Browsing by Author "Nemon, Melissa L."
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Item African community empowerment project(Southern New Hampshire University, 2012-06-17) Ibrahim, Mohammed; Nemon, Melissa L.African Community Empowerment (ACE) is a community economic development project for the African immigrant community on Staten Island’s north shore. The project is designed to correct lack of computer literacy, English proficiency, employment skills, and employment opportunity within the community. In depth literature review, surveys and community focus groups were performed in order to better understand the community, the issue and ways to correct them. The project therefore, is introducing a comprehensive CED programs that provide access to computer literacy, English as a second language (ESL), computer recycle and repair, and job skills and readiness. A project logic model and well as activity timelines were designed to facilitate project implementation. The project has applied for grant money, although; not yet approved, received in-kind donations of ten computers, support from community volunteers to provide tutorship and mentorship to students. The project is still looking for a suitable host location or organization. This project if successful could provide enormous benefit to the African community as it becomes savvy computer user with skills needed in order to become gainfully employed. It will also help the community toward self-sufficiency, they city and state to save money as immigrants come off public assistance. (Author Abstract)Item Birch Tree Apartment Complex rehabilitation project(Southern New Hampshire University, 2012-06-17) McCrorey, Keri; Nemon, Melissa L.The Birch Tree Project is the rehabilitation of a 56 unit apartment complex that will house low-to moderate-income families and offer supportive services. The services include a Head Start facility, Life Skills classes, Case Management, Asset Building and Credit Repair, the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program, a Community Garden, and a Summer Feeding site. The City of Farmington has experienced a growth in the number of service industry jobs that often pay minimum wage. Nearly 45% of the Farmington population works in the service industry. This has resulted in families paying a disproportionate amount of their income for housing cost leaving them very limited income to pay for their basic needs. This project is designed to create safe affordable housing opportunities for marginalized families. The families will gain the knowledge needed to increase their financial status, have the skills necessary to find better employment, have increased opportunities to safe and affordable childcare, and increase their knowledge of services that will increase their yearly income. (Author Abstract)Item Birch Tree Apartments and wrap-around services(Southern New Hampshire University, 2012-06-17) Daugherty, Kathryn L.; Nemon, Melissa L.The Birch Tree Affordable Housing Project is located in the rural Southeast Missouri community of Farmington. The Project involves the complete rehabilitation of a 56-unit apartment complex and a set of complementary wraparound services. The wrap-around services include a Head Start Center located within the complex itself, a community garden, Financial and Job Search Life Skills programs, Assets for Independence and Family Self-Sufficiency programs, a Summer Food feeding site, and a Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program. Given current community dynamics, housing affordability is a difficult matter for many Farmington residents. Specifically, approximately 37% of the households in Farmington spend 58% of their income on housing and are unable to pay for food, utilities, clothing, or save for an emergency. Should this persist unabated, Farmington risks increased poverty, possible home loss, and increased social and economic burden to the community. The Birch Tree Affordable Housing Project will allow families to increase their budgeting skills to plan for the financial resources that are available. It will also increase affordable and quality child care; increase the amount of safe, sanitary, decent, and affordable housing; increase the number of economically disadvantaged people getting education and training required for better paying jobs; and increase the income for economically disadvantaged families. (Author Abstract)Item Community land trust and individual development account feasibility in Great Falls, Montana(Southern New Hampshire University, 2012-06-17) Craig, Laura R.; Nemon, Melissa L.Twenty-one percent of the population living in Great Falls, Montana, spend approximately 35-50% of their monthly income on housing (rent/mortgage), leaving them struggling to afford minimal necessities (food and utilities) and unable to save for anything else. Rising housing costs associated with the price of land, financing costs (to include down payment), materials, and construction perpetuate and cause an affordability problem for low-income households to purchase permanent housing assets. Great Falls has several organizations that are providing affordable housing options for the community, but these efforts are not enough to keep up with current demand. Alternative affordable housing options must be offered in Great Falls, to include a Community Land Trust (CLT), and an Individual Development Account (IDA) match