.390

the city caught fire with it from, uh, Eugene Rivers uh we do a resurrection program where we invite the criminal element to come. We fight you to get you out of crime, but we stand with you to improve your life. We got a young man here

00:07:36.390 - 00:07:52.299

today and I, I just want him to wave his hand and stand up, Dwayne Jackson who. Uh, sold drugs from the time he was 14 until he was 19, and Dwayne today is a born again Christian, and baptized and is taking care of business and he's

00:07:52.299 - 00:08:08.700

here. uh, he, I brought him here to meet Derek and that and that fantastic gang god's gang from Washington DC and so, uh, we need a a a whole host of things that we can't stand up here and talk about now because Leon has named many

00:08:08.700 - 00:08:28.890

of them. And we'll be marrying up more closely with HUD and some of the other resources that are needed to further invigorate and stimulate and encourage us to continue to bring people to transformation and and that's the focal point of our activity in Indianapolis and uh

00:08:29.140 - 00:08:48.130

please talk to us if you have some ideas that might help us and strengthen us in that effort. Thank you very much. Yeah Uh, after, uh, when we hear from Dennis King, we're gonna take a, uh, brief break. And then we're gonna, uh, convene our next

00:08:48.130 - 00:09:09.390

exciting panel. Uh, hello, Laurie. Indeed, uh, Dennis, would you come up from state of Connecticut? Connecticut is one of the states that's taken the federal law and is creating a state violence free zone law that we hope will help pass. It'll be the first state, uh,

00:09:09.400 - 00:09:25.520

to embrace that concept. Thank you, Bob. Thank you, uh, for inviting us today. I'm extremely pleased to be here, uh, with you. We also have some partners in the room. We have the superintendent or chief of police for the city of Hartford, who you'll hear from.

00:09:25.929 - 00:09:46.130

Later this afternoon if you would stand for us, Chief Crow. And from the city of New Haven representing one of our commissions in the state of Connecticut where Mr. Bill Dixon Bill Dixon. So Bob, we, we brought some friends down here, friends and family for you

00:09:46.130 - 00:10:01.809

so we just wanna let you know that that that that we we we wanna work with you and uh I heard your comments around the Republican piece and some of my best friends are Democrats. As a matter of fact, I married one. So I hear some

00:10:01.809 - 00:10:15.530

of those same comments you hear at home. Uh, right off the bat, but, uh, again, good morning, we, we in state government have a role that we too must play in reference to violence and, and, and many of our agencies that we have, and, uh, we

00:10:15.530 - 00:10:29.330

need partners and Bob, when you came to Connecticut last summer, we're very impressed with your program and you left a message with us, uh, that, that was heartfelt, uh, in the governor's office, but you also left Carl with us and since that time he's discovered that

00:10:29.330 - 00:10:45.880

we have a in my agency, a $3.2 billion dollar budget. And so Leon, he's found the money, OK, and, and he's in my office, uh, they, they think he's an employee, uh, to be perfectly honest with you, and, uh, we, we, we, we, but we know

00:10:45.880 - 00:11:00.750

that he also has the vision which we in government sometimes don't have, I must say, and, and, and we recognize our shortcomings and that's prob that's one of the main reasons, uh, that we're here today. I wholeheartedly believe that. The best way to meet the challenge

00:11:00.750 - 00:11:17.549

of violence in society is through early intervention and proactive measures designed to invest in our children and our youth, and we cannot address the problem of violence in our society without making these very real investments, uh, Bob, I'm often reminded of the old cliche about closing

00:11:17.549 - 00:11:34.969

the barn door after the horses have escaped. And that solves very little, but so often society seeks to close the door after the damage is done. We build prisons to contain those who cannot live by society's rules and we build shelters to give women and children.

00:11:35.229 - 00:11:51.299

A safe haven for violent abusive men, and we have an elaborate police task force to track down and apprehend violent gang members who deal drugs and prey upon our youth, and we can spend as much as $100,000 at a hospital for the birth and intensive care

00:11:51.299 - 00:12:08.119

of premature babies. For those born to drug addicted mothers and I'm sure many of you can think of many other examples of investing in a so called cure after the damage has been done these so called solutions have great appeal to many in public government and

00:12:08.119 - 00:12:27.239

many in our society today, but. I suspect that real solutions, those that intervene and prevent problems are hard to understand. You have to get behind, as many of our speakers said today, the root causes of violence and sometimes the payoff doesn't become apparent until years later

00:12:27.239 - 00:12:49.909

on and early intervention interventions don't usually lend themselves to sound bites on your evening news. And I would say to you that poverty and the traditional welfare system and its many manifestations are a violence of sorts in itself. It's a violence against people self respect, against

00:12:49.909 - 00:13:06.510

their ability to be role models for their children against their ability to to support themselves and their families, and the old welfare system is part of that cycle that perpetuated people into poverty that did not give them tools to build positive lives for themselves and their

00:13:06.510 - 00:13:25.599

children. They're children and it's frustrated recipients, administrators, taxpayers alike with many failures, but we in Connecticut at the Department of Social Services and state government have a long history of funding many of those programs that just throw dollars, uh, as you said, Leon, at the problem.

