Housing, Community Development & Public Health Committee - Regular Meeting

I know they don't have a presentation. Especially with the bad weather out

there. Yeah. Welcome, welcome. Just a little housekeeping. We're gonna start as soon as I'm done.

There's a sign up sheet on the table when you came in. Feel free to sign in if you'd like to take time for public comment. What we'll do is we'll have my invest Toledo present and then we'll take public comment on reinvest Toledo and then afterwards, we'll take public comment on any other idea that you'd like to bring or thought to counsel. And with that, it's four thirty, so we'll get started. With the housing and community development committee meeting of Thursday, June 26 starting at 04:30.

And the purpose of this meeting is to discuss Reinvest Toledo, changing the narrative in our community. With that, clerk, can you please call the roll?

Gaddis? Here. Jones, Driscoll, Hartman, McPherson, Melden, Williams. Here. Two present.

Thank you. And I'm going to turn it over to you if you guys would just take some time to introduce everyone and then the floor is all yours. Thank you.

Is this working? Can you hear me? Great because I've been told talking to the mic Amelia, this is me talking into the mic. Okay, great. Thank you so much. First of all thank you for allowing us to come and share today. When Evan asked me about our presentation, I'm like, we're going old school. All you're going to hear today is the voice of community talking about reinvestoledo and how it is impacting our community and individuals who are here to give witness to our work are the ones who are actually helping us to change the narrative about how we are viewed as community. We are not we should not be looked at as a deficit. We are an asset, and we want to clearly demonstrate that today.

Reinvest Toledo simply we exist to help affect positive change in low to moderate incomes to communities, And we do that. We use three tools. Those tools are advocacy, training, and connectivity. And today, we will define each one of those according to our perspective as grassroots workers. And then we will ask various individuals in our community to come and give witness to the work, as I said. First though, I would like to introduce my board and really appreciate and extend my appreciation for them being here. I wanted everyone to see who my bosses are. They boss me. So to my immediate right, we have Kara Jennings. She's our treasurer.

To my left, we have Dawn Friesen. She is our chair. Next to her, we have Shante Brownlee, board member. Mr. Montres Terri, our Vice Chair and Julia Hernandez, our Secretary.

So, you, Board members, for being here with us. So, we're going to begin by talking about our tool of advocacy. And we define it as: in grassroots communities, advocacy simply means identifying the root causes of local challenges and pushing them for change from within. It's about equipping residents to become the voice of their neighborhood, not just in protest, but in policy rooms, council chambers, and decision making spaces. So the first individual I'd like to call to bear witness to our work is miss Tina Hall. Tina, if you would join us at the podium, please.

Good afternoon. I'm Tina Hall, and I am a proud member of Lincoln School Coalition and Inglewood community. I'm also part of the Raised Voices advocacy cohort, a dynamic group of neighborhood neighbors, neighborhood leaders who have been trained to advocate for systemic change. Through this project, our cohort is advancing three powerful initiatives. The twenty twenty six Power Tour focused on empowering youth through civic engagement.

Here We Go Again, a housing justice effort rooted in North Toledo and the Dolan Jarvis Land Reusage Project in Inglewood. All of these efforts are aligned with and support the Forward Toledo Plan, ensuring our work is part of the city's broader vision for equitable development, sustainable growth, and vibrant communities. Raised Voices has equipped me and leaders like Dan Hughes, Melinda Aldridge, Brittany Moore, and many others with the tools, strategies, and resources to move the needle on real, impactful change. We're not just discussing

change, we're leading it, crafting solutions that are shaping

impactful the future of our neighborhoods and our city. Thank you.

Thank you, Tina. I'd like to call Doctor. Latoya Williams to the podium to give witness to our work.

Good afternoon. I would just like to give the perspective of art and how art and activism bridges the gap. It bridges the gap between our communities and politicians, our communities and what we call social norms. When you talk about using art as activism, it raises an awareness because sometimes people will respond to what they see in the visual or in an auto you you can speak through music and art in ways that they just won't hear you give a lecture. And it has a

way of

challenging authority and power structures. And so when it comes to certain art forms, we can come together. It takes the marginalized and it makes everybody become more universal. Art speaks to the core of peace. It speaks to the core of equality. It speaks to the core of fairness. And so I stand as a creative using different various forms of art to empower our community and raise the voice of our community through art.

Thank you, doctor Williams. I'd like to call mister LJ Martin to the podium to give witness to our work.

Good afternoon.

I feel that me being able to be a part of the Reinvest Toledo Power Tour showed me how important it is for me to be heard. Even though I cannot vote yet, the Power Tour showed me the importance of not just my vote, but my generation's vote too, because I am a part of the next generation. Also, I feel that I was heard during the power tour when I sung A Change Is Gonna Come. I chose that song because I feel that the song was about hope. Even though that they were struggling, I feel like the song was made about hope and that they still had hope that they were gonna make it through. Thank you.

Thank you, LJ. We're going to talk about the tool of connectivity next. Connectivity is the bridge that turns isolated leadership into collective power in underserved neighborhoods. It simply means making sure local leaders are the same are at the same tables as funders, city officials, service providers, and systems decision makers. It means no more closed doors. It means being at the center of decisions that shape their lives every day. I'm going to ask Ms. Michelle to come to the mic to give I'm sorry, the podium, not the mic the podium to give witness to our work.

