Community Update Newsletter
Mobilizing For Sustainable Development
Volume 2, Issue 1 Spring, 2009 Sojourner-Douglass College
A "Bottom-Up" Model Resolves the Dilemma
For a detail explanation of the schematics, click here.
Somerset Homes Transformed; Affordable Housing Reinvented
Transformed Housing moves Public Housing residents to housing choices, including Home Ownership, without their having to move from the community; over time Public Housing is reduced to a minimum of units.
Design "new" Somerset for eventual home ownership – simple but improvable construction
Reserve units for 45 families desiring to own a home AND help them secure the income to improve the home and establish a strong, functioning community within the re-developed Oldtown Mall area
Connect 45 families at a time to the resources to transform their lives
Arrange to periodically add an additional 45 families until Somerset Homes is completely transformed.
Oldtown Mall: Community Market Place & Business Hub of Community Economy
Training for specific number of community residents in the construction trades, e.g., plumbing, brick-laying, carpentry, electrical, roofing, etc. by SDC and its partners
Reserved space for at least one community enterprise, e.g., a food coop or digital imaging business through a collaborative process
Equity buy-in opportunity for community using funds raised by the community, matched by City, forming foundation for community- controlled financial institution, e.g., credit union, land trust, etc.
Turnkey arrangement for mall vendors providing training of community residents in operation of business with opportunity for community buy-out for community residents to own all of mall businesses over time