savings program. The CLT and IDA programs would best address the community’s needs in a collaborative effort with various community entities. A coalition should be formed around the programs to generate support, enthusiasm, and resources to enable sustainable, desired change in the community. Without the CLT and IDA program in the community, an increased number of residents living in an asset poverty situation would occur. An inability to pass assets among generations would happen, thus perpetuating the cycle of poverty and subsidized housing dependence. (Author Abstract)Item Creating small opportunities with big impact in Indiana: Microfinance and small business incubator project in Fort Wayne(Southern New Hampshire University, 2012-06-17) Early-Aden, Sherry E.; Nemon, Melissa L.Several federally sponsored programs created specifically to help small business owners and entrepreneurs exist, but are not accessible to those that have poor or no credit. Small business workshops are offered throughout the community, but have no financial means to help once they have armed their clients with the proper tools to open and run a business. This study was conducted to examine the effects of the implementation of a microlending program on low-income Small Business owners, and entrepreneurs in Fort Wayne, Indiana. CANI launched a microlending program in 2010 to address the shortage of financial capital available to existing and startup low-income small businesses. Through the observation of the design, survey questionnaires, number of loans made, small business development training workshops, and presentation to stakeholders, a number of key findings were identified. As a result, the information provided in this thesis will present those findings and other key information about the project and community. (Author Abstract)Item Frederiksted Cultural Business Incubator(Southern New Hampshire University, 2012-06-17) Holloway, Cusa; Nemon, Melissa L.The economic viability of the historic town of Frederiksted has been on a decline for many years. Reinvigorating the entrepreneurial spirit within the residents of this community is one way to create an avenue to spark economic viability and sustainability. The implementation of the incubator will specialize in preparing entrepreneurs to retail their locally made products, which can lay the foundation of enticing businesses and residents to migrate back to the historic town. The Frederiksted Cultural Business Incubator will serve as a year-long informal business university mentoring the entrepreneurs through the process of launching a new business. The incubator serves to provide seminars, options to raise start-up capital and technical assistance. By presenting the entrepreneurs with readily available services and programs, they will be able to launch sustainable businesses and empower the rest the community to start taking an interest in rebuilding the historic town to showcase the rich history and culture of the Virgin Islands. (Author Abstract)Item Getting efficient as a means to create change: How the Community Impact Framework by Heritage United Way creates efficiencies in local organizations(Southern New Hampshire University, 2010-06-15) Nemon, Melissa L.; Rivera, Jolan; Hotchkiss, Charles; Freiberger, James J.Social service organizations are critical players and partners in community dynamics. However, until recently their effect on the community was mostly assumed. In an effort to determine how social service organizations impact the community, United Ways have begun implementing an outcomes-measurement framework and using it to determine funding. Known as Community Impact, this methodology includes a logic model design that intends for partner agencies to clearly identify outcomes their programs intend to affect in the greater community. While this paradigm shift is affecting system wide community structures, what has not been clear to this point is the effect community impact – and more specifically, the outcomes measurement training – has had on local agencies and their organizational structure and behavior. This study examined the partner agencies of Heritage United Way. A survey was conducted to determine the highest adopters of Community Impact and then an organizational assessment was done on eight of the highest adopters, as well as two local municipal government departments that also adopted Community Impact – to determine if any efficiencies had been gained since adopting the paradigm. Results determined that small agencies tended to adopt Community Impact more readily than other agency typologies. Additionally, organizational assessment results demonstrate that large agencies regardless of affiliation perceived the highest rate of efficiency in sustainability while small agencies perceived efficiency in mission, vision, values; small nationally affiliated agencies perceived efficiency in structure; and small government departments perceived efficiency in partnerships. The organizational survey instrument adapted and implemented for this study could prove to be a useful tool for future analysis of organizations and the efficiencies experienced when adopting new frameworks. (Author Abstract)Item A pathway to community economic development(Southern New Hampshire University, 2012-06-17) Moore, Robert T.; Nemon, Melissa L.1st Bergen Federal Credit Union proposes to develop and construct a new community