Eureka! It's in!

On Tuesday, November 23, 2010, the Wilmington Housing Authority (WHA), under the leadership of Executive Director, Frederick S. Purnell, Sr. in partnership with its Development partner, Roizman Development, Incorporated (RDI) successfully submitted a FY 2010 HOPE VI Revitalization Grant application to the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). There are many to thank for this accomplishment. Among them are Mr. Purnell whose patience and leadership kept it all together;both Israel and Noam Roizman for their hard work and their commitment to working closely with both Mr. Purnell and Marcus Henry, Director of Development for WHA; WRT Associates, a Philadelphia architecture firm whose premier architects and urban planners Woo Kim and Robert Reich did a yeoman's job of preparing the application for submission; His Honor James Baker, Mayor of Wilmington who again as he did last year, lent his unqualifed support to the application's submission, Ms. Bernadette Winston who serves as the Board Chair of WHA's Board of Commissioners as well as Executive Director of Kingswood Community Center, a key partner in this project; Ms. Erin Innes of Congressman Castle's office who managed the process of getting all of the Delaware delegation to sign a letter of support for the application; Debra Jackson-Spence whose contacts and reputation as an honest community organizer helped keep the application process on track; Professor Raheemah Jabbar-Bey and Dr. Steve Pequet of the University of Delaware for their contribution to the part of the application that dealt with assessment and evaluation of the project as it moves from one phase to the next; Gary Stockbridge CEO of Delmarva and Board Chair of the Kingswood Community Center who was the driving force in bringing WHA into partnership with the Delaware Workforce Investment Board in providing training and employment for Riverside residents; Dr. Susan Zawisiak of the Delaware Technical Community College whose college will provide training for Riverside and other public housing residents in the area of green technology; Sarah Noonan at Westside Family Healthcare who is expanding its services to the Northeast quandrant of Wilmington in general and in Riverside specifically; Fred Sears of the Longwood Foundation who provided huge financial support to the application; Charlie McDowell, Chair of the Board at East Side Charter School (ESCS) and the principal at ESCS Ms. Dominique Taylor; and then all the community-based organizations who voiced their support for our application, organizations such as DACA, Delaware Health and Social Services, the North East Alliance, Serviam Academy,and DNREC who provided leverage support and Staff Choice, Incorporated, another organization that will be providing workforce development opportunities for our residents; and to everyone else who was there for us. And, a special shout out to Ms. Tanya Washington, who managed the entire process of getting commitments from city agencies and their required support letters, without which there would have been no application. Stay tuned--We are just getting started! HAPPY THANKSGIVING!