MS. Thank you for allowing me to be here. My name is Michelle Klinger, and my current job is to be a consultant to area nonprofits. But I've known Amelia for many years, and it's important to me that Reinvest Toledo exists and that it flourishes in our city. As a former director of the Center for Nonprofit Resources at the Toledo Community Foundation, every day some organization, usually minority led, would come in to me and say, how do I get to the table?

I can't seem to get any funding. I can't seem to connect with the people that are handing out the money and helping make things happen. And I think that Reinvest Toledo is the answer to that. They're empowering people. Obviously you're hearing how people are getting connected, how they're allowing people's voices to be heard, and hopefully they can be an important conduit for dollars that get out into the community and do great work in the grassroots community.

Thank you, Michelle. Next we're going to have Athena Bowen

coming

to give witness to our work. Athena?

Thanks, everyone, for being here tonight. My name is Athena Bowen. I work for Advocates for Basic Legal Equality here in Toledo. Reinvest Toledo has been one of the most effective community members that ABLE has had the privilege of working with. Through our collaborations, Reinvest has enabled us to engage more authentically with neighborhoods, but not just dropping into communities, rather building real, lasting relationships.

Just this past week, Reinvest and Able partnered on a community led neighborhood development model designed to leverage grassroots advocacy and legal tools to help preserve generational wealth. A key component of this work includes promoting estate and long term care planning in low- moderate income neighborhoods, ensuring families have the tools and support that they need to protect their homes and assets for future generations to come. Thank you.

Thank you, Athena. Our last tool we're going to discuss today is training. From a grassroots perspective, training means more than just learning. It's an act of sacrifice. Neighborhood leaders are rarely paid. They are residents who pour hours into the hard work of growth, not for a paycheck, but because they believe in the future of their communities. That's why we invest Toledo is intentional about training. We prioritize relevancy. We bring in subject matter experts with lived experiences, and we ensure that each training aligns with the needs and the realities of grassroots leaders. I would like for miss Evelyn McKinney to join us at the podium for to give witness to our work.

I use really big font and now with the glasses, it's right in front of me. I am going to read from this paper because I talk a lot and I will hold an entire session of court and nothing will be accomplished. So having said that, good afternoon, members of Toledo City Council, and thank you, Ms. Amelia, for the opportunity to speak today. My name is Evelyn McKinney.

I am the proud business owner of Be Alive three sixty five Consulting. I don't even need these. And I've had the privilege of serving as a facilitator for both the first and second cohorts of the Toledo Neighborhood Capacity Building Institute. This initiative really brings together grassroots leaders, non profit organizations, and neighborhood associations, all united by the commitment to strengthening their communities. Through this work, I literally have seen firsthand, and we've dug deep, but how access to relevant training with intentional supports and peer collaboration can really turn good ideas into sustainable action.

Participants, they're not just gaining tools, they're building strategies. And they're acting on them. From the Lincoln School Coalition in Inglewood, you heard from Ms. Tina. To 1 Street at a Time in the North End, you'll be hearing from Ms. Charlotte Day. Mrs. Charlotte Lawson. I'm sorry, Ms. Charlotte.

To Cushing Utopia in the Old West End. I've witnessed emerging voices evolve into equipped strategic change agents. Really, that's just the essence of Reinvest Toledo, which is to build lasting capacity from the ground up. The power of the work, it really lies in its practicality. These leaders, they're applying the new skills to real world challenges in their community, in their neighborhoods, in our entire city of Toledo and beyond.

We're not going put borders on that. But they navigate systems. They forge partnerships and ensure their efforts reflect the needs and the values of the people whom they serve. Reinvest Toledo is cultivating an ecosystem of action, and I'm honored to play a very small part in that transformation. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Ms. Evelyn. As we close out today's presentation, we want to offer a snapshot of what's next for Reinvest Toledo and the communities we serve. Our work continues to evolve with new leaders, new models, and new investments in sustainable change. The next three speakers will talk to you about some of the wonderful things we have coming on and happening within the next year. So I'm going to ask Sarday Moss to come to the podium to give witness to our work.

Everybody. Thank you for giving us this opportunity. I'm Sharde Moss. I am the project coordinator for Reinvest Toledo's Power Tour, and I'm excited to continue as project coordinator for the twenty twenty six Power Tour where we will continue to merge the arts with civic engagement. So this time around, we're gonna be engaging youth ages 17 to 24, and our focus will be the evolution of leadership.

We'll be providing spaces for them to use their creativity and artistic workshops that will demonstrate for them how their artistic passion can be their gateway to change in the community. And with the local elections happening, we will also include town halls and roundtables organized by our young leaders as a way for them to grow their self advocacy skills. Thank you.

Thank you, Sharday. And she's very modest, but I do want to note that Sharday has been appointed as a National Tenet Fellow with the National Low Income Housing Coalition. That is very important, and we're excited to have her voice represent Toledo on a national level. So congratulations once again, mister Rose. We're gonna ask missus Charlotte Lawson to come to the podium to give witness to our work.

Thank you for inviting me. Thank you council members for attending. I'm Charlotte Lawson, the founder of One Street at a Time Incorporated. Our project, Here We Go Again, focuses on the creation model of three pillars. The first pillar is asset management.

