Building
To coordinate labor, plans, materials and family interests to build the finished product, “a simple, decent house in a decent community for God’s people in need.”

Church Relations
To cultivate Fuller Center for Housing of NWLA’s relationship with local churches, seek Covenant Churches, and maintain ties to currently involved churches.

Family Selection
The committee organizes and carries out application, interview, and selection processes. We find the families who fit the criteria of need for shelter, ability to make no-interest loan payments, and ability to partner with The Fuller Center for Housing.

Family Support
Works with families through sweat equity, home ownership education, home purchase process, adjustment to new responsibilities and continued partnership with the organization. The committee is responsible for planning, implementing and evaluating this aspect of the program.

Fund Raising
To raise sufficient money as determined by the Board of Directors to fund the needs of the organization in order that simple, decent housing can be built with Partner Families.

Legal
To provide a liaison with Fuller Center for Housing of NWLA’s attorney and monitor the legal needs and requirements of the organization, including insurances.

Office Support
This group staffs the office, which provides coordination and support for the organization.

Public Relations
Mission: To continually improve the community’s awareness of our work, recognize our participants, and encourage new donations of time and materials so more people have simple, affordable housing.

Site Selection
Identify potential sites, evaluate sites’ availability and appropriateness, evaluate sites suitability for affiliate’s basic house plans, develop a site acquisitions criteria policy for board approval, implement the board-approved site acquisition policy and maintain acquired sites.

Volunteer
Recruits, interviews, trains and coordinates volunteers to carry out Fuller Center for Housing of NWLA’s mission in NW Louisiana area.

The executive director of FCNWLA says he “learned a lot” during the Legacy Build and is ready to build two or three houses in March. To build three he needs $210,000.

He is also beginning to lay the foundation for building in other areas of town. He said, “There are people who need homes; there is property available.”

Jeter also wants organizations in those communities to step up and help through donations and volunteering.

In addition to building new houses, Jeter wants to expand the Greater Blessing repair and renovation program.

The program helps people who are homeowners get the repairs they may need but cannot afford.

A new endeavor in coming months will be involvement in lead abatement in houses built before 1978, especially those houses with minor children. Jeter said he had previously obtained a pamphlet
on lead poisoning so workers could be safe while doing rehab work. “I didn’t know it would become a focus area,” he said.

In the meantime, the Louisiana Department of Health and Human Services asked the center to get involved in solving the problem of lead poisoning. “First, I’m getting educated about lead poisoning,”
Jeter said. “Then I’ll pursue grant opportunities to address this issue.”

Jeter told of a client who may lose custody of a 4- year-old grandchild if they can’t address the problem. The client is disabled and on fixed income; moving is out of the question. “We need to step in and help them,” he said.

At last year’s conference in Virginia, Millard Fuller asked FCNWLA board members Becky Cooksey and Katie Weir to host the 2010 meeting.

Beginning at 1 p.m. Friday, the various sessions will be held at First United Methodist Church. The Saturday afternoon sessions end with a tour of Allendale, which the Fuller Center calls its “flagship” building site.

Dinner will follow with Linda Fuller, cofounder of the Fuller Center for Housing, speaking. Attendance at a Sunday worship service is optional.

Local home owner Phyllis Davis has been selected to speak at Friday’s dinner.

Lee Jeter, FCNWLA executive director, said he is proud to host the event and “to showcase what we’ve built, all our partners and our city.”

The conference will cover over 13 topics. Weir said that the essential idea she formed at last year’s meeting is the “importance of partnering with entities in the community.” Several of the conference’s sessions address this concern.

Weir also is interested in the session labeled, “ReUse Store Strategies.” She said this is about creating an income source from the reselling of donated items. “For example,” Weir said, “many stores will donate items that they can’t sell because of imperfections.”

Groups that receive these items may not be able to use them in their building projects but can resell them for operating revenue.

2009 Conference

Participants in the conference will be staying at the Downtown Holiday Inn on Lake Street and will be transported to the church and other venues.

Weir said that they will need about 15 local volunteers to help with the conference in areas such as meals, registration and transportation. She hopes that many FCNWLA board members will be able to participate.

Register At FullerCenter.org – Put on your Google Calendar

A partnership was formed that is now helping residents in other cities as well. The Fuller Center builds houses; CRI builds community. Together, we are “Building on Higher Ground” to help those who lack the resources and the relationships that could make home ownership possible on their own.