00:13:26.580 - 00:13:46.700

Uh, in Medicaid, for instance, we historically did not recognize that certain services that were prevented but were not medical in nature for years we continued to make ongoing welfare payments to families but did not make the necessary investments in services that could then become help those

00:13:46.700 - 00:14:06.210

families to become independent of the welfare system. We tended to fund programs that address the problem. Again, in its final uh manifestation, uh, as far as grants and, and, and, and other issues, but we, we, we never addressed the real issues around jobs, real paying jobs,

00:14:06.229 - 00:14:19.549

and I'm, I'm, I'm pleased to say that under the leadership of our current governor John Roland, we, we have looked to be proactive in many of our many of our messages. Uh, we're looking at ways to address the genius of violence in its many forms, the

00:14:19.549 - 00:14:38.010

genesis rather of violence in its many forms and. We're making investments and measures designed to prevent such problems. We're looking at the disintegration of families, the escalation of family violence, the appeal of less wholesome activities for our children and our youth, but more importantly, we're looking

00:14:38.010 - 00:14:52.599

at the cycle of poverty. And many of our grants that we've given away millions of dollars, we focus but we fail to focus, and I'm here to say to you today that with the help of Carl and this initiative we hope to make changes because we

00:14:52.599 - 00:15:11.715

too now see and recognize the vision we use many of our bond fund dollars to invest in local communities. And help those centers for youth and their families. For example, our neighborhood facilities and urban action bond funds have provided funding for planning, acquisition, construction, renovation, and

00:15:11.715 - 00:15:30.820

preparation of multi-purpose human resource centers, child care, and we can go on and on, but in Connetic we've invested $62 million. In these processes we're investing an additional this year $153 million in children and youth. These are real dollars, but again we, we needed to partnership

00:15:31.090 - 00:15:44.330

and so we are so very pleased to have Carl and others come to us and recognize with this project and when you're coming and, and, and, and, uh, over the last summer that we too can be a part of this new and exciting program that's taking

00:15:44.330 - 00:15:59.969

place across America. This is not a Hartford initiative. This is not a Dallas initiative. This is a human initiative. This in and of itself can change the lives of generations of children to come and I would say to you, as many have said that we cannot

00:15:59.969 - 00:16:17.539

forget the spiritual side. We must too do like David sometimes and money doesn't work. When police forces won't work, when parents can't work, we must look to the hills for which cometh our help and our help cometh from God who made the heavens and earth, and

00:16:17.539 - 00:16:29.739

I'm just not foolish enough to believe that the $3.2 billion that we have in our and my agency can make a difference, but I know that with the help of God. With the help of the Bob Woodsons of this world, the calls of the and, and

00:16:29.739 - 00:16:43.380

the, uh, the healers that are amongst us, we too can make a difference. So I commit to you and I challenge you to be part of this program, to be part of what can be a new change in, in, in, in the traditional effects that the

00:16:43.380 - 00:16:59.635

community has, uh, that the government has had on our communities being born and raised in the housing. Projects of Connecticut, I recognize that being a recipient of welfare does not work and so those chains of poverty must be broken, broken, and I see this initiative as

00:16:59.635 - 00:17:11.114

part of the program. So I say to you in closing that I challenge you to be part of something that can and will make a difference, and I respect again the initiatives that all of you have taken, but there's more that we can do. I bid

00:17:11.114 - 00:17:33.098

you Godspeed and God bless. Thank you. We're just, we're just delighted that we have the uh representatives in the various states here and all of the mix of officials that means that somebody is taking this initiative seriously. We're gonna take a uh 10 minute break and

00:17:33.098 - 00:18:03.349

then we're gonna have our housing panel and I and this is gonna be a very exciting presenters 10 minute break. We're ready to get started. This next panel is gonna be in two parts. We're going to hear from. Laurie Moon And John R. Garcia. Then after

00:18:03.349 - 00:18:37.045

their presentation, we will bring up David Gilmore and his panel. Several years ago in Washington DC they hired a new housing director Al Jackson, and he brought with him a very talented manager then. Laurie Henderson, who's now Laurie Henderson Moon. When I came to the DC

00:18:37.045 - 00:19:03.540

Housing Authority, there were, as he said, almost 300 or 400 cars for staff and only 4 maintenance vehicles for the 61 housing units. The person who oversaw the collection of rents and public housing in 10 years had never developed, I mean, visited a single site. They

00:19:03.540 - 00:19:21.000

ran into all kinds of problems that was a buzz sore. And yet they helped turn that development around. Laurie Henderson Moon is the president and chief executive officer of the Housing Authority in the city of Dallas. She oversees administration professional work involved in planning, directly and

00:19:21.000 - 00:19:41.949

coordinating the local low income housing assistance program, which insists of about 16,000 units and section 8. Her position also involves managing the efforts of 400 employees and annual operating budget of $90 million. Before coming to Dallas Housing Authority in April '89, Mrs. Moon was administrator of