With help from Able, our focus is solving issues in tangled titles, nuisance violations, and estate planning. Our second pillar is advocacy, collaborating with reinvest using raise voices blueprint, we're building a citywide tenant association. Our third pillar, homeownership circle, we're linking residents to resources that maintain homeownership and perseverance and preserving stability. With this evolving framework, our changes are not operating in a silo. Our connection with ABLE as a community partner has allowed us to engage with residents and legal partners all over the county to discover best practices.

We are part of a system that encompasses cities like St. Louis, Kansas City, Missouri, and Dayton, Ohio. These relationships will help us avoid missteps and best utilize the time of all involved stakeholders. And lastly, I just want to say that it has been such a pleasure. Reinvest Toledo has given me the strength to be a leader in a neighborhood that I love.

Twenty one years ago, I bought my house, and I didn't buy the house because I had the money or the credit. It was because of opportunity. Through the years, I have seen my neighborhood not be the best that it is, from where I bought it to where it is now. So for me to be in this position is a privilege and a blessing. And I just want to say thank you.

Ms. Charlotte's organization rests in North Toledo in the Outstickney area, just in case you want to know where she's excited about living, Alsticney. And last but not least, we're going to hear from our Chair, Dawn Friesen.

Hello. I'm Dawn Friesen, Chair of the Reinvest Toledo Board. We're investing in our sustainability through fiscal sponsorship of grassroot leaders who need a nonprofit home to launch great ideas, a fee for service model that generates unrestricted revenue, a one on one matching grant campaign made possible by the Lucas County Land Bank, we're building the infrastructure necessary to remain a strong third party partner to institutions like the City of Toledo's Housing and Community Development Department. RT has been invited to submit an RFP to the Ohio CDC Association's annual meeting. We will be sharing our model and it can be duplicated in cities across the country.

This type of opportunity increases our capacity and efforts to become more sustainable.

Any more words, Madam Chair?

Thank you so much for this opportunity. Thank you to everyone who came out to support, to speak in whatever capacity. It does take a village and we have one.

So as we bring today's presentation to a close, I want to take a moment to center what you've heard about Reinvest Toledo's mission. At RT, we exist to affect positive change in underserved communities by developing neighborhood leadership and we do that through advocacy, training, and connectivity. These are the tools we use to shift the narrative from being underserved to being empowered. I too would like to thank each of our speakers today who came to give witness to our work. We want to thank our community members and residents who showed up to support us.

And again, thank you to our Board who provides leadership for this challenging but necessary work. And at this time Madam Chair, Madam Councilwoman we will move toward whatever protocol you established for us. Thank you again for the opportunity.

Thank you. Before we go to my counsel there was some new people so just little housekeeping. There is a sign up sheet on the side. If you would like to sign in for public commentary, please sign in. We're gonna shortly be taking that. I really appreciate this and I appreciate you all coming out. The biggest lesson I've took from life is the two for with. You can do something to a neighborhood and that's nice and that's really kind of what a lot of government does but there's no lasting change. You can do something fuller and that may make an impact. It doesn't create lasting change but it's really when you have the power of width, right?

The power of building that up and working together, and that's what I see here. I see the power of width, and that is incredibly powerful and life changing. So with that, I'm not much of a talker. I will Councilwoman Williams?

Thank you, chair, and I do talk a lot. Woah, woah, woah, 2019. Now we're here. Now we're here. It was I was working at LISC and we started meeting about Reinvest Toledo and what it what impact it would have and now they're doing the institute for what is it called?

The capacity building.

The capacity building institute and I thought that that was amazing that reinvest took that over because we hired a consultant from out of town. That was, I mean, it was what we did. It wasn't the smartest thing we could have did because we have the talent here locally. You got Evelyn over there, she knows non profit so I know that was a good move. I just want to say thank you for the work that you're doing in North Toledo and in Inglewood because those are my districts.

I know you're you were working with the Garfield, but I I just wanted to mention to the Lincoln Coalition that's here and people in the Inglewood, I do have the DIP application in front of me and legislation in front of me, so that'll be coming soon for that sign. So I wanted to let you all know it just took a minute, but it's in front of me now. I'm looking at it in my face, and I just I have a meeting on July 2 to get it on our agenda. Hopefully, it'll be on there July 8 and we can vote on it July 15 so we can move forward on that and hopefully we can get it placed before the summer's up. Thank you.

Oh, clap for me, clap for miss Tina and miss Michelle. So the sign currently is oh my god. It's such a mess. I hate that sign that it's sitting there like that. So I'm glad you guys took that initiative to do it and no, it's not $200,000 like people say it. So we're have a new Eaglewood sign. I appreciate the work for Inglewood. That is a neighborhood that I live in and it's near and dear to my heart because that's where I grew up in as well. So keep doing what you're doing. You know, I'm I'm here to support whatever you guys need.

I try to support as much as possible and I know you guys support me, so I definitely appreciate it and keep doing it. I can't I mean, Inglewood is beautiful. It's a beautiful neighborhood, a lot of home ownership over there that people don't realize, but it also is a disinvested neighborhood. So hopefully the work that you guys are doing does not go it does not go unsaid that it is actually being impactful. Now is it gonna happen tomorrow?

