25A - AGMT - FEDERAL GOVERNMENT LIAISON SRVS

Home Browse Search

level of service to clients interested in pursuing CNI Planning and Implementation Grant funding, providing not only technical assistance, strategic help and marshalling political support, but also offering full debriefs on the key components of successful grant applications over the history of the program through educational webinars. Below are examples of our strategic efforts in working with the City and County of San Francisco and the Columbus Chamber of Commerce to secure funding under this program. In 2010, Holland & Knight's community development team began working with the San Francisco Mayor's office to help organize a strategy to approach this grant, which included the development of a public-private partnership representative of the community's interests as well as a comprehensive effort to identify the most promising candidate out of a series of potential projects that could meet CNI's goals of revitalizing severely distressed public housing and generating investments in well-functioning services, effective schools, public assets, public transportation, and improving access to jobs. Through this effort, the City chose to advance a transformation plan for Alice Griffith Public Housing Development and the surrounding Bayview neighborhood. Under the grant proposal, the City will replace all 256 units in the Alice Griffith Development along with 248 new low income housing tax credit units. The City will also develop an additional 382 market-rate, 43 inclusionary and 281 workforce units will also be developed for a total of 1,210 units. The long-term goals for the Eastern Bayview neighborhood include an additional 6,640 units, of which 2,273 will be affordable or below-market rate, including 521 inclusionary units, 671 low income housing tax credit units, and 509 workforce units. Holland & Knight worked with the City to secure congressional support for the final grant proposal, and in August of 2011 HUD awarded the City $30.5 million in CNI funding to support the Alice Griffith transformation plan. San Francisco was one of only six awardees under the FY 2011 round of funding for this program and HUD's highest rated application in this grant category for that fiscal year. We employed a very similar strategy in assisting the Columbus Chamber of Commerce succeed in securing the maximum CNI Planning Grant award level for the City of Columbus' effort to organize the Poindexter Village Neighborhood Transformation Plan. Connecting Partnership officials and staff with appropriate HUD personnel at the local level, facilitating meetings with HUD in Washington, D.C., and conducting thorough strategy sessions with Partnership staff prepared Columbus' redevelopment partners to assemble a comprehensive plan that met HUD's criteria for the grant. The Chamber of Commerce's final Transformation Plan was supported through collaborative efforts of the Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA), the nearby The Ohio State University, nonprofit housing developer National Church Residences (NCR), and the City of Columbus. Ultimately, the Chamber of Commerce will undertake a four-phase process that will address education, health and wellness, jobs and economic development, housing, and safety utilizing their Transformation Plan developed with HUD's $300,000 CNI Planning Grant. U.S. Department of Labor Holland & Knight maintains a strong working relationship with the Secretary of Labor and senior officials within the Employment and Training Administration, and is very active on national labor policy as it impacts local governments. Workforce Investment Act (WIA): We are continuing our efforts with national local government organizations, community colleges and workforce training institutions to urge Congress to Holland & Knight Confidential Presentation for the City of Santa Ana 1 13 25A-26