00:19:41.949 - 00:19:58.420

Housing Management Administration at Washington DC's public assisted housing. Shows a bachelor's degree in administration of justice from the University of Missouri at Saint Louis and a master's degree in urban affairs from Saint Louis University has completed requirements for a PhD program in urban and public administration,

00:19:58.709 - 00:20:24.819

University of Texas, uh, at Arlington. Please, uh, welcome Laurie. Good morning. First, let me just welcome you all to Dallas. I know that you all have seen different public housing around the country, uh, but we like to brag in Dallas that this is probably some of

00:20:24.819 - 00:20:39.469

the best public housing that you will see in terms of housing stock and some of the initiatives that that we've started in Dallas including what we're gonna talk about today in the Dallas Free zone. I just wanna talk a little bit first about just philosophy because

00:20:39.699 - 00:20:59.000

you're talking to people from different housing authorities and understand that each community is a little different and so you're gonna approach the problem in each community a little differently. Dallas is as I when I saw David Gilmore, I left DC almost 10 years ago and when

00:20:59.000 - 00:21:16.670

I left one of the sites that, uh, I think that the model of the violence free zone was based on Benny Terrace, we were just occupying that facility. We spent millions renovating that site and we were occupying it when I left 10 years ago and I

00:21:16.670 - 00:21:28.155

uh. Uh, probably maybe about 4 or 5 years later when I took a trip to, uh, DC to see some of the housing that that had been gone for a while, I was real surprised to see it boarded up a good portion of it, uh, and

00:21:28.155 - 00:21:39.005

the circle that everyone talked about that you didn't want to drive into that circle or the and the police didn't want to drive into that circle. So I think that one of the lessons learned in that is that it's not just about brick and mortar, it's

00:21:39.005 - 00:21:56.089

not just about renovating buildings, it's a lot more to what we do. Since I've been in Dallas and as Bob had has mentioned with Alfonzo Jackson, we came in here with a very different type community. I think that in in Dallas in general I think that

00:21:56.380 - 00:22:10.420

probably in Dallas the public housing residents aren't as active as some of the residents on the East Coast, so there's a benign neglect in Dallas. It's like the public housing units are mostly located in in minority neighborhoods and so if we don't really hear anything about

00:22:10.420 - 00:22:26.930

it, it's not much to be concerned about. I tell everyone in Dallas is probably the biggest problem in public housing period is the fact that there's a lack of expectations from the people that are there and we went and. I tell people, you know, when you

00:22:26.930 - 00:22:46.119

go into public housing, everybody's always surprised when they say, oh, there's no trash or um oh your grass is cut or you know I I mean I I didn't feel threatened on that site. I mean the expectation that people have when they come into public housing

00:22:46.119 - 00:23:01.425

is that they expect to see trash they expect to see uh uh uh. Crime issues on the property they expect to see the graffiti they expect to see that the properties aren't well maintained and they don't expect for the people there to mount to much and

00:23:01.425 - 00:23:17.375

that's typically what most people perceive about public housing. We came in here with a different perception. Matter of fact, I just had a meeting with some of the residents in a newly built site, uh, that we just opened 6 months ago, and the expectation is there.

00:23:18.020 - 00:23:30.250

I mean, I expect for them to succeed. I expect for them to maintain their units. I expect for them to pay their rent. I expect for them to to live peacefully with their neighbors and expect for them to move on and hopefully move on and up

00:23:30.250 - 00:23:46.560

and out of public housing. What the housing authority's responsibility is is to provide the services and the opportunity for the families to to move up to move out, to live in a nice community. Now saying that and making it happen, sometimes it's very difficult to do.

00:23:47.449 - 00:24:00.489

You know, as far as security is and let me back up for one second, one of the things that we've done just from a physical standpoint of our sites, as I said, even the site that you all will tour tomorrow, uh, is probably one of our

00:24:00.489 - 00:24:15.244

most difficult sites aesthetically as well as socially because there are a lot of issues there. That is our second largest site it's 595. Units on that site and to some housing authorities that may seem small, but many of our sites, uh, we had our largest at

00:24:15.244 - 00:24:29.489

one time was 3500 units on, on, um, it wasn't dense, it was on 486 acres of land, but that was half our inventory in in one area it only rivals Chicago in terms of number of public housing units just congregated right together. One of the things

00:24:29.489 - 00:24:45.099

we've started physically doing is changing the look of public housing. We've had an opportunity because uh it's an opportunity actually out of uh uh uh the segregation lawsuit that we're involved in we're probably one of a few housing authorities that have money to build public housing

00:24:45.349 - 00:24:59.680

and monies to renovate because there's some requirements under this federal decree. So we've had an opportunity to go in and physically transform some of the prop uh some of our properties, many of our properties, and that's kind of number one because as I told the residents

00:24:59.680 - 00:25:12.560

in the in the in the property that we just built was that you know people's mentality that this is the projects that's fine if they wanna think that way but once they get in the living environment is better than most in the community and one of