Y'all know it ain't because this started in 2019. It's 2025, and they y'all just now coming in front of us. You know what I mean? Like, it it just talks not that you weren't doing the work, but it's the fact that all the work that had to be done over the years and hit with COVID and it still holds strong and even stronger today. So I appreciate everything and everything and everybody has put into this because it wasn't just one person, miss Amelia. She'd been working her butt off and big trees over here, the president of reinvestment. Thank you. Thankful that vice chair. Oh, you done moved down? That a lot of mess.

Go to work. Just laying. No. But he was the president when we started this journey, and I'm glad to have you here. And I'm glad to be sitting in this seat to be able to assist you from seeing it from the beginning. I'm glad I'm here in this seat. God does the work, Dany.

He does.

Alright. That's it, Chair. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you. And I want to acknowledge councilwoman McPherson, and the floor is yours.

Thank you, council member Gladys. Thank you, everyone that is in the room right now. It I apologize first for being late, but it is amazing to see what people can do when they come together with the same vision, the same mindset and put in the work. So this is for those that may be listening or watching and those of you that are in the audience that's just picking up on what's happening, this is when I say Toledo is a place of endless possibilities, this is it. When we say we want to reinvest in Toledo and not just talk about it but be about it, as they say, boots on the ground and doing the work and then coming forth and speaking about it, you all encourage and are encouraging other neighborhoods to do the same.

And so that for me is impactful. My nephew, Therese, he knows I'm proud of him and everything because he's been doing this since he came back from college, you know, with city parking, paying the kids to pick up trash, all of that. But that's, you know, the roots. That's groundwork. And when we show that we respect and care for our neighborhoods, then there's the evidence and seeing it.

So I just want to say, don't get weary and well doing as Councilwoman Williams said, it's taken a while to get to this point, but we see it. And so continue to do the work and pulling in young folk like the young person right there you have with you, continue to pull in young people because, two, I'm here only by the grace of God, and I'm not going to be here always. My part is to equip, empower, and encourage others so that you could understand that you can do this. But we have to start in our neighborhoods, teaching our children and speaking to our children in positive voices saying that they can. And it starts with picking up some trash, taking pride in your little bit that you have, whether you own it or rent it, but taking that pride in it and others seeing you taking the pride in it.

That's one of the competitions that we have going on with the pride in the neighborhoods. You see how that took? And people on Prospect and 600 block of Avondale and Balmound and Stickney. One person in the neighborhood started planting flowers and doing that kind of thing and everybody else now it's a competition. Whose yard gonna look the best and whose trees and flowers?

That's pride. And so as you continue to do the work, even though you may not hear it, trust me, people are seeing it. So continue in whatever we can do to assist. Keep doing it in in in those bless me. You bless me about your story with your house because I'm in my mama's house right now.

And even though I struggle with being in my mama's house on Avondale, I'm doing the same thing and taking that pride and showing my neighbors and saying, yes, you can too, and let's do that. So continue. And for those in the community, continue to lift up one another in your in your community and in your neighborhood. And we are the best place in the world to be. Toledo is. Trust me. We got it going on here. And we're growing, and we're becoming better and better every day because of you. Because of you. Because of you.

You make us look good. So keep doing what you're doing. And pastor, keep praying for us. God bless you all and thank you. Pastor Plate, no more than kidding.

Thank you. Okay. With that, we're going to turn it over to public comments. So I'm going to have Clerk Gibbons call names, but we're going to talk about Reinvest Toledo. So if you have another topic you'd like to talk about, we'll hold your name and then we'll have that at the end, okay? So with that, Clerk Evans?

And I'm going to do the best job

I can. Tim Fickle? Fields. Fields, sorry.

I'm Tim Fields, BAC community, and it's, I graduated from the cohort of last year of well, this year. And, I'm executive director, and it's been a great program that we've been within. It's helped us tremendously with our business that we're doing here in the city of Toledo, thanks to reinvest Toledo. And we're getting ready to open up our STEM center next month in July, thanks to going through this program. So we definitely wanna see it exceed as much as possible because we're proof of that. It's working. That's all I have to comment.

Thank you.

Thank you. Before, clerk, you read the next name, I just wanna take a moment to wish Julia Hernandez a very happy birthday. I was lucky. Was lucky she went through weight when I was there and I'm so proud of her, very proud of her. Kimberly

Ware?

Okay.

You said no, Kim? You know what's going

on? Are we coming back

to you then? Oh, okay. Brandon Thompson?

We can grab you a mic.

Oh, I'm just bringing my mom because I'm about to head out. Okay. Actually, one of the chairs of the LHC, Lincoln Community School Coalition. The Lincoln Community School Coalition, I just want to say thank you to Reinvest. I'm one of our new homeowner, so I participated in a LEAD program through the city, so they actually helped me out with a lot of things, new roof, a lot of things I needed to get done on my house update.

So they really helped me out. I think I'm far to help, even in a capacity building with the nonprofit. I I thank him. I thank him and our councilwoman, especially. We got some victories coming in. So but I'm part of the board. I'm still on with the chain. I don't think I'm going nowhere for

a You're not going nowhere. No.

Thank you. Amen.

Oh,

want me

to on next? Okay. I would like to thank Ms. Amelia Gibbons because I went to the first CBI class. And we had the out of state people that came out of the Barkwell group, but they did help me out.

