MUTUAL HOUSING ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHWESTERN CT · Marissa Mais to the MHA Team. Marissa has ac-cepted the Prop-erty Manager position for our Stamford portfolio. Marissa comes to us

I N S I D E

T H I S I S S U E :

Meeting with

Congressman

Himes

1

Fairfield Com-

mons II Ground-

breaking Cere-

mony

2

Giving Day Re-

sults

2

MHA Volunteer

Program

3

OSHA 3

Business EXPO 4

MHA New Hires & Promo-tions Quick Reminders

4 4

MUTUAL HOUSING ASSOCIATION

OF SOUTHWESTERN CT S P R I N G 2 0 1 7 N E W S L E T T E R

S P E C I A L

P O I N T S O F I N -

T E R E S T :

NEW

Volunteer Pro-

gram

Giving Day

Results

Quick

Reminders!

MHA hosted a meeting with Congressman Jim Himes to express concerns over proposed 2017 budget cuts. Funds proposed for elimination directly support affordable housing and some of the line items high-lighted for budget elimina-tion are Section 4, HOME, CDBG, Neighborworks and CDFI funds. Renée Dobos, CEO, Mutual Housing Asso-ciation of Southwestern Connecticut (MHA), ex-plained to Congressman Himes the negative impact to the organization if these cuts become a reality. Not only would the organi-zation suffer but MHA’s ability to continue plac-ing affordable housing stock into the commu-nity would suffer. Statistics on lo-cal constituent income was shared to show Congressman Himes the large impact these

cuts to development fund-ing were very concern-ing. Sherylyn Garner from BNT reiterated the concerns over elimination of funding. She urged that the Federal Government continue to work with the housing de-velopment community. Con-gressman Himes under-stands the need and is com-mitted to working towards a budget that does not impact

affordable housing in such a critical way. He also stat-ed that there will be pressure in all aspects of the budget process over the next few years. MHA plans to reach out to Senators Blumen-thal and Murphy to share the same data and concerns.

cuts would have on communities. MHA also invited Bridgeport Neighborhood Trust [BNT], and Habitat for Humanity, Coastal Fair-field County [HH] to come express their con-cerns over the proposed budget cuts. Stuart Ad-elberg, CEO, HH, stated that future development would be impacted by lack of funding and that the pro-posed budget

Congressman Himes comes to MHA

P A G E 2

community. Our goal is to purchase a bus by the end of the 2nd quarter. We will have an event to reveal the MHA bus once it has been acquired and the sponsor’s placard is in place. We will keep you posted on our progress, and we will send out an invitation for the exciting bus reveal and ribbon cutting ceremony.

Thank you to all who donat-ed during Fairfield County Giving Day in March. Mutual Housing Association of Southwestern Connecticut (MHA) raised over $7,200-- and the event raised nearly $1,450,000 for Fairfield County-based non-profits! A special thank you to Haynes Construction for their dona-tion of $5,000 and for being

our bus sponsor. We will proudly display “This bus made possible by Haynes

Construction” logo on the bus once it has been purchased. MHA has been actively searching for a bus to help our residents re-main actively in-volved in the

Our Residents Thank you!!

On Tuesday, April 18, 2017 MHA celebrated another achievement with the Fair-field Commons II Ground-breaking Ceremony in Stam-ford CT. This will complete the last phase of their Fair-

and Charter Oak Communi-ties provide MHA communi-ties with supportive ser-vices needed to ensure suc-cessful outcomes for home-lessness, substance abuse and mental health counsel-ing. Stamford’s Mayor Da-vid Martin was a keynote speaker at the ground-breaking ceremony. He thanked MHA for providing affordable housing and for working with agencies that transition individuals from homelessness to independ-ent living.

field Com-mons revital-ization pro-ject. Fairfield Commons II, will consist of 6 one-bedroom supportive

housing units funded by DOH and City of Stamford. The addition of the six units will complete the campus of 31 units of supportive housing. Laurel House, Supportive Housing Works

Fairfield Commons II Groundbreaking Ceremony

“Life’s

most

urgent

question is:

What are

you doing

for others?

“ - Martin

Luther

King Jr.

Announcing MHA Volunteer Program

M U T U A L H O U S I N G A S S O C I A T I O N

We are pleased to announce the MHA Volun-teer Program. Many of our residents and sup-porters in the community have been asking us about our volunteer services, so it is here at last!! It is easy to become a volunteer, and any-one over the age of 12 can volunteer at any of our locations. The sign up process is simple and it starts with you completing an application and signing an insurance waiver. We have all types of programs that will be available so don’t be afraid to ask or even suggest a program that you think may be needed for our residential community. We are looking for residents and non-residents to volunteer. All we ask is that when

you do volunteer, you proudly wear our MHA Volunteer T-Shirts. Each volunteer will be given a T-Shirt to wear. Please see your Property Manager or our Resident Ser-vices Coordinator, Melody Gonzalez for an application and insurance waiver. You can also email [email protected] for more information or for an ap-plication. WE WANT YOU AS AN MHA VOLUNTEER!!

OSHA Certification MHA recently hosted an OSHA training session provided by Signal 54 [an OSHA

registered trainer] to ensure their property management and

maintenance staff are following the proper safety and health ad-

ministration guidelines. MHA collaborated with another housing

agency, Bridgeport Neighborhood Trust, to further educate

their staff in these vital areas. If there are any housing agencies

that would like to be part of an MHA hosted training session.

please email [email protected].

[Below and left an employees

from, MHA and Bridgeport Neigh-

borhood Trust, are shown the

proper way to use a fire extin-

guisher using the PASS tech-

nique . ]

P A G E 3

See your Property Manager about the opportunity to become

an MHA Board Member.

Mark your calendar for the Quarterly Meeting of the Association,

Norwalk City Hall, Norwalk CT, Room 231, April 26, 2017 at 6:30

P.M.

Mark your calendar for the Annual Meeting of the Association,

Wilton Commons, 21 Station Rd, Wilton CT, June 21, 2017 at 6:30

P.M.

Mark your calendar for the Quarterly Meeting of the Association,

Norwalk City Hall, Norwalk CT, Room 231, October 25, 2017 at

6:30 P.M.

Quick Reminders for Our Residents

Bridgeport Regional Business Council EXPO P A G E 4 N E W S L E T T E R

On March 16, 2017, MHA

attended Bridgeport Re-

gional Business Council

(BRBC) EXPO held at Nor-

walk Community College to

network with others in the

housing community. Renée

Dobos is a board member

for the Bridgeport Cham-

ber of Com-

merce, and

the Bridgeport

Chamber of

Commerce is a

member of

the BRBC.

Photo to the

right with

Renée Dobos, CEO, MHA and Wade

Rockwood, Director of Administration,

MHA proudly stand in

front of their MHA

banner greeting other

vendors and support-

ers in the community.

MHA was very

pleased with the

event and we were

able to network with

many companies who

want to partner with

rience. She has a degree

from Marymount Man-

hattan College in Commu-

nication. She has been cer-

tified in low income hous-

ing tax credit.

Congratulations to Kim-

berly Cadena. Kim was re-

cently promoted to Pro-

Please join us in

welcoming

Marissa Mais to

the MHA Team.

Marissa has ac-

cepted the Prop-

erty Manager

position for our

Stamford portfolio. Marissa comes to

us with property management expe-

MHA New Hires and Promotions ject Manager. In Kim’s new

role she has

been tasked to

further broad-

en the real es-

tate infrastruc-

ture of MHA.

Kim has her

Masters in City

and Regional

Planning from

Rutgers Univer-

sity.