Oak Hill CDC

Oak Hill CDC's mission is to empower, enable and support community members in their efforts to revitalize the Union Hill, Oak Hill and Upsala Street neighborhoods of Worcester. As a neighborhood-based and controlled institution, Oak Hill CDC serves as the vehicle through which individuals and groups can work together to solve problems and improve life in their community.

Description:
Oak Hill CDC carries out its mission through the implementation of initiatives in the following areas:

Community Building & Organizing:
The Community Building and Organizing Line of Business promotes and supports residents to develop leadership skills by planning and participating in revitalization activities. Oak Hill CDC identifies individuals and groups, particularly under-represented populations, to encourage their participation in Oak Hill CDC’s standing and ad hoc steering committees. The long-term benefits of this include a larger, experienced pool of candidates for Oak Hill CDC's Board of Directors who will represent the diversity of the service area, as well as increase the level of confidence and leadership among residents. Thus, Community Building and Organizing develops leaders within the neighborhood and creates positive synergy: community revitalization needs are addressed and Oak Hill CDC’s governance and community connection are enriched. Identifying and supporting emergent leaders benefits the individual and the larger community, as neighborhood residents who communicate and collaborate will wield a greater impact than any individual or organization alone. This type of relationship building also informs Oak Hill CDC of current or developing trends and the expressed concerns of the neighborhood for future programming.

Economic Development:
With low incomes and high rates of poverty, the City of Worcester and Oak Hill desperately need economic development. Relative to economic trends, many Oak Hill CDC residents are inadequately educated. As reported previously, only 30% of the residents have a high school diploma, compared to 85% statewide. Many residents are single parents and have childcare issues. Many are not native English speakers. Overall, residents have many obstacles to employment.
The Training and Placement Counselor assists individuals seeking to enter the workforce for the first time, re-enter it after an absence, or change jobs for career development. This walk-in facility enables residents to broaden their range of employment search opportunities by providing easy access to employment information, Internet access, as well as information on transportation, insurance and childcare. Oak Hill CDC offers one-on-one career counseling, resume writing, instruction on interviewing skills, employer expectations and application assistance enabling job seekers to gain employment on a walk-in and appointment basis. Our one-on-one service is unique to Worcester in that no other job placement and training program in the city offers such high-touch services to the hardest to place residents. We do not require graduation from high school to participate and do not have systems in place that ensure success only for those who are self-motivated and confident. Many of our clients come to us after having tried larger, more institutional programs with little or no success until they receive the one-on-one services from Oak Hill right in their neighborhood. This line of business has seen steady growth in the number of residents coming in to access the service simply through word of mouth.

Asset & Property Management:
Oak Hill CDC's Property and Asset Management Line of Business currently entails the partial management of the Union Hill Rental Initiative, 21 units of scattered site, affordable rental housing including the provision of financial management services for these units. In addition, Oak Hill CDC or its subsidiaries have ownership interests in two real estate assets, including a 40 unit LIHTC project, for which a subsidiary is a general partner, and a 50 unit, HUD 202 elderly housing project
Oak Hill CDC works with Maloney Properties to help maintain current properties.

Real Estate Development:
Oak Hill CDC’s Residential Real Estate Line of Business entails the preservation and expansion of HomeOwnership and the creation of a range of safe, quality and affordable housing opportunities through the rehabilitation of distressed and abandoned housing and new construction. Real estate development activities consist of acquisition of site control, assembling a development team, pre-development analysis and planning, design, construction, and marketing. Oak Hill CDC has, either directly or in partnership, successfully renovated approximately 170 units of rental housing and 20 units for home ownership, transformed a receivership mixed-use property into a neighborhood asset, and created a limited equity co-op for six families.

Home Ownership Promotion & Preservation:
The NeighborWorks® HomeOwnership Center of Worcester provides the resources and coordination essential for expanding and stabilizing HomeOwnership in the City of Worcester, Massachusetts and throughout south central Massachusetts.
Established through the combined efforts of Worcester City Manager's Executive Office of Neighborhoods and Housing Development, Oak Hill Community Development Corporation, the Central Massachusetts Housing Alliance and Worcester Community Housing Resources, the NeighborWorks® HomeOwnership Center of Worcester is part of a nationwide network of community organizations that operate in distressed neighborhoods with low/moderate income populations.
As part of the National NeighborWorks® Network , the NeighborWorks® HomeOwnership Center of Worcester is locally owned and operated by experienced professionals who understand the unique conditions of Worcester and the surrounding area's housing market, including financial institutions, employers, insurers and others. Our customers include renters, first-time homebuyers, and homeowners in need of affordable financing for housing rehabilitation and/or repair.

History:
Founded in 1972 as the Oak Hill Housing Council to address the shortage of safe, affordable housing, and later incorporated in 1983 with assistance from Friendly House and support from the Worcester Community Action Council and becoming the Oak Hill Community Development Corporation in 1985, the organization is a private 501(c)(3) non-profit community revitalization entity serving the lower Grafton Hill area of the City of Worcester. Oak Hill CDC currently focuses its work within the Union Hill, Oak Hill and Upsala Street neighborhoods of Worcester's East Side, all inner-city neighborhoods characterized by high levels of poverty, unemployment, real estate disinvestment, crime and low levels of educational attainment. Additionally, its activities in Homeownership Promotion and Homeownership Preservation extend into Greater Worcester/south central Massachusetts.

Oak Hill CDC has steadily increased its volume and range of activities. In 2002, Oak Hill CDC established the NeighborWorks® HomeOwnership Center of Worcester, in concert with The City of Worcester, NeighborWorks America, Central Massachusetts Housing Alliance, Worcester Community Housing Resources, and with the assistance of Worcester East Site CDC.

Contact person: Patricia Mallios, Community/Youth Organizer, (508) 754-2858 ext 26, (email)

Office fax number: (508) 754-0138

Address:

74 Providence Street Worcester, MA 01604 (See a map)

Web Site: http://www.oakhillcdc.org

Directions:

VIA MASSACHUSETTS TURNPIKE Take Exit 10 (Auburn/Worcester Exit) and follow Route 290 toward Worcester. Take Exit 13 (Vernon Street). Stay in right lane and follow the ramp up to the traffic light. You will see a one-way street. . . (more)   Nearest Bus Stop: #1 (bus stop directly outside office). Walking distance to bus stops for #5, #11, #15

Miscellaneous Information

Are any opportunities appropriate for youth ages 18 or under? If yes, what age range?
	All Stars (for youth in grades 6 - 8); Teen Inspirators, On the Move (for youth ages 11 - 17)

Last updated on May 7, 2009