The vision goes beyond building houses for a few. We are building hope for many. Shreveport’s Allendale neighborhood – an area of decaying houses, high crime and little income – was chosen for the launch of the “Higher Ground” initiative. With hundreds of volunteers coming from throughout the nation, this once forgotten neighborhood is now a place of new hope and new beginnings that is receiving worldwide attention.

Community Renewal International

A garden grows where trash and bottles once filled a vacant lot. Children gather on a playground built by a local service club. Residents who were once too frightened to come out of their houses now laugh and eat together at neighborhood block parties.

“Many years ago this was one of the worst communities in the city. Homicides, crime, gang activity – you name it and it was here,” said Jewel Mariner, one of two CRI Community Coordinators in Allendale. She lives in a Friendship House that has become an anchor for the neighborhood.

“It’s amazing to see the transformation in people’s lives and in this neighborhood. People used to just call this The Hill. Now it’s New Hope Hill. People in the community now have hope.”

By the start of 2007, little more than one year after work started, 23 new houses had been built in the community. Each one has its own unique features, designs and color schemes. Several of the new homeowners have become CRI Haven House leaders and now reach out to others in the neighborhood.

“I want to be a light on the hill. I care about my community and I want us to come together,” said Dorothy Wiley, who made a new start in Shreveport after she and her family were trapped in the New Orleans Superdome for four days after Hurricane Katrina destroyed their home. “You build a neighborhood by being a neighbor to everybody. You develop relationships one person at a time.”

The Higher Ground project was launched by Millard Fuller, founder of Habitat for Humanity and then later of The Fuller Center for Housing.

“We are here to transform this city. We have the opportunity to make this one of the most beautiful cities in the country,” he said. “It’s so exciting that Community Renewal International and the Friendship Houses are here. You can build houses, but if you don’t build community, it will all fall apart.”

You do not need to be an expert in construction to help out on a work site. There are many tasks that require only a willingness to learn and work with others. On-site construction work is the most popular of FCH’s volunteer opportunities.

We make every effort to incorporate all willing volunteers regardless of skill level. All volunteers on the construction site must be at least 16 years of age or older. We will work rain or shine!

To volunteer with us, please fill out a Volunteer Information Form and Skills Survey.

It’s quick and simple to find out where we have volunteer needs, and to sign up with us for those. Just visit our volunteer calendar, find an opportunity that suits your interests and availability, and click on the event to sign up.

“…For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask more.” Luke 12:48

PDFs:

Fuller Center NWLA Registration and Waiver

The area’s story is no secret. Formerly thriving blocks decayed into buildingless, overgrown lots. But that is changing slowly.

Nonprofits and churches such as People of Praise, Community Renewal International, Habitat for Humanity, Mt. Canaan and Galilee Baptist churches and the Fuller Center for Housing have built dozens of homes and apartments that provide housing below market and at competitive prices. That has happened in conjunction with government plus help from private businesses.

But residences alone can’t restore a place, according to elected and unofficial community leaders. So commerce and other amenities must come next.

Allendale native Claude Marshall is trying to do that with his family’s Dale Street Grocery and Deli. The business has been open nearly a year in a building that housed a former store before it burned.

Garden of Hope - © Douglas Collier/The Times

Marshall takes a hyper local approach in his enterprise. He doesn’t sell alcohol — “seeing as how it’s destroyed the neighborhood” — and is hoping to get involved with WIC — which stands for Women, Infants, and Children — and provides money to get food for mothers and their young children.

“When you’ve got to pay somebody $5 to get something that cost $2, it just wouldn’t be feasible,” Marshall said, alluding to the cost of taxis or public transportation being too expensive. “They want something to eat without having to walk a long way to get it.”

Marshall, 55, is glad his business has seen its first Thanksgiving: “I’m in the black. I’m not in the red. I thank the loyal customers that come in every day.”

Shreveport City Councilman Calvin Lester, who has represented the neighborhoods since 2002, is thankful for business owners like Marshall.

“We have built houses and we have put people in those houses. But the thing that needs to happen now is focusing on the entrepreneurial opportunities and the economic development for the area,” Lester said. “I have said that there are some things that government does well, and there’s others it does not. I think government can build houses, but it takes more than just governmental intervention to rebuild communities.”

Empty parcels of land don’t just happen. Between 1970 and 2000, the population in Allendale shrank from 16,247 to 5,982. During that same time, Shreveport’s total residents grew nearly 10 percent from 182,064 to 200,145.

But besides new houses, Allendale and Ledbetter Heights residents have found other creative ways to rebuild.

The appropriately named Rosie Chaffold takes care of the Allendale Garden of Hope and Love. She’s a familiar face to neighbors — who honked and waved while driving by on a recent Tuesday — and she’s received media attention and accolades over the years for her work with dirt.