00:25:12.560 - 00:25:25.373

the things that will strike you out in Dallas is that as you go through. The community some of the best housing in the community is public housing community so that kinda tells you a lot about Dallas, uh, when you drive through, uh, uh, Dallas, uh, so

00:25:25.373 - 00:25:41.233

I mean that's kind of our to take the stigma away we we we're building units, um, unlike many housing authorities, we're spending our money to to air condition public housing there's carpet, there's ceiling fans we're doing everything to try and make those properties look like private

00:25:41.233 - 00:25:56.306

sector. So you kinda take the stigma away that you're coming from someplace that's physically less than than than your peers or physically less than someone else. That's really important what we're trying to do uh and and we've done that to a certain degree with many of

00:25:56.306 - 00:26:11.770

our sites there are are more to go. Frasier Courts is one that that probably will be our next attempt at trying to get major renovations money but our major family sites we've started that that initiative. But with what, what, as I said, the physical aspect is

00:26:11.770 - 00:26:26.079

one I think when I first met Bob we talked it was resident management was just kind of it wasn't really in his infancy because Mildred was uh doing it for a long time um but I had the pleasure of being trained by Kimmy Gray in BC,

00:26:26.489 - 00:26:41.979

uh, and if anybody knows Kimmy, uh, that was an experience I tell anybody my two years in DC was like 20 years somewhere else. And she's actually doing some training down here for us, so, uh, uh, she's really helping us in terms of getting the residents

00:26:41.979 - 00:27:02.739

thinking in a very positive way, um, but nonetheless it it's we we went into our sites trying to address some of the social problems and and and and viol and violence in in our communities and. Probably like most housing authorities, we did it the traditional way.

00:27:02.819 - 00:27:17.229

I heard somebody say when I walked in that we address the symptoms. Well, we do address the symptoms but it's necessary in order for programs like this to begin to flourish. uh, I think most housing authorities. See some kind of collaboration with the police department. Well,

00:27:17.430 - 00:27:34.939

because Dallas is part of a major desegregation lawsuit, the the Dallas Police Department is required to have a substation on all our family public housing sites, so their physical presence is there. In addition to that, we spend almost a million dollars in off-duty police officers. So

00:27:34.939 - 00:27:49.699

I mean that helps is addressing the the the the symptoms once the crime is occurring but I still think that there has to be security and safety first and it's the perception of the residents who live there how safe do you feel, uh, in your own

00:27:49.699 - 00:28:07.939

community? We've had collaborations and still have collaborations with, with, uh, the FBI and OIG with drug initiatives and and narcotics. Uh, we've been working on that. That and and that's probably again probably one of the biggest issues with uh police action is that what it what

00:28:07.939 - 00:28:21.180

it does is that unless you begin to address the people that live there it temporarily displaces crime and that's what we've noticed we may address crime and it may go down and we've seen a uh uh decrease in crime on many of our family sites but

00:28:21.180 - 00:28:37.739

it typically places it displaces it somewhere else in that community or. Maybe to another public housing site so that's not the only strategy strategy that uh a housing authority needs to employ to address the issues we have a host of programs and again these programs are

00:28:37.739 - 00:28:55.930

gonna work in conjunction with what Omar uh and uh Vision Regeneration is doing out of Frasier Courts. We've started, uh, we have recreation programs, all types of recreation programs we've just built. Uh, two facilities in South Dallas and one in, um, the Oak Lawn area of

00:28:55.930 - 00:29:16.209

Dallas where we've built, uh, gyms, um, 15 16,000 square feet facilities working in conjunction with the boys club, uh, to run these facilities to provide the recreation and some other outlet for, uh, uh, activity and some type of organized activities. We're currently building a facility that's

00:29:16.209 - 00:29:34.845

56,000. feet that the YMCA will be in again full service swimming pool uh swimming pool exercise equipment actually is larger than the Y's main facility and this will be located on our on our public housing site um we have a variety of parenting programs, a variety

00:29:34.845 - 00:29:52.491

of, of um uh tutoring type programs, education programs, and, and let me say with our recreation programs, when we partic Participate in NRMAC and take our basketball teams around the country when we participate in any sports with our youth, we always tie back to education. I

00:29:52.491 - 00:30:12.510

mean you're not there just to have a basketball game. We're there tying it to different speakers, tying it to other programs, education programs, uh, in some instances, employment programs to say that there is a different way of, uh, of, of living, uh, in public housing. At

00:30:12.510 - 00:30:29.829

this particular site Frazier Courts, someone asked exactly what well if you have all these programs going why even participate in in this violent uh violence free zone? Well, as I said, each community, each city is different and each community is different and Frasier Courts has always

00:30:29.829 - 00:30:45.650

been one of our tough properties in terms of, uh, the physical layout of the property a major street runs through it, um, the number of units together. Uh, and really the apathy in the community that was just really tough. Uh, we've tried different programs, we had

