NOAH, the Neighborhood of Affordable Housing, is a community development corporation structured to collaborate with and support residents and communities in their pursuit of affordable housing strategies, environmental justice, community planning, leadership development, and economic development opportunities.

NOAH eagerly partners with those residents, neighborhood entities, municipalities or groups that share similar values and goals in order to improve standards of living, build community, and create social/economic opportunities, especially for low and moderate-income persons, families and disadvantaged groups or areas.

NOAH's goals and programs are built on a commitment to equality, fairness, diversity and respect for all people.

Description:
One of NOAH’s founding principles was that everyone - no matter what his or her ethnic, racial or socio-economic background or country of origin - has the right to have affordable and safe housing. In concert with the National Housing Goal, NOAH continues to embrace the notion that every family deserves “a decent home and a suitable living environment”. All of NOAH’s various program areas work towards achieving this one encompassing objective.

NOAH’s Housing Programming – its Real Estate Development, Home Buyer and Homeowner Counseling, Senior Homeowner Services, Rental Housing Counseling Services, and Property Management Departments - focus on producing, obtaining or maintaining affordable housing opportunities for all. NOAH’s Community Building and Environment Programming - with its environmentally-focused Chelsea Creek Action Group, Community Organizing Project, Schoolyards Initiative, and Schoolyard Summer Program – aim to create suitable and safe neighborhoods for everyone.

NOAH’s target populations and main constituencies are primarily low- to moderate-income families and people of all ages with diverse languages and cultures who earn less than 80% of the median income level. (Most clients earn significantly less than this.) NOAH’s programs serve clientele ranging from the homeless, to those transitioning from homeless shelters, to those needing affordable apartment rental units, to those who are looking to purchase their very first home, to those who are finding it difficult to remain in their own homes but could do so with some form of intervention.

History:
NOAH is an East Boston-based Community Development Corporation (CDC). It was organized as a Chapter 180, 501 (c) 3, non-profit in 1987 with two employees. As it enters its twentieth year, it now has a staff of 31 full- and part-time employees; with a budget of over $1.8 million. In the area of affordable housing, NOAH has rehabilitated and sold 43 properties to first time home buyers of very modest means. Currently, NOAH has two first-time home buyer projects totaling 30 units in construction and 30 rental units in development. Other projects are pending. NOAH owns 17 properties with a total of 103 units, and has a full range of affordable housing services. We own Trinity House, a SRO shelter, in a historic building in East Boston; we also have five units dedicated to families transitioning from homeless shelters. We maintain 103 affordable rental housing units; hold first-time home buyer and finance workshops; have a free housing counseling program for those in need of shelter and/or affordable housing rentals; and make low-cost repairs and handicapped accessibility improvements for senior citizens in need.

NOAH has a strong track record and has been a United Way affiliate since 2000. As a member of the NeighborWorks America network, NOAH ranked 23rd among 160 NWA affiliates nationwide in creating new homeowners. NOAH has also been the City/State leader in the production of one-to-four family housing units. Over the past seven years, over 650 families became first-time homeowners through NOAH’s counseling services.

Others of NOAH’s programs aim to build community by teaching democratic methods and principles, and thus informing, organizing, and empowering the people who live in their communities to make positive social change. We focus upon various initiatives in a flexible manner, one which is determined by the needs of the neighborhoods involved. Currently we work with the local populace (over 50% new immigrants) on projects to improve schoolyards, involve disadvantaged youth in environmental education and leadership development programs, work towards restoration of the Chelsea Creek (actually a river, and the most polluted tributary to Boston Harbor) and its waterfront, hold a free Summer Schoolyards Program for children ages five to twelve, and more; including running three year-round English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) courses.

Over recent years, we have found ourselves operating a variety of programs outside of our traditional East Boston base. All of these retain a focus on the provision of affordable housing and suitable living environments for all, with an emphasis on collaboration, justice, and valuing diversity. In Massachusetts affordable housing remains a key issue; and without it the entire state economy suffers. At NOAH we continue to work within our beloved East Boston while we simultaneously work to achieve opportunities for housing and decent living environments for all those in need within the greater Boston region, covering a territory including communities encompassed within the Interstate 495 Highway.

Contact people:

Philip Giffee, Executive Director, (phone), (email) Linda Miller-Foster, Director Of Fundraising & Communications, (phone), (email) Stacey Chacker, Director, Community Building and Environment , (phone), (email)

Office fax number: (617) 569-2007

Address:

143 Border Street East Boston, MA 02128 (See a map)

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

Directions:

Nearest Metro/Subway Stop: Maverick,   Walk distance (in minutes): 5   Nearest Bus Stop: Maverick, 2 minute walk For maps or information, please see http://www.mbta.com