With lots of help from the LSU AgCenter and volunteers from outside the neighborhood, she provides plenty of green stuff for neighbors to eat, free of charge, plus well-kept flower beds. And all on a street corner where she and police say folks used to meet “for something stronger than that — something illegal.” And that would have been drugs.

But since 2001, Chaffold said, neighbors who used to ask her why she tried to make a difference occasionally stop by to help her with gardening. Now she feels gratified but hopes more nearby residents will join her. The work and the food, she said, are the bounty.

“When you’re in a garden you feel like you’re next to God, close to the Earth,” said Chaffold, a Mer Rouge native who has called Allendale home for more than three decades.

Ruth Peace has seen more changes in Allendale than Chaffold. The 89-year-old woman has lived on Buena Vista Street, where she raised a family with her late husband, since 1960. She eats a vegetable or two from the community garden now and then, and she appreciates the work that goes into it.

“I’ll be 90 years old come next August, so you know I have a whole lot to be thankful for,” Peace said. “It has changed. But there’s always room for improvement.”

By Adam Kealoha Causey • acausey@gannett.com

Source: http://www.shreveporttimes.com/article/20091128/NEWS01/911280318/1060

Or mail donations to:

Fuller Center for Housing of Northwest Louisiana
P.O. Box 3173
Shreveport, LA 71133

We raise all our funds locally. We support the efforts of The Fuller Center for Housing International by tithing 10% of all donations, unless the donation is restricted to be used in the NW Louisiana area. You may make a one time gift or a monthly pledge to The Fuller Center for Housing of NWLA.

Other Giving Options
Please contact the Executive Director to discuss the following giving options:

Land
Donate your property. We do not purchase property and we do not mediate heirship issues.
Matching Gifts
Ever wish you could multiply your gift to Fuller Center for Housing of NWLA? Here is a way-employer matching contributions. Thousands of companies have Matching Gift programs which double, or even triple individual, tax-deductible contributions made by their employees. Check our list of Matching Gift partners or ask your personnel office about your company’s Matching Gift program.

The process is simple: ask if your company has a Matching Gift program. If so, obtain a matching gift form from your personnel office or matching gift coordinator, fill it out completely and send it along with your contribution to: Fuller Center for Housing of NWLA, P.O. BOX 3173 Shreveport, LA 71133.  We will complete the form and submit it to your employer.  It’s as easy as that!

Your gift and your company’s matching contribution will help Fuller Center for Housing of NWLA reach our goal of eliminating poverty housing. You can help make a difference–one house, one family at a time!

Vehicle Donations
Donate your old car to FCHNWLA and help fund a new, affordable home! Your car, boat, camper or truck might just help a family build the home of their dreams. Please visit our Cars for Homes page for more information.
Planned Giving
Many of our partners support FCHNWLA through planned gifts, which may qualify for significant tax deductions. Giving options include bequests, charitable gift annuities, and charitable remainder trusts. To find out how you can financially benefit Fuller Center for Housing of NWLA and provide a lasting legacy, contact us.
Stocks and Bond Gifts
A charitable gift of stocks or bonds provides an opportunity for tax savings while generously sharing with others. A gift of stock owned for more than one year entitles you to a charitable deduction for the full market value at the time the gift is made. If the stock has appreciated, you also avoid a capital gains tax on the appreciation. In addition to helping FCHNWLA, you may diversify away from low-basis, long-term holdings into other assets that will better suit your current needs.

We are committed to good stewardship, and we promise to keep our administrative costs low to assure you that the vast majority of your gifts will fund home-building. We will select the recipients of our funds carefully to further assure you that your gifts are put to good service.

Our goal is to be obedient to God’s revelation and the teachings of Jesus Christ as we witness to His love by providing opportunities for families everywhere to have a simple, decent place to live.

Please contact us about becoming a partner in this exciting, dynamic organization.

Goals and Objectives:

• The Fuller Center for Housing of Northwest Louisiana (FCHNWLA) was founded in 2005 in response to the housing crisis created in Shreveport by the influx of Hurricane Katrina evacuees. In partnership with Community Renewal International (CRI), the City of Shreveport, and local faith-based organizations, property, volunteers and materials were secured to initially renew the Allendale neighborhood, bringing new life to a once crime- and violence-ridden community.

  Hurricane evacuee families have found new homes and new hope on “Higher Ground” in Shreveport. The Fuller Center, along with CRI, committed to build at 60 new houses for hurricane residents in need in Shreveport.