00:30:45.650 - 00:31:04.140

some level of success with the smaller kids and getting them involved in different programs, but we could not get. The kids is probably starting at 9:10 on up to get involved in different activities and so when Omar and John Edmonds from the um Foundation for Community

00:31:05.310 - 00:31:21.520

Foundation for Community Empowerment came and this was shortly after being a staff being invited to a uh a uh conference by Bob Woodson's group. Uh, came and said, you know, let us talk to you a little bit about this this initiative. Frasier courts popped up in

00:31:21.520 - 00:31:36.219

my mind, uh, immediately. Number one is because, as I said, it was so hard in this community to address issues the graffiti, uh, the violence, uh, even though the police is out there, the police is out there on a regular basis, all of our effort at

00:31:36.219 - 00:31:54.069

overtime to get them to participate. This particular community aesthetically as well we've had a problem no matter what we would do to to try to beautify the property we would always have vandalism properties uh problems we've been put the sprinkler system in place and you know,

00:31:54.219 - 00:32:10.420

next week it doesn't work anymore because of the vandalism on the property. So when uh Omar approached me and said listen. Uh, let me tell you what this program can do. It was basically two aspects, and I'll be honest, I am an administrator and the physical

00:32:10.420 - 00:32:22.729

appearance is just is, is, is important as well, maybe not as important as the social aspect of it. But he said, you know, I have a program that could actually transform the lives of some of your youth that live there, and some of them that don't.

00:32:22.750 - 00:32:35.569

I think as administrators we concentrate on the people that live in public housing, but one of the things that this initiative really brought home is that many of the young men that that that uh are involved in some of the activities on our property are unnecessarily

00:32:35.569 - 00:32:48.272

residents of our property. They may have children on our property. They may have uh um the mamas on the proper. Somebody's on the property, but they're not necessarily a resident of our property and so you have to take take off your bureaucratic hat and say, well,

00:32:48.422 - 00:33:02.412

I'm only dealing with my residents. You have to open open it up to the community to say, look, they are essential to changing the way of life in that community, so let's bring them in and I think that that's what Omar did. He brought them in,

00:33:02.463 - 00:33:14.995

he said, well, do you know who's the most respected person in that community? And I'm like. No, I, I, I had no idea and of course it was no one from Frasier courts, and I, and I, and I really don't think that our staff, as much

00:33:14.995 - 00:33:28.345

as our staff is out there, they were aware of some of the names that that were being called, uh, and some of the activity, but not knowing the relationships and the dynamics of those relationships between the youth on our property and to some to some degree

00:33:28.345 - 00:33:43.010

the uh the adults on the property. So he's he, he basically told us he said look. Uh, I'm gonna call a meeting to see how many youth are interested, and he used some of the young men in the community to get some of the youth involved

00:33:43.010 - 00:33:55.000

and I think that he might have mentioned when they met at the pool hall he showed pictures of, of, of just a number of youth that had come out for this, uh, uh, uh, just for a meeting to even talk about some aspects of landscaping and

00:33:55.000 - 00:34:10.270

working with the housing authority and to change and transform, uh, their lives and I was overwhelmed with with the number of people that showed up. And I said, well, you know, perhaps there is something to this now we've again we've had other strategies that we've employed

00:34:10.270 - 00:34:25.110

uh residents uh and other uh in other type programs but we this is the first time I think that we just really concentrated on the youth we typically concentrate on some of the young adults or the mothers on the property and we really this is the

00:34:25.110 - 00:34:41.590

first time we just focused on uh uh the youth uh we talked about landscaping this site. And we said, OK, probably one of the first things I said is that we call Frazier course our beachfront property because there was never any grass out here. Uh, all

00:34:41.590 - 00:34:56.639

the other ones. All, all of the other sites for some reason we could go and as a matter of fact if when you see the site across the street is the is the senior area and um there's grass and so it kind of dispelled the myth

00:34:56.639 - 00:35:09.469

that we could never have grass out there but the senior citizens plant their flowers they grow but just directly across the street where our our families are. As I said, we call it beachfront. We can never grow any grass and so Omar said that look, we're

00:35:09.469 - 00:35:23.689

gonna do two things and we're gonna do two things well. We're gonna, number one, we're gonna beautify the 1st 100 and I think it's 175 units and and the first phase, and you will see a remarkable difference and there will be no vandalism. Uh, you will

00:35:23.689 - 00:35:35.530

have grass in the in in the spring, uh, and then we will do it in phases and you will not know this property and in the and and in doing this we will begin to transform the, the, the lives of some of the youth that lived

00:35:35.530 - 00:35:53.879

here. Well, I mean that was an offer that you just can't, can't refuse, uh, and even though this initiative is, is very early, uh, I think we started what, November, September something like that of, of last year. Some of the same people that were really against

00:35:53.879 - 00:36:09.800

this initiative we sat down with the resident council initially and said look, uh, there's a program that we would like to put out here because again it's important for the residents to buy into this not just the the folks that are participating but the entire community

00:36:09.800 - 00:36:23.679

and it was clear that when we were talking about this with the resident council that. They we mentioned some of the names and they're like oh no we don't wanna be involved with those folks at all. There's your problem on on your you just get rid

