Michael Swayze's Community Resources

Category: Nonprofit

  • Union County Housing Fair – Saturday, July 23, 2011

    Although the recession is technically over, the unemployment rate in New Jersey remains high as does the continued fear of home foreclosure. To address the housing crisis issue a number of agencies will be holding a Housing Fair on Saturday, July 23 at Union County College in Elizabeth. Sponsoring organizations include: Union County Foreclosure Task Force, New Jersey Housing & Mortgage Finance Agency (HMFA), Brand New Day, Urban League of Union County, Affordable Housing For Union County, and Faith, Brick & Mortar.

    The housing fair will be held on a Saturday in hopes of attracting homeowners, new home buyers, and tenants. Information will be available on foreclosure intervention, foreclosure prevention programs, tenants rights, credit counseling, weatherization programs, homelessness assistance, utility assistance, first time home buyer programs and more. The organizers hope to attract the general public, lenders, realtors, and other community organizations.

    The Housing Fair will be held at Union County College – Kellogg Building, 40 West Jersey Street – 5th floor, in Elizabeth, New Jersey from 10AM to 2PM. The flyer recently issued indicates that for further information and to RSVP please contact Jacqueline Jenkins of Brand New Day, Inc. at 908-282-0781, extension 146 or email: jackie.j@bndcdc.org. Feel free to copy or distribute the Union County Housing Fair flyer, either in English or in Spanish.

    In preparing this post I surveyed a number of reliable websites on foreclosure information. You may wish to visit these sites:
    HUD/NJ Housing & Mortgage Finance Agency list of certified counseling agencies, NJ Judiciary Foreclosure Mediation Program, Legal Services of New Jersey foreclosure page, and HUD’s avoiding foreclosure in New Jersey page.

    Please share this information with people who are in need of housing and foreclosure information.

  • LIHEAP Season Extended

    The state sent out an email recently to announce the deadline for energy assistance applications will be extended through May 2, 2011. The reason for the change is that the normal deadline, April 30th, falls on a Saturday. According to their news release “LIHEAP applications will be accepted until closing of normal business hours on May 2nd. We will continue accepting applications for USF all year long.”

    For a list of the local LIHEAP and USF application agencies, income guidelines, and resources for other energy and weatherization programs visit the New Jersey Community Resources website.

  • Legal Services To Release Poverty Benchmarks Report – March 22, 2011

    Date: Tuesday March 22, 2011
    Time: 10:00 am to 1:00 pm
    Place: New Jersey State Museum Auditorium, 205 W. State St, Trenton, NJ

    Legal Services of New Jersey invites you to the public release of Poverty Benchmarks 2011: Assessing New Jersey’s Progress in Combating Poverty —the fifth annual report in the Poverty Benchmarks series prepared by LSNJ’s Poverty Research Institute.

    Attendees will hear about recent trends revealed by data related to poverty and income inadequacy in New Jersey, as well as implications for state action to address existing and anticipated challenges. The release will feature presentation of report highlights, followed by panel discussions and Q&A. More details about the event, including directions and parking information, will be sent next week. Feel free to share the attached Poverty Benchmarks 2011 flyer with other interested parties.

    The Poverty Benchmarks Project is an on-going data collection effort that aims to increase understanding of poverty in New Jersey as a foundation for more effective public response to the reality of poverty and its consequences. This report is the fifth in the annual series and updates key poverty trends and attendant policy implications.

    Please RSVP by e-mail: PRI@lsnj.org. For more information contact Zane Kratzer (x8502) or Shivi Prasad (x8218) at (732) 572-9100.

    Source: recent email from LSNJ

    P.S. LSNJ has since released online Poverty Benchmarks 2011: Assessing New Jersey’s Progress in Combating Poverty. Those interested in reading some of the 172 page report can view it online at http://www.lsnj.org/PDFs/budget/Benchmarks2011.pdf .