branch operation in Garfield, NJ with a major goal of building financial stability for low-income households and residents of Garfield, NJ, a city with an increasing poverty rate and a burgeoning immigrant population. Many do not access mainstream financial institutions and are using high-cost financial products such as payday lenders and check cashiers. While the branch will provide city residents access to affordable financial products and services, the long-term goal is to attract the unbanked and underbanked low-income households to the branch, with an ultimate objective to have low-income people save and/or borrow thus helping to build financial stability and assets both personally and community-wide. The credit union will offer a series of financial literacy and budgeting programs in order to educate low-income credit union members on the benefits of money management and participation in the banking system. By the end of three (3) years of operations, the branch is forecasted to have acquired over $2.5 million in assets and a loan portfolio of over $2 million, with profits being reinvested in the credit union for the benefit of its members.Item Project H.E.A.L. (Healing Through Empowerment Awareness and Leadership Development): Preparing court involved youth for self-sustainability(Southern New Hampshire University, 2012-06-17) Byrd-El, Terrence; Nemon, Melissa L.Project H.E.A.L ( Healing through Empowerment Awareness and Leadership Development, is a project that is designed to increase the sustainability and reduce recidivism among Court –involved youth and youth who are at high risk of becoming involved in the criminal justice system. This project primarily target young African-American males between the ages of 13 to 24, within the city of Syracuse, NY. Currently these youth experience the highest unemployment rate in New York State, and experience high levels of poverty. African-American youth in this community are at a much higher risk of becoming incarcerated than white youth due to a lack of resources; such as family support services, educational and career development opportunities, and they lack the opportunity to participate in Alternative to Detention community based programming which is a cost effective method of reforming youth. This project was designed to create a network of resources within the community, targeting both traditional and non-traditional institutions that may offer valuable services to the youth and their families. The primary focus is to improve the unemployment rate among African-American youth, increase their academic achievements; develop youth into selfsufficient and sustainable individuals through employment, vocational and trade training and entrepreneurial training. (Author Abstract)Item The role of education and viable job skills in raising the success rate of community reentry for female prisoners(Southern New Hampshire University, 2012-06-17) Hayes, Anna C.; Nemon, Melissa L.Incarcerated women in New Hampshire face a plethora of issues and challenges prior to, during and after incarceration. The New Hampshire Project for Raising the Success Rate of Community Reentry for Female Prisoners, here to referred to as NHP, proposes to increase a female offender’s chance at successfully reentering into her community after prison. New Hampshire’s female offenders continue to recidivate due to a lack of education, poor employability, substance abuse and untreated mental illness. This project aims to increase access to education, increase positive life skills and expand the employability of female offenders. Eventually I and other project designers decided to focus on a preliminary advocacy phase of the project which aimed to identify service agencies, funding sources and community education opportunities which create a foundation for the active rehabilitation of the project. Once this phase is successfully complete, the rehabilitation component will commence. The ultimate goal is to help these women build healthy, self-sufficient life. (Author Abstract)Item Unemployed single parent project(Southern New Hampshire University, 2012-06-17) McFarlin, Harriet R.; Nemon, Melissa L.This project was developed to assist unemployed single parents in Bullock County, Union Springs, Alabama to improve their Life Skills and obtain employment. It identified the number of children living in poverty who reside in single parent families and societal problems that these parents exhibit and must overcome before they can complete their primary education and participate in such economic opportunities as employment and Life Skills training. Such mothers often face, for example, problems of poverty, low selfesteem and lack of confidence, isolation and depression, social stigma and lack of social support. It has been shown that when families are stable and parents can provide for their children, then the overall wellness of children living in Union Springs, Bullock County would improve (VOICES, 2010). The project’s main objective was to use the framework of our Head Start program and Family Services workers to bring resources to twenty unemployed single parents during their child’s enrollment in Head Start. So, the children could feel safe and parents could practice healthy life skills to develop their confidence, increase awareness of life skills, and interview skills to gain stability and become economically self-reliant. (Author Abstract)