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From: COSCDA Web Site [mailto:
Sent: Sunday, July 10, 2016 11:51 AM
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Subject: President's Award for Innovation Award
The following individual has submitted a President's Award for Innovation Award Application from the web site:
Submission #59502
Project/Program Name: Northern Kentucky Scholar House
Agency Name: Kentucky Department for Local Government
Contact Person: Travis Weber
Nominee City: Frankfort
Nominee State: Kentucky
Nominator Name: Travis Weber
Nominator City: Frankfort
Nominator State: Kentucky
Nominator E-Mail:
Explanation:
The Commonwealth of Kentucky along with Campbell County, Kentucky and the Northern Kentucky Scholar House LP (a limited partnership between Newport Millennium Housing Corporation III and the Model Group), constructed the new 8,000 square foot early childhood center as part of the larger Northern Kentucky Scholar House campus which serves parents with children who are currently seeking Associate or Bachelor degrees or specialty post-secondary certifications. The campus consists of four (4) residential (temporary) apartment buildings with a total of 48 units, an early childhood center, and an existing community center already on site.
The new facility is located at 430 West 6th Street in the heart of Newport, Kentucky, one of the larger urban communities under the Kentucky State and Small Cities CDBG program. CDBG funds were limited to the construction of the early childhood center, which is connected to the existing onsite community center and share the adjoining kitchen, cafeteria, gymnasium, and meeting rooms. The early childhood center contains five (5) classrooms, a storage facility, and additional counseling rooms. Although initially intended to just serve preschool aged children, the early childhood center decided to implement programs for children aged up to 12 years old meeting the needs of residential parents.
The Housing Authority of Newport donated the property for the childhood care center only; the City of Newport conveyed the land for the residential apartment units. The Northern Kentucky Scholar House LP owns the new facility and is the limited partner. Upon completion of the new campus, Neighborhood Foundations (the City of Newport’s Public Housing
Agency) was selected to operate the facility due to their capacity and housing experience in the City; including access to rental subsidies for tenants and contributed the initial seed money needed for the campus plans. Neighborhood Foundations contracted with Brighton Center for the management of the childhood center and the residential units, due to their experience as a multi-faceted social services provider in Northern Kentucky and management of over 70 multifamily complexes in the area.
The Commonwealth of Kentucky served as the financier of the last remaining gap funds needed to complete the childhood center in order for the project to become a reality. The CDBG funds provided the flexibility necessary to fund the non-residential portion of the campus. The project ended up with a total construction cost of $9,151,000. The financing structure was completed as follows:
•Low Income Housing Tax Credits$6,230,000 (68%)
•Deferred Developer’s Fee$1,100,000 (12%)
•Neighborhood Foundations Grant$ 210,000 (2%)
•Catalytic Fund$ 492,401 (5%)
•Local Donations$ 618,599 (7%)
• State of Kentucky – CDBG$ 500,000 (6%)
As evident by the complex financing structure of the project, the new Scholar House facility represents the partnership between public and private resources coming together to serve a need in the community.
Construction of the new Scholar House campus was completed at the end of July 2015, with the childhood center portion of the campus opening their doors in August 2015. While the Scholar House did not meet their goal of having all residential units leased by August 2015, the facility was able to achieve full occupancy in November 2015. By completing the childhood center first, the Scholar House was able to utilize the facility as a marketing tool to showcase the facility and program to perspective tenants. By January 1, 2016 the facility had over 20 single parents on the waiting list wanting to participate in the program and secure residency.
The Kentucky Scholar House Program has been a statewide success throughout the Commonwealth. While the Northern Kentucky Scholar House represents the newest Scholar House facility in the state, it is actually the 12th Scholar House to open their doors. The first Scholar House facility in Kentucky opened their doors over 20 years ago. Depending upon the geographic region of each of the Scholar Houses, the partnerships and program specifics differ slightly; emphasizing the versatility and universal appeal of the program. The Northern Kentucky Scholar House in particular represents the most dynamic relationship in terms of public and private partnership coming together for a common goal. The Kentucky Scholar House Program will be able to ensure long-term sustainability because there are always going to be academic institutions to provide educational opportunities to program participants, a need for affordable rental units, and a need for affordable and reliable childcare services.
Staffing:
The Northern Kentucky Scholar House serves as not only an educational and affordable housing success in the community, the program also serves as an economic opportunity for full time jobs at the facility. As the Northern Kentucky Scholar House operations and management is a joint effort amongst primarily Neighborhood Foundations and Brighton Center, the staffing of the facility also represents a blend of the two (2) organizations.