But I know that Ms. O'Malley has seen me, and I looked like a scared child. Didn't know what to do as far as how to go on to continue with the Good School Coalition, how to make that foundation solid for our future generation. And so far, I think we have done well. We have not we work on housing, our three pillars of housing, education, which is gonna be about Delaware Harbors, and urban agriculture, which would be farming.

And I'd like to thank the neighborhood association, I mean, my neighborhood works, mister Boyle because I'm I'm on a board of directors. Well, I'd like to thank you mister Amelia for coming and wrapping your arms around. A scared kid. And thank you for help building up our board. And miss Denise Williams also.

Thank you.

Michelle Williams? That

was me. Oh, okay.

Montrice Terry? Will Farnsell?

I will make comments later.

Okay. Melinda Aldridge. I too signed it in here. I apologize.

Evelyn McKinney.

Michelle Klinger?

So I got to speak about connectivity, but I just wanted to say a special thank you to Amelia Gibbon for her faith in me and bringing me in as an instructor for the Capacity Building Institute. Not only was I allowed to be a teacher, but I was allowed to be a learner because I learned from all these amazing people all of the stuff that they're doing in the community. And it humbled me and made me want to work harder in my neighborhood. So thank you for that opportunity.

Crystal Taylor.

Good afternoon, everyone. Hi, Reinvest Salido. Just wanna say thank you so much to city council and to Amelia for trudging along and working together. We've been working on the reinvest project, Crystal Taylor, with Crystal Clear Communications. I do a lot of things with reinvest Toledo, working with their board, working on the capacity building institute, helping with a lot of different components, meeting all of these wonderful people here. So the work together, it helped me feel better about working with government because I mean, I was like, oh, no, Crystal. It's going to happen. Things are coming along. It is a long process. And I was like, who's he?

But here we are today. And so that is a testament to not only Amelia's vision, reinvest Toledo's tenacity, and the city of Toledo and the city council to hear, to support, and to also invest in all of these people and all of this community. This work is long. It can be difficult. It is overwhelming at times, but it is necessary and good to create relationships in a space where individuals are often unheard and unseen.

Today, we've heard from many people who have had an opportunity to lift their voice for their community, and that is because of the collaboration that we see here. And so just a huge thank you. I know you all spoke about Dolan Jarvis and that visioning project, and I have the awesome opportunity to assist with that along with Tina and some of the other Raised Voices members. And we are working on an outstanding seminar series to educate the residents of Inglewood and any others who would like to come along to think about what can happen as we see investment in a space where we haven't seen it before. But for them to have an opportunity to, again, learn the power pieces and then envision what their own community could potentially look like.

And because of this activity today and all the activities that have been taking place through reinvest, they have hope for what they can say about their space and actually possibly see it happen. And so, again, that's a great opportunity, and I thank you on behalf of the communities in the city of Toledo who have not been invested in for a long time for your ability to work with, reinvest Toledo, and then actually invest in those spaces. So thank you so much everybody. Have a great day. Thank you.

Avian Till.

That's You baby Isaac. Named after my son Isaac. Hi. I know you all love me. You all remember me. I love you all too. Happy thankful for you Thursday. I'm Aviance Hill. I am one of the most recent graduates of Toledo Building Capacity cohort and one one of my favorite people in this room, Ms. Emilia.

When I say this woman seeing me and seeing me and seeing me and pours into me, it's just wonderful. Just like every one of you, and I'm going to talk fast because I'm tired. But each and every one of you, especially Amelia, you keep me busy, but you keep me busy for a good reason. And I'm going say it again, after my son Isaac was unalived, I didn't know what to do with myself, I didn't know what to do, but you guys, each and every one of you in this room for some odd reason, you saw me and you poured into me and you love me. And to my coaches, I love you.

To the people that I graduated with, I love you. Reinvest Toledo, they not only reinvest in Toledo, but they reinvest in the people of Toledo. When someone asked me, what is reinvest Toledo? They reinvest into the person. A man had saw things in me that I didn't even see in me. She told me about things that I didn't even realize that I had. She told me about how build capacity in this city that I didn't even think I did. She told me that I touched people in their lives that I didn't think I did. She told me I had a voice that I didn't think I had. She told me that I was special and I didn't think I was.

After that, she made me realize that I do have purpose. When I thought I was supposed to just close my door and just live my life and just keep just not saying nothing, she told me, Don't do that. Shine your light and keep going, sister. Keep going, baby. And I do. And with that, we expand, we try to expand Sisters for Unity. I I helped start another organization. I helped build capacity with these wonderful people. My coaches, they backed me. And my children, through what they helped me see and what they saw me do with the Capacity Institute, they said, Hey, mom, we want to start an organization.

So I'm like, What? So what I learned, they wanted to learn and they wanted to do things or whatever. I live in the Bowman District, I rent now, I live on Calumet, so I show get my new generation, baby Isaac, what it's like to live in a new area. So I don't live in your area anymore, Teresa. I'm sorry, but I now live in the Building District. But it's a beautiful home. It's a beautiful space. But without Isaac, I wouldn't have met the people that got me to the house I'm in right now. And I love my house. And yes, it is a competition. Whose yard is the best? Somebody in the city keeps mowing my lawn, so thank you.