00:36:23.679 - 00:36:37.439

of them and uh the problems will go away. Uh, it was a lack of trust with some of these young men. Uh, you should have saw the meeting when Omar brought in some of the young men with some of the older resident council and everybody's just

00:36:37.439 - 00:36:51.659

kind of looking at each other and, and, uh, we had a meeting after they left. And it was really hard to even convince the residents, the older residents that you might wanna be involved with with some of these young men and that they could actually do

00:36:51.659 - 00:37:08.899

good in the community. Well, a recent visit to the site, uh, and, and it's again it's very short, uh, uh time to really evaluate it. Uh, I could not believe the praise that's being heaped upon the young men that were in the community that everyone, uh,

00:37:09.110 - 00:37:21.600

everyone in the community was afraid of, the ones that were identified if something was going wrong in the community or something illegal that they were pointing to that that that's part of your problem. Uh, they talked about all of the positive aspects that the young men

00:37:21.600 - 00:37:37.350

now, um, were helping some of the senior citizens, uh, taking some ownership in that community, any, any assistance that the, the senior citizens may need going to the store, helping with anything else, helping escort the youth back and forth to school to make sure that they're

00:37:37.350 - 00:37:53.020

safe. In addition to really beginning to get involved in some of our programs, uh, I think one of the main, uh, uh, Mr. Lucky that was one of the young men that everyone was afraid of and pointed to for leadership when he got involved in our

00:37:53.020 - 00:38:07.840

GED programs on site and actually all the programs that we had all of a sudden Omar and his youth were bringing those programs. And making them uh uh appealing to the folks in the community because the programs were there it was taking uh uh advantage of

00:38:07.840 - 00:38:22.260

the opportunity that was there that's beginning to happen now and I think that some of the main people that are role models in the community once they start participating, then others start to see that yes indeed that maybe it's something to this in addition and I

00:38:22.260 - 00:38:35.620

and I and again I can't. Can't say the importance of transforming lives because that that's that's what we're attempt that's what we're about at Dallas Housing Authority. I'm not interested in just brick and mortar. We're well beyond that, and I think that all housing authorities should

00:38:35.620 - 00:38:48.580

be beyond that if we're gonna address the issues in public housing. So that's, that's very critical. But again, as I said, I'm still an administrator and I like the way I like grass, uh, and staff knows that and I like. I like to see an aesthetically

00:38:48.580 - 00:39:03.080

pleasing property, and when I drove by to see the trees, uh, and the grass that the young men were planting it just kinda blew me away. I mean for the first time, uh, to see grass out there and see the see the size of the trees

00:39:03.080 - 00:39:17.939

that they're planting, I was thoroughly impressed and I made the commitment to them. I'm like, if they can do this all over the site. And, and, and it's well maintained. We spend thousands and thousands of dollars in landscaping. You're welcome to have our other sites as

00:39:17.939 - 00:39:40.060

well. So, uh, in, in closing, I just wanna say that so far our, our, uh our The this initiative has really beginning to bring some positive changes in this community even though it's a very short period of time we look forward to expanding to the other

00:39:40.060 - 00:39:52.550

sites as we go on throughout this year, uh, and, uh, we just really appreciate that the effort that you all are doing and the young men because I mean they're critical it's all about people it's not about bricks and mortar. I mean if we don't transform

00:39:52.550 - 00:40:06.709

those lives I think it was Bertha who basically said that you know you can spend millions of dollars, uh renovating a public housing site. Uh, and if you don't begin to change the way people think, you're wasting your money, and that, that was a real kind

00:40:06.709 - 00:40:19.600

of, uh, uh, uh, as I said at Benning's terrorists for me that was just it just rang home. We spent millions there to no avail and, um, so that's what we're. Attempting to do here in Dallas and so again I appreciate you all coming out. I

00:40:19.600 - 00:40:38.840

know we're gonna have success and uh um look at our site. I still think even our even our most difficult site is probably some of the other housing authorities's best sites so uh welcome to Dallas and thanks a lot. Thank you. Laurie, you will also remember

00:40:38.840 - 00:40:56.159

one of Bertha Gilkey's favorite expressions as she said on 60 Minutes when she said to the to the citizens of New York, she said, I want Harlem to look like Park Avenue. The difference is I want it to look like Park Avenue which you live in

00:40:56.159 - 00:41:18.489

there. Because it's easy to do if they put you out. So we want to look like what you there so that's how we feel, OK? I wanna thank Laurie so much, uh, uh, what she, she didn't say that she has made a major financial commitment in

00:41:18.489 - 00:41:36.489

excess of $300,000 investing. That's, that's putting it on the line. And that's, that's putting it on the line. Our next presenter is John R. Garcia, assistant director of Los Angeles Housing Authority, has 18 years of experience working in the area of children in the arena, children,

00:41:36.530 - 00:41:55.225

youth, and families. His work for the Department of Resident relations involves numerous youth related activities including education. Recreation and cultural diversity programs and just in providing a liaison between the housing authority residents, Mr. Garcia assists the department in overall planning, organizing, and directing department and participates

00:41:55.485 - 00:42:18.270

in development, implementation departmental policies and procedure. LA has the housing Authority, John Garcia. Thank you very much. Good morning, everyone. Um, I'm gonna walk you through some resources and opportunities that are made available to our residents. A lot of these resources and opportunities would not have

00:42:18.270 - 00:42:38.270

been possible if it wasn't for the support of HUD. I wanna say thank you to HUDD first and foremost Gloria Kawser, Sonia Burgos. Thank you for all your support that you provided to our residents in Los Angeles. Hm. I currently work in the resident relations department.