Tom Guidugli, Executive Director of Neighborhood Foundations coordinates his staff onsite due to the organizations access to the affordable housing vouchers and programs for tenants. Tammy Weidinger, President and CEO of Brighton Center, manages the staff for Brighton Center as the management agency at the facility. Brighton Center staff also organizes and coordinates activities and programs at the facility for the childhood center as well as the onsite life skill programs for tenants, such as CPR training, personal finance management, and time management skills.
Between Neighborhood Foundations and Brighton Center, the Northern Kentucky Scholar House has created 15 new full time job equivalent positions in the community.
In addition, to the 15 full time equivalent jobs created, the Northern Kentucky Scholar House has 10 regular volunteers that contribute to the facility on a daily basis. In order for the campus to maximize the use of their resources, the facility relies upon an eager group of volunteers in the community that strive to help particularly the children at the childhood center while the parents achieve their academic goals. The volunteers take pride in assisting the children at the facility, even going as far to communicate with the children’s public school teachers soliciting ways they can best assist the child at the Northern Kentucky Scholar House childhood center. The volunteers at the facility are not limited to the persons contributing at the childhood center; many other organizations in the community also volunteer their time and resources for the parents living onsite. Volunteers include local firefighters teaching CPR classes and financial management businesses educating on personal financial responsibility. The Northern Kentucky Scholar House serves as an economic engine; however the facility also offers an opportunity to partner with local organizations to make an investment in the lives of parents and children in the community.
Results:
The Northern Kentucky Scholar House represents an innovative solution to single parents looking to establish the job skills necessary to succeed in the professional world. As the Northern Kentucky Scholar House is a combination of providing affordable housing options and early childhood development resources, the impact is not only limited to the residents at the campus but to residents of the community.
The City of Newport had a dire need for affordable housing options in the community, over 40 units eligible for the section 8 voucher programs were getting ready to be demolished to make way for a new public highway in the City. Neighborhood Foundations, the City’s public housing agency, knew they needed to act swiftly in providing affordable section 8 housing options to their residents, however they wanted to make sure the new units made more than just a housing impact on the community. In partnership with the City of Newport, Neighborhood Foundations agreed to construct 48 new section 8 affordable housing units on land that once served as a city park directly across the street from where the old section 8 housing units were being demolished. Neighborhood Foundations knew they could not complete this project alone and began seeking community investment from not only the City of Newport and Campbell County, they reached out to local businesses to make an investment in the future of the community and share their voices. After soliciting investment and input from over 15 partners; including The Commonwealth of Kentucky Department for Local Government (DLG), the Kentucky Housing Corporation (KHC), and the United States National Parks Service from the public sector, Brighton Center, the Model Group, Hub + Weber Architects, the Federal Home Loan Bank, and Kentucky Bank (formerly BB&T Bank) from the private sector and Northern Kentucky University, Gateway Community and Technical College, and Cincinnati State University from the academic sector, the creation of 48 new affordable housing units was completed in July 2015; reaching full occupancy in November 2015.
The partners not only created 48 new affordable housing units in the community, however by creating the Northern Kentucky Scholar House, they created an affordable childhood center onsite for the parents to utilize while they pursued their academic dreams that may one day had seemed unachievable. The childhood center opened their doors in August 2015, within the first month they had enrolled over 40 students. While not full capacity, the Scholar House childhood center was at an enrollment disadvantage due to their inability to not open the doors until August 2015. Many of the perspective parents moving to the new campus had to make their daycare options prior to August 2015 in order to apply for the Kentucky State Childcare Voucher Program. In August 2016, the childhood center will have over 70 students at the facility and that number is expected to grow to over 80 students by 2017.