I don't know who keeps coming, but somebody from

the city said they keep I don't know who's doing it, but somebody from the city keeps mowing my lawn, so thank you. I love you all. Wrong, but they just keep I show up at home and my lawn is mowed. I don't know doing it, but thank you. But I want to say keep doing what you are doing. Keep investing in them because they invest in us. But for the most part, I want to say happy thankful for you Thursday, to each and every one of you, but happy thankful for you Thursday because we are thankful for everything that y'all do here, but I'm thankful for everything that y'all have done to every last one of us. Y'all provide impact, but you provide impact to us because we are movers and shakers because y'all made us movers and shakers. So thank you. And

we're back to Mr. Farnesyl.

That's everyone.

All right. All right, my name is William Farnzell. I am with Neighborhood Housing Services of Toledo, doing business as NeighborWorks community, NeighborWorks Toledo region. And before I want to give up a little bit of my time, I want to congratulate everybody with Reinvest Toledo because I've been at this a long time in this city. It lifts my spirit to see such investment on the on just just everybody being involved in this.

And it's a good thing for the city because that's how we build our neighborhoods. I have two topics I want to talk about tonight. I heard a lot about generational wealth, building generational wealth, and to me, one component of that is homeownership. So I want to talk to you about a matter that I need the committee to help me with. There are four housing portfolios that my organization is involved in where the city holds debt, principal and accruing interest.

And the debt I'm asking you to generate legislation from the city council side to release the debt entirely. Now I'm not prepared with all the numbers. I'd like to get give you some more detail. But basically there are four portfolios. Two of them are in North Toledo, two of them are in South And East Toledo, a total of 101 homes.

And they have passed their fifteenth year of affordability of reduced rent through the Low Income Housing Tax Credit program, and now they're eligible to be sold to the tenants. And the tenants want to buy. The problem is that not every tenant can buy. I was told by a member of the administration that there are a dozen banks that will finance these tenants to become homeowners. Yes, there very well may be 12 banks that will finance them, but very few make it through.

As a matter of fact, I've got one tenant right now that has been in the process for about six months with a local bank, and for some reason there's just another threshold, or there's another goal, or there's a reappraisal, or there's something else that's got to happen. If the city would release the debt, then neighborhood housing services of Toledo could finance that homeowner, or neighborhood housing services could encourage the portfolio to take back a note and mortgage. But until the city releases the debt, nothing can happen. Now what happens is when we do sell a house, at closing, that portfolio writes the city a check of about $38,000. Yes.

That's a lot of money. As a matter of fact, when we started, the homes were only worth about $40,000 but because of the competition and because of the lack of affordable housing, lack of any housing product in Toledo at all, those values have risen. So yes, it does generate some money. The question is, who best can use the money? So I understand that the city is looking at a huge deficit and needs every dime, But if that money is left in the portfolio, then we can maintain those properties that do not get sold.

See, we have 101 homes, but not everyone will sell. Some will be rental for a long time. We need that money as a resource to continue to reinvest in those properties that are rental. So I ask, Madam Chair, members of the City Council, to generate, develop legislation to release the debt on the four portfolios. Those portfolios are South Toledo Homes, South Toledo Homes two, United North School Homes one, United North School Homes two.

Together, 101 homes that we could generate homeownership quickly. Topic number one. Topic number two, late last week I received a letter from the Department of Housing and Community Development that my organization would not receive any community development block grant funding for the fifty first block grant year. That starts July 1. $0. Now, I'm taken aback by that because we have been a good partner with the city since 1982. As a matter of fact, I signed the first contract I know you all are very young in here. You're all very young. But I signed the very first contract with Wayman Palmer. He was on my board in 1982.

So I got a little bit of history. Uninterrupted from 1982 to now, we have had community development block grant funding from the city of Toledo, been a great partner. As a matter of fact, we just participated in the home buyer fair at Scott High School last weekend. So I asked members of city council, I asked this committee to right that wrong, and put funding with neighborhood housing services of Toledo for the financial wellness center. Now, generational wealth.

What does the Financial Wellness Center do? We teach people how to be the consumer of the housing product. We do home buyer education, we do credit repair. We also get involved in helping people with job search so they can enhance their economic stability. And I'll tell you, part of that was we prepared and filed federal and state tax returns.

We prepared and filed over seven twenty federal and state income tax returns for citizens of Toledo, bringing back close to $1,000,000 just this year, but we've been doing it for a number of years. We will still be in business if we don't get any community involvement block grant funding, but I think it would be a sin not to retain us as a partner, because we are a willing partner, and we are in every neighborhood. Thank you for the opportunity to express these concerns. Thank you. And I'll take questions if anybody has any.

Absolutely, thank you. I think it's timely. It is mid year budget adjustment time and also July 10 we will be hearing about the CBDG funding. So I plan on sending an invitation to everyone because I feel like this is an important process we should all be present for. With that, I'll turn it over to councilwoman Williams.

Thank you. Thank you, miss Alfonso. I know we've talked about this at length. I've actually, brought it to my colleagues, the forgiveness. I do believe we need to forgive it. I'm just working through it with my colleagues but United North, I forgive that by myself. Like I don't have a problem with that. We're just working through some things, just trying to see some things, so you know I'm all for it because I know several people that have bought the actually I worked at Lisk when year 16 was coming up and the predators came in to build those houses, got the sixteen years of tax credit off those houses, then NeighborWorks and LMH, their subsidiary LHSC had to take those houses and rehab them. So I do believe that we do need to forgive that. We did it before.