00:42:38.479 - 00:43:03.370

It is the inventive pioneering and creative arm of the housing authority. Since 1991, the housing authority has dramatically expanded its mission to promote self-sufficiency and economic development amongst the residents by providing supportive social services, job training and career opportunities. The department I work in is composed

00:43:03.370 - 00:43:23.669

of a variety of services. Let me begin by telling you about our community service centers that operate at 5 public housing sites. They are one stop satellite funded by the city of Los Angeles to provide again employment training, job search assistance for the residents. The CSC

00:43:23.669 - 00:43:54.590

program also operates a centralized training. And counseling program entitled Family Investment Center FI FI provides participants with transportation, tuition, books, child care, uniforms and certified classroom training including ESL basic skills, career and career fields. This very successful program provides a holistic approach to family self sufficiency.

00:43:55.100 - 00:44:17.719

And has been designated as a best practice in working with our families. The housing authority operates computer learning centers at 10 locations throughout the city. Each location serves on-site education and computer access to youth and adults and offer office automation and job training. In addition to

00:44:17.719 - 00:44:34.959

that, we look to create employment opportunities with the residents by having them serve as aides or instructors and uh coming to a board with us at an intern capacity. Now what good our programs, what good are resources if the residents ain't fully aware of what is

00:44:34.959 - 00:44:52.090

available to them? So what we've done is we've created a resident only unit which is called the community liaison unit. This unit is fully staffed by residents only their job is to make sure that they they get the information out to the residents they help us

00:44:52.090 - 00:45:13.879

with the recruitment, the outreach, and having residents participate in our programs last year. The housing authority received a welfare to work grant from the US Department of Labor in its first round of awards. Hala's 5 million grant was the largest in Southern California. Through this work

00:45:13.879 - 00:45:43.909

first program, HaCA is moving 1000 residents with multiple employment barriers to self-sustaining jobs within 30 months. Jobs plus Imperial courts in South Central Los Angeles is one of two sites selected by Manpower Demonstration Resource Corporation, MDRC, and HUD to participate in a multi-site national pilot 3

00:45:43.909 - 00:46:11.840

year demonstration called Jobs Plus. This initiative tests the feasibility of developing locally based approaches. To providing saturation level employment opportunities to residents of public housing, we have made a significant we have made significant efforts to enter into contracts with resident organizations. With the goal of providing

00:46:11.840 - 00:46:40.169

economic development and opportunities for the residents at various sites, thus far we have created 2020 resident owned businesses here are a few examples extermination of units and buildings, moving services. Security services operation and management of a multi-purple purpose center cleaning and detrashing services awards of contracts

00:46:40.459 - 00:47:00.959

range from $3000 to $800,000 a contract. The results of contracting with the residents are that they obtain the sense of responsibility. They learn to manage their own company. There's greater pride. It creates employment opportunities for the residents. I just wanna acknowledge Mr. Lindsey here. I I

00:47:00.959 - 00:47:16.439

recall Mr. Lindsey coming to several meetings. When is it gonna be Hacienda Village's turn? When is it gonna be Hacienda Village? Time after time he was there at meeting after meeting, meeting after meeting. This is a tireless man. I just give you a lot of credit,

00:47:16.479 - 00:47:42.040

Mr. Lindsey, for sticking in there and finally Hacienda Village has a joint venture where residents, uh, replace sewer lines and water lines at Hacienda Village. So I just wanna credit Mr. Lindsey right. Next we have the youth entrepreneurial demonstration. Our development is to which we refer

00:47:42.040 - 00:48:01.169

to as a YETI. It is a 12 week small business startup course taught in our department. The program is for youth and adults residents. It includes classroom training from a 12 module curriculum business plan preparation working with mentors in the preparation to apply for monies to

00:48:01.169 - 00:48:19.340

finance a small business before a loan committee. The loan amounts range from anywhere from $2000 to $5000. To provide the service, the housing authority partnered with Edtech. Education Training Enterprise Center out of Camden, New Jersey, and I know you'll hear from Mr. Waters uh later on

00:48:19.939 - 00:48:39.719

through this program participants learn about options to unemployment, welfare, and traditional low wage paying jobs. This program attempts to help you develop a new attitude, self reliance and success. Its motto is if you can't find a job then make a job. To date, the micro loan

