“Residents are facing a wide variety of challenges today: A highly competitive job market, isolated adult education and job training services, a lack of social capital. Those challenges are compounded for recent immigrants who may be completely unfamiliar with US banking systems and are still learning English,” explains Ann Houston, Executive Director of Chelsea Neighborhood Developers. “CONNECT builds on the partners’ deep experience and creates a new opportunity for families to integrate a network of services to achieve economic security.”

Six of Chelsea’s most respected community organizations have come together to co-locate and bundle their services, leveraging existing resources to support transformative economic mobility for low-income families. CONNECT will provide traditional workforce development support from CareerSource, Centro Latino, and Bunker Hill Community College in coordination with asset development and housing services from Chelsea Neighborhood Developers, Metropolitan Boston Housing Partnership, and Metro Credit Union.  The CONNECT partners recognize that achieving the American dream of economic security is hard work, but believe low-income and immigrant