I don't know why we can't do it again. I'm saying it on the record. I'm okay with forgiving him, but I can only forgive what's in my district, I can't, can't, I'm working on it, with my other colleagues and we have been talking about it as well. Yep, she brought it to me first, so we're working on it, and Councilman Hobbs as well, So we are working on it, hopefully we can work on it but you can send me what you have for United North homes and I actually lived in United North homes one and two. When it was time for me to purchase my home, you know, my grandmother actually left my home and when it was time for me to start purchasing my home, that same predator that built that house told me that my deposit was bearing interest, so when 16 came up, I could have bought my house with that deposit money, right?

Honey, that wasn't no deposit money. They took my deposit and just ran off instead of what they told me. They told me that that $400 that I put in for a deposit was in an interest bearing account, kept telling me that, then they left and United North had to take them the homes over, so it was just a mess and NeighborWorks and LMH had to come in and save those homes from being blighted out, demolished and rehab. They had to rehab a lot of them. So I'm with you, I'm ready.

Look, we're to work through this, I'm ready, like I said. I know that that is something that we've done previously with LMH and also with you guys. I understand the city is hurting for money, but we are all also hurting for home ownership as well. We had a home ownership fair and we have it every year. So we have to put our money where our mouth is.

I understand we are in a situation that we need budget, but on the record, district councilwoman, Viennese Sheila Williams is okay with forgiving the loan for the year 16 homes. I I am so for that. I wanna make sure that that's on record. As far as the CDBG funding, we have talked about it and councilwoman, member Gaddis is having that meeting, I'm excited for that. Thank you so much. Just one question. I wanna know a little bit about the FOC since we brought it up here. How much of the FOC is funded by LISC and how much is funded by CDBG dollars?

Well, actually we have four funding sources for the FOC. One is NeighborWorks America. NeighborWorks America comes in with about $160,000 a year. We get some money from LISC. I'm at a challenge to add that up because their contracts come in small bits and pieces like 20,030 thousand dollars over time. We are a HUD housing counseling agency. So we have a standing $35 contract a year with HUD for housing counseling.

And that cut this year?

No, it was not.

Oh, good.

That was maintained. The city then represents about 35%, maybe 40% of the total budget of the financial wellness center. I would also say because of our relationship with HUD, we are the only HUD certified housing counseling agency in Northwest Ohio. So people that come to us, you know, get the complete routine as according to the HUD program. So we're full service.

Thank you. And so what you mentioned about your experience is a reason why City Council should work with established, long term, local organizations. There are a lot of people that come in from out of town, make big promises, but you to stick with the folks that have a long term investment and are here for the life. Anyhow, thank you.

How many year 16 homes did you guys get? I know LMH got like 300. How many did you you said I know you got more than 100 of them, but how many did you get total? Do you remember?

Yes, about two twenty five.

You got two twenty five? Just think about how many houses out of that two you have a 100 left. Just think about how many houses would have been sitting dilapidated if you guys didn't step in. Or wait a minute. You were asked to step in. Let's be clear. I was there. I I wasn't at the city at the time. NeighborWorks NeighborWorks and LMH was asked to step in, and LMH created their own little housing corporation to take these houses. So that's why I am so advocating to forgive these dollars. They were asked to take these houses. They didn't come and say, we'll take them. No. They were asked to take them houses. You wanna know how I know?

Because I was there. They were asked to take them houses. So being asked to take those houses and needing the funding to get them up to be livable, that livable because the people that were out of town that built these houses and left town when they got done with the tax credits, we our our local people got stuck with it. So it's it's only fair that we and don't get me wrong, I don't know the administration's reason, but that's not my business. My business is I was there along the way to see this process transpire and I know the deficit, I see the budget, I see the pending deficits that come in, know the federal dollars that's coming short, but we can't do that to that.

So like I said, I was there, I know the whole thing that went on, I lived in the tax credit house, I knew the predators that leased the house, loaned the house to me for fifteen years and then I don't know where that money went and God rest her soul if my grandmother didn't step in to come and bequeath her house to me, I'd probably be still renting that house. Even though I liked it, but it was unfair that I was put in that situation. Thank you for what you do. We'll out through this CDBG stuff because it's bigger than that. Didn't nobody get funded like they wanted to get funded for that, but as far as that forgiveness, I definitely appreciate you bringing that up today. Thank you so much.

Thank you,

Chair. Thank you, Councilwoman. Councilwoman McPherson. Wow.

Councilwoman Denise Williams. Thank you, sir, for coming, and I remember doing a ribbon cutting with you at the house on Franklin.

Franklin. 2421.

Yes. The it's a strange house. It's it's concrete. Yeah. It was an experiment. Yes. Experimental house. Yes. But I stand also on the record as councilwoman at large, so that means I can cover all the city to support those homes and that we assist you. Because when they own their home, they pay taxes on those homes, which helps the city of Toledo.

