Westhab's community development work aims to improve the quality of life in distressed neighborhoods. Our work currently (2006-07) centers on the poorest neighborhoods of Yonkers and Mount Vernon, New York.

Our holistic approach includes:

Helping underserved communities have their voicese heard through community organizing;

Providing quality neighborhood programs; and;

Planning and implementing physical improvements including affordable housing, open space and retail opportunities for the community.

In Southwest Yonkers

Westhab has a long-standing and ongoing commitment to the residents of Southwest Yonkers, where our Housing Programs and Services offices are headquartered. Our most intensive community development work in Southwest Yonkers is focused in Nodine Hill, where:

Our community organizer, real estate development staff, and community center staff work with residents, business owners, city and county government, and other nonprofits to identify, prioritize, and implement strategies to address the mutliple needs of the neighborhood.

Our community organizer serves as the coordionator of the US Department of Justice's Weed and Seed initiative for Yonkers Third precinct (which encompasses Nodine Hill), which combines law enforcement and social services in a coordinated effort to remediate problems in the neighborhood.

We opened a drop-in community center in August 2006, the Elms St. Neighborhood Center that serves as the "safe haven" for the Third Precinct Weed and Seed initiative. It provides wide-ranging academic, social, life-skills, arts, recreation, employment, and cultural heritage learning for the 55 school-age children and young adults who use it on a daily basis. Family and adult programs are in the works there.

We are advocating for, initiating, funding, and constructing physical improvements to the neighborhood, including the completed public stairway that connects Elm St. and Riverview Terrace, the ongoing renovation of storefronts on Elm Street, and the planned lighting and other streetscape improvements to Elm St.

We are establishing a "Westhab in Nodine Hill" office building at the entrance to the Nodine Hill neighborhood on Elm Street (spring 2007).

We are developing and building new affordable homeownership and rental housing, and renovating existing rental housing. The condominiums we are building on William Street (summer 2007 groundbreaking) represent the first homeownership housing to be built in the neighborhood in recent memory.

 

 

On Mount Vernon's South Side

Several years ago Westhab took the lead to revitalize the severly depressed "Third Street Corridor" of Mount Vernon, a formerly thriving business district that fell into decline, with many vacant, boarded-up businesses and a sense of hopelessness in the people. Westhab began hosting community meetings with neighborhhood residents, merchants and City representatives, which led to greatly increased activity of the Mayor's Third Street Task Force. Priority areas were identified and work began-e.g. the City installed new lighting and sidewalks and committed money to upgrading the facades of neighborhood buildings. Westhab also took the lead in establishing and producing an annual arts festival.

Our expanded employment and training program, which includes an open-to-the-public community resource center, is located in the heart of this area.

We continue to work along with the City of Mount Vernon to revitalize the Third Street Corridor.We gut-renovated and created 20 new affordable apartments at 129 S 4th Avenue in 2006, and we are developing the first - floor commercial space.

We are building a new affordable rental apartment building (groundbreaking fall 2007) specially designed for families that consist of grandparents and the grandchildren they are raising. The building will also house the Mount Vernon Boys and Girls Club programs.

 

___________________________________________________________

To inform and guide our community and economic development work in Yonkers and Mount Vernon, we created two subsidiary corporations several years ago, Westhab in Yonkers, Inc. and Westhab in Mount Vernon, Inc. Both are led by diverse Boards of Directors, which include local bankers and attorneys; current city and county officials; community activists; clergy; residents; and Westhab Staff.