  The FCHNWLA transferred to local management in January, 2008 and has continued to transform this community in a community of hope and love, a community where children feel safe and new and existing homeowner are coming together to share ideals and ways to improve this community for all residents.

Description of services, programs, or activities of organizations:

The FCHNWLA does not give houses away. Less than 20% of applicants qualify to become homeowners.

Recipients must perform 350 hours of “sweat equity,” attend a first-time homebuyer’s workshop, as well as go through credit counseling and other reviews in the application process. The recipients then pay a 20-year mortgage with no interest, the proceeds of which are returned to the organization to pay for new homes, rehabilitations, land acquisition and other program expenses.

Homeowners are encourage to become part of a neighborhood watch program, participate in quarterly meeting to discuss ideals and community needs, and meet with community liaison officers and code enforcement officer to maintain a dialogue and discuss ways to keep the community and it’s resident safe and secure.

Beneficiaries of the house rehabilitations program receives minor home repairs, handicapped accessible ramps, and/or exterior home painting to improve this quality of life and provide a face lift to existing owner occupied homes.

This program is primarily geared toward those that are elderly and/or disable homeowners on a fixed income and they are asked to participate in the “Greater Blessing” program, which encourages a tithing to the organization to assist with the cost of rehabilitation to provide for future recipients needs.

The overall benefit of this program is that home-ownership is created for individuals that otherwise would never experience the “American Dream” of home ownership. Substandard housing, blight and crime is reduced in the community, and individuals that have been living at or below the poverty level can experience the joy of owning a home and begin a systemic process of lifting themselves out of poverty.

Poverty blights the life chances of far too many children in our State and local area which is why we are absolutely determined to provide opportunities for individuals living in poverty to own a home thus encouraging work among parent(s), increasing social mobility and putting the poorest families on the path to success thereby breaking the cycles of poverty passing from one generation to the next.

Not far from Alston Street, volunteers slipped on their gardening gloves and got a little dirty to clean up the Asian Gardens at Milam and Common streets. The Aseana Foundation, which manages the downtown garden, put on the event in partnership with Make a Difference Day.

“I just thank everyone who thought enough of me to come out here and work,” Sullivan said. “I’ve been blessed with a house before. The house before was from my parents, but this one is mine — it’s a lot different,” she said with big smile.

Make A Difference Day 2009

Walker said she never dreamed she’d be a homeowner at age 22. The house was originally built to be handicap accessible, but during the build process Walker’s grandmother, who applied for the house and convinced Walker to be a co-applicant, passed away.

“I say she knew that she was going to pass away. That’s why she wanted me to be the co-applicant,” Walker said, calling the house a blessing for her and her 5-year-old son, Rodrigues Walker.

Walker grew up in Allendale and her approaching move-in date is bringing her full circle. From birth to age 12, Walker lived in a small house on the very lot where her new three-bedroom, two-bathroom house stands in the 1400 block of Alston Street. She said she was shocked when she learned months ago the location of her future house.

Just outside her kitchen door is a sidewalk adjoining her house to the house of soon-to-be-neighbor Sullivan, 67, the woman’s granddaughter and two grandchildren.

In 2005, as Hurricane Katrina approached, Sullivan and her family vowed to leave together and stay together or not leave at all. “There were 21 of us, and we left in my granddaughter’s Hyundai Elantra.”

Walker’s and Sullivan’s houses are the 39th and 40th houses completed by the Fuller Housing Center.

“When we undertook our 40th home — 40 is typically a number of trials and tribulations — we knew we would have some trials and tribulations,” said Lee Jeter, the center’s executive director.

Construction began Aug. 31 and as deadline — Make a Difference Day — approached, the rains came.

The constant rain over the past two weeks “has proven this house is built on the rock,” Jake Owensby, dean of St. Mark’s Cathedral, said alluding to Matthew 7:25, which reads “The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.”

Receiving the keys to their homes is not the last step, but the first step, in the women’s path to home ownership, according to Katie Weir, co-chair of the center’s board.

Sullivan and Walker will each close on their house later this week and enter a 20-year, no-interest mortgage. Their mortgage payments, set between $350 and $400, pay for the cost of the building materials.

The formerly adjudicated property the houses are built on is donated as well as all labor and some materials. And the city’s role in donating the land is one Mayor Cedric Glover said “represents the greatest of win-win scenarios the city likes to be involved in.”

The city is able to move out of the red when these property are no longer their responsibility to maintain. “We’re returning stakeholders to this community,” Glover said.

© Kelsey McKinney/Shreveport-Times