Spring Break

Good afternoon! I hope everyone is enjoying this beautiful weather. Hard to believe that April is just around the corner! It's spring break for many in the Triangle, including Chris, who is out on a well-deserved vacation.

We've been busy here at the Coalition. On Friday, March 16th we hosted our sixth Assets Policy Forum in Charlotte in partnership with the NC Assets Alliance. We had our largest crowd to date, with over 70 folks attending. A special thanks to Carley and our two wonderful interns, Alex and Jessica, for all their hard work. We hope to schedule one more forum in the Triangle area in the upcoming weeks. Stay tuned!
As the number of foreclosure starts in NC continue to escalate, Regina is moving forward with her foreclosure prevention work. This year, the NC Housing Coalition will be partnering with local branches of United Way and the NC Institute of Minority Economic Development to co-sponsor community education workshops around the state. Although Legal Aid attorneys plan to continue training housing counselors and housing service providers, it is the Coalition’s goal to reach as many consumers and homeowners as possible in the year 2010. Please see the announcements section below for upcoming events on April 12 in Havelock and on May 4 in Raleigh. If you have a community or professional need for foreclosure prevention education, please contact Regina Green at (919) 827-4494 or rgreen(at)nchousing.org.

Anne is hard at work preparing our 2009 Annual Report. You probably received an email from her yesterday. If you have any good housing and people pictures you think exemplify quality affordable housing and would like to have them featured in our report, please send them to Anne Ehlers at aehlers(at)nchousing.org.

The CHIN staff have trainings scheduled on HPRP and ESG reports. For more information, please visit their website: www.nchomeless.org. Finally, Vickie and Charmaine are busy preparing for our upcoming audit.

I was in Wilmington last Wednesday for a fair housing workshop. We had an attentive group, and I'd like to thank our presenters Lesley Albritton from the Greenville NC Legal Aid office and Ida Baker from the Fayetteville NC Legal Aid office, as well as Wanda Coston and the folks at New Hanover County for helping make it a success. We'll be in Durham tomorrow for another workshop, and will be planning more across the state later this spring and summer.

NC Housing News
Please note the article on the closure or Partners for Homeownership. For the past thirteen years, Jane Milner and the Partners for Homeownership foks have been helping people become homeowners that would not have been otherwise served by the market. Due to the poor economic climate, they have had to close their doors. We thank them for their hard work and dedication, and wish them the best on future endeavors.

National Housing News
Register now for NLIHC’s Housing Policy Conference to be held April 11-14th at the L’Enfant Plaza Hotel in Washington, DC. Registration and hotel details are here.

Carley has included a Legislative and Outreach update below.

Read our Blog and “Friend” Us!
Please continue to check out our blog and Facebook page. Our staff will be using these two pages as a way to get current information out to you on a daily basis. Please visit nchousing.blogspot.com and give us your thoughts. Our Facebook page is located here.

Thanks for all that you do and your continued support.

Sincerely,

John Niffenegger
Membership and Training Coordinator