The residential units will have nearly a 50% rollover of current tenants committed come August 2016, with approximately 24 new single parents entering the program and campus. Of the 48 single parents in the program and at the facility approximately 60% (or 29 persons) will achieve their academic training or earn their degree by June 2016. Once the residents have completed their academic achievements, new perspective residents move in to take their place within the program. Of the 48 single parents onsite, 50% (or approximately 24 individuals) will complete the required financial budget and fiscal responsibilities courses necessary at the campus. Based upon the success of the other statewide Scholar House programs; 75% of the residents at the facility will exit to stabilized employment and established careers, while approximately 90% of all residents exit to stabilized housing. This program charters opportunities for success for all of the residents and program participants that they would otherwise not be afforded the opportunity. Many of the local private partners from the Scholar House program offer employment opportunities for program participants upon graduation of the program; showing the long-term investment made by the partners into the lives and success of the participants and the Scholar House program. The Northern Kentucky Scholar House is the type of program that can be replicated by other state programs because every community has local governments, private businesses looking to invest in the community’s future, and nearby academic institutions offering affordable educational opportunities. As you can tell with the Scholar House program, it is not limited to just an investment in a parents academic career, but an investment towards a family’s future.
State Leadership:
The Commonwealth of Kentucky played a vital role in the implementation of the Northern Kentucky Scholar House by coordinating a multi-agency approach to ensuring the necessary resources were available to the program participants and local partners. The Kentucky Department for Local Government served as the last gap financing necessary to ensure the construction of the new childhood center was achievable. DLG provided a
$500,000 CDBG grant to the Campbell County Fiscal Court, who served as a pass through for the financing to be made available to the City of Newport’s Neighborhood Foundations for the construction of the childhood center. Due to the use restrictions attached to the already committed funding sources to the project, the State of Kentucky was able to utilize the flexibility offered by the CDBG program to make a $500,000 investment towards the childhood center portion of the project.
The State of Kentucky’s contribution towards the Scholar House is not limited to DLG’s investment of $500,000 in CDBG funding towards the childhood center portion of the campus. The Northern Kentucky Scholar House LP applied for and received $6,230,000 in Low Income Tax Credits from the Kentucky Housing Corporation (KHC), the state housing finance agency. However, the program could not be a success unless the childhood center portion of the campus met the necessary requirements to be eligible for participation in the Kentucky State Childcare Assistance Voucher Program through the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services. Many of the single parents enrolled in the program cannot utilize a childcare facility that is not eligible under the Voucher Program from the State.
It was vital that prior to DLG making the final investment of $500,000 in CDBG funds to the project, the Scholar House had coordinated with the State Cabinet for Health and Family Services to make sure they met the eligibility under the voucher program. Without the collaboration of the multiple state agencies the Northern Kentucky Scholar House could not have become a reality and particularly in helping the project meet their operational goals to satisfy all investors to the project.
Lessons Learned:
The Northern Kentucky Scholar House is a very rewarding project for the Commonwealth of Kentucky, Campbell County, the City of Newport, Neighborhood Foundations, and the numerous other private and public partners that were vital in ensuring the long-term sustainability of the facility. Perhaps the most rewarding aspect of Northern Kentucky Scholar House was how critical each individual role by either a public or private partner was to the success of the project. For example, when Campbell County and Neighborhood Foundations approached DLG they were in a bind needing $500,000 of affordable money necessary to be invested into the childhood center portion of the project. As the source of the Kentucky State CDBG program, DLG was in a unique position to allow the flexibility of the CDBG funds to fill that necessary financing gap; without the CDBG funds invested into the childhood center the entire 48 affordable apartment units hung in the balance.
Detailing the delicate intricacies of the financing of the project above, the biggest lesson the Commonwealth of Kentucky has learned from the completion of the Northern Kentucky Scholar House is the importance of open communication. Not only open communication between state agencies, but the communication between state and local partners is vital to the success of the program. The State of Kentucky had to rely heavily upon local public partners to facilitate and coordinate project goals with the private partners that were a part of the project. The public, private, and academic partners will continue to have a role in ensuring the long-term success of the Scholar House as the partners will comprise the Northern Kentucky Scholar House Advisory Board that will feed ideas and communicate community stances to Neighborhood Foundations and Brighton Center who are operating and managing the facility.
While the communication between all of the public, private, and academic partners remains the largest lesson learned from this project, it cannot be understated that this project could not have come to fruition without the contributions from both the public and private sectors working together. While 74% of the financing for the Northern Kentucky Scholar House originated from a public source, the remaining 26% of the financing originated from private partners making an investment towards their community. The private investment does not end with the initial financial contribution to construct the campus, the private partners continue to reach out towards program participants that complete their academic goals to create opportunities for the graduates to achieve stabilized employment and establish a career. For projects like the Northern Kentucky Scholar House to become a reality the communication and investment from the public, private, and academic sector must exist because the community residents benefit when all partners contribute towards a successful program.
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End of Submission