And we also know that we have a housing shortage. And I remember 2016, I was at Scott High School, and I had a senior that mom had one of those houses, and she was gonna lose her home. And you guys stepped in, and she owns that home. So we we have to save that. It is important because people were swindled to believe one thing and then it didn't happen, and those persons were gonna lose their homes.

And because now we have a homelessness rate that is off the roof. And not only are they homeless adults, but they are also homeless children, meaning homeless families. And some of them are because of those persons that were out of town that did that. So we have to make that right. I I wholeheartedly stand with my councilwoman, Denise Williams, on that.

We we have to support those that made the commitment in the beginning to believe that they would eventually own this home and they did everything that they were supposed to do, but now come into and we've all come into hardships. And the homeownership event Saturday was remarkable. The attendance was outstanding. It was double of what it was last year, which was the first year. Outstanding.

And it is teaching those that want to or have dreamt about owning a home how and the process. But the negative part is that we have people, as you said, that come in town And they screw that process, and it becomes bad for the people that believed in the system. And so we have to support and make that right. So I thank you, and I commend you for continuing to do the work. And you have my full support. Thank you.

Ms. Madam Chair, this is a teachable moment for community. So I would ask, respecting time, if Councilwoman Williams can give us a brief history when we talk about Project 16, what is the everybody in here doesn't understand it or know it, but it's certainly impacting the neighborhoods that we live and serve. So if you could just maybe take a couple of minutes and give us the history of project 16.

Sure, we will. Years ago, maybe about twenty, twenty five years ago, Bill, some developers came into the city, maybe even longer than that, maybe thirty, forty years ago. Some developers came to the city and start building up sent in mostly impoverished neighborhoods, start building up new homes. Yeah. Remember the new houses.

Everybody thought they was gonna blow over, but they really were built pretty good. So they built these homes and peep they got what's called tax credits off of them, so they got incentives, to purchase them where they were free from paying taxes on these houses for sixteen years. So, well fifteen years and year sixteen, people were always promised after you lived in that house or rented that house for fifteen years, you would be able to purchase it after that fifteen years. Well, that didn't happen. That was predatory, development, and if you ride through Central City, East Side, out North, you'll see new houses that are beautifully made, still standing, some of them empty or they're rental properties now.

So after a lot of times, after the house has lost the tax credit, that owner just took their hands off basically. Well, back then we had CDCs when ownership would leave after they lost us 16, we had CDCs come in and try to take over those homes, so you had Onyx, you had Toledo Homes, you had United North come in and try to manage these homes. Well, they were rentals, they were rental properties And if you know, like I know, managing rental properties is hard. So what happened was, this few CDCs became defunct because some of them just the way the feds restructured money for CDCs, they went out of business and they no longer exist today. The only CDC that exists today is NeighborWorks and then the only other person that is now managing the properties or even taking care of the properties is NeighborWorks and LMH through their housing corp.

The issue with that is NeighborWorks and the housing corp were brought to the table, Q Bill maybe about what, '15? Was it fifth?

It was 2000, 2013.

2013 they were brought to the table. Okay, everybody's gone. Nobody's managing these properties. Nobody's doing anything with these properties. We want you all to buy them. We'll help you buy them. Few agencies came together and said, we'll give you the money to buy them. The city was one of them, LISC was another one, who's the other

National Equity Fund.

National Equity Fund came in and they said, we want you all to take them, going to become because a lot of those brand new houses got torn down too because they were not taken care of properly. So, they were asked, that's LMH, the neighbor works were asked to take the take ownership of these properties in bulk. Don't just take one and two here, take this whole row on Huron Street or take all these over here on Ontario and Pontiac and all these streets and we'll help you buy them. We won't help you maintain them though, but we'll help you buy them and then we want you to maintain these properties and sell them if you can. Am I telling the truth?

Absolutely. Okay, so as we move now, LHSC is managing properties throughout the city and trying to sell them, doing home ownership classes, helping people and so is NeighborWorks. Right now, those are the only two that has the properties. It was, they even had Volunteers of America managing some of their properties. I was like, Volunteers of America, that's what they do.

I had to look it up to see if that's what they do, but they did, which was shocking because they run a halfway house on Champlain. So I was shocked and people couldn't get in touch with Volunteers of America, it was a cluster, let me tell you. So moving forward with that, it was a lot of times people had to move out of those houses because some some of the CDC's previously that had them were not doing right. Toledo homes were not doing right. They were moving their cousins in, their baby daddy uncles in, they weren't paying rent, It was a mess.

So for NeighborWorks and LMH to step up and to take these homes, rehab a lot of them, had to rehab a lot of them. Has it been hiccups? Yes. They had to rehab them, they had to do property management on them, they have to collect rents off of them and they have to teach people how to be homeowners as well. So, that's what happened, it's called the year sixteen project.

The year sixteen project came from homes that were built with fifteen year tax credit, tax credits on the homes to the developer and a developer left these homes in the city of Toledo after the tax credits ran out. NeighborWorks and LMH are the last folks standing. So that's the year sixteen project.

Thank you. We appreciate that.

Thank you.

Thank you. No. I think that's really important. History needs to be heard. With that, we have everyone off of our list. Is there anyone else that has anything else they would like to speak to? Okay. Seeing this, thank you everyone for coming out. This meeting is adjourned.

Photos, don't go

anywhere.

Photos,