Interfaith Neighbors getting things done in Asbury Park... February 2, 2008
Staff, volunteers key to nonprofit's successes... February 2, 2008
A dream (home) come true for family of 7... January 25, 2008
A New West Side Story... August 20, 2007
A Neighborhood Investment... August 14, 2007
A
New West Side Story - August 20, 2007
Posted by the Asbury Park Press
A partnership involving the public,
private and nonprofit sectors is dedicated to revitalizing
Asbury Park as a whole city: upgrading neighborhoods on
the city's West Side to complement the development on
the beachfront and in the downtown business district.
Spurred by investments from New Jersey Resources and Jersey
Central Power & Light, the nonprofit InterFaith Neighbors
Inc. can now launch a 10-year revitalization plan.
The state-endorsed overall plan for
neighborhoods west of Memorial Drive involves construction
of affordable-housing units, building youth recreation
facilities and renovating other educational and recreational
buildings. New Jersey Resources, the parent of New Jersey
Natural Gas, contributed $500,000 to InterFaith's program.
The addition of a $200,000 donation from JCP&L will
enable the group to build seven affordable houses, establish
a home for the Police Athletic League's youth boxing program,
buy lighting for the city's Little League baseball fields
and refurbish the indoor pool at the Boys and Girls Club.
The corporations are taking
advantage of the state's Neighborhood Revitalization Tax
Credit Program that encourages the corporate sector to
contribute to designated neighborhoods in exchange for
a 100 percent tax credit for every dollar invested. The
goal is to "help to bring neighborhoods back,"
Charles A. Richman, acting community affairs commissioner,
said when JCP&L's participation was announced last
week.
The focus on neighborhoods was
not lost on Hazel Samuels, the city's director of community
development. "You can build all the fancy condos
on the beachfront you want, but for us to be a truly healthy,
revitalized city, we've got to involve our neighborhoods,"
Samuels said. That includes places to live and places
for the city's children — its future — to
play and grow. The partnership developing in Asbury Park
— and the vision its participants bring —
can make that happen.
| 