00:48:39.719 - 00:48:59.270

committee has approved 14 loans. Some of the business ventures include a clothing store, silk screen, a car wash, a thrift store, and a computer repair service. I just wanna just take a brief moment. I recall when Mr. Waters and uh Stanley came out and they were

00:48:59.270 - 00:49:14.139

in Los Angeles and we have a what we call as a citywide youth council. It's, it's future leadership anywhere from 13 to 24 years of age in public housing developing for the future. Well, we had our annual picnic. And I said, well, we can put you

00:49:14.139 - 00:49:27.340

on our agenda and then after we're gonna have some fun, they came out there they addressed the group and immediately the youth cling to them because they were able to break it down to their level. But the real punch line here is we were challenged by

00:49:27.340 - 00:49:39.739

a softball game by the youth and we were short of staff, so we solicited the support of Mr. Waters and Stanley and to avail we, we, we, we came out with a victory so they're looking for a rematch there, George, so I thank you for your

00:49:39.739 - 00:49:59.860

support in that effort. The other, OK, uh, today I just want to just share with you Kumbaya Construction. Kumbaya, this program trains residents in marketable skills such as plumbing, electrical, carpentry, painting, plastering, cement finishing, so on and so forth. I mean we just move in that

00:49:59.860 - 00:50:20.350

area to date Kumbaya has employed over 800 residents earning an average average wage of $14 to $17 an hour. Violence free zone initiatives. I recall when Mr. Watkins put the call in we sat down, we talked, we discussed the Violence Free zone initiative. He wanted to

00:50:20.350 - 00:50:34.790

move into Hacienda Village, which is one of our smaller developments. It was manageable. We can come in with the pilot program. Mr. Watkins and I go back many years. Our concern was is to make sure that the residents were part of the design team immediately that

00:50:34.790 - 00:50:56.629

they were with us as a full partner. So the housing authority hosted a retreat. National Center for Neighborhood Enterprise David Caprera Family helpline Leon Watkins, Beverly, more importantly, our residents, Mr. Lindsey, Tamika Aaron who's in the back there we all came together in this partnership through

00:50:56.629 - 00:51:20.739

this retreat and these efforts. Hacienda Village residents developed a mission statement they formulated goals. And objectives with some measurable outcomes and time frames they concentrated in four areas educational opportunities being one, supportive services being 2, recreational activities and economic development. Let me just cite one example.

00:51:21.189 - 00:51:39.110

We knew that the boys and girls Club was gonna leave Hacienda Village because of funding. The RMC resident Management Corporation took initiative along with the support of Family Helpline. To say, well, we can't let the kids suffer. we need to take on these responsibilities we need

00:51:39.110 - 00:51:55.510

to continue to provide those recreational, educational and cultural enrichment activities after school for for our youth. So right now the RMC is looking at taking over that responsibility for our community so the uh children have a place to look forward to after school. So again, thank

00:51:55.510 - 00:52:18.030

you Mr. Lindsey and Mr. Watkins. In closing I just wanna thank you for allowing me this opportunity to share some experiences with you. I do have some handouts available. I do have some photographs of that retreat where you'll see Mr. Watkins in action over here. It

00:52:18.030 - 00:52:45.320

it was it was a great retreat. I just wanna thank you again. God bless everyone and blessed are the peacemakers. Thank you. Thank you. Uh, I'm gonna ask our next panel to be seated, as I introduce them. Uh, all right. Many years ago when um David

00:52:45.320 - 00:53:15.129

Gilmore was the director of public housing for the city of San Francisco. And I was in the movement with Kimmy and Bertha and Mildred struggling. Uh, we were not always at peace with public housing administrators. Yeah And I remember a national commission. Where uh we had.

00:53:16.189 - 00:53:38.260

Some strong dissenting views on the issue of resident management. And one of our strongest adversaries at the time was David Gilmore. And so we have been through a lot together sometimes on different sides and when David came to take over the receivership of Washington DC's troubled

00:53:38.260 - 00:53:55.189

housing development, um, we teamed up and I'll let David fill in the rest, but David is currently the court appointed receiver of the District of Columbia's Department of Housing, uh, and assisted housing. The impressive career in the area of public housing includes services, executive director of

00:53:55.189 - 00:54:13.534

a spectrum of public authorities from San Francisco's one of the most, uh, troubled list to Seattle, which was designated as a high performing agency by HUD. Mr. Gilmore has effectively addressed the problems and maximize the opportunity in every housing development was entrusted to his supervision. Sharply

00:54:13.534 - 00:54:30.165

reducing the vacancy rates, he has served the logistics since 1995 when he launched effective joint venture of housing and home ownership. Yet David Gilmore served to the resident of public housing goes beyond bricks and mortar. When a neighborhood based initiative and we, uh, working with the

00:54:30.165 - 00:54:47.429

Alliance of Concerned Men was able to negotiate the peace. And reading about in the paper, David Gilmore was one of the first to call and say, Bob, what can I do? And we met in Dave's office, the Alliance of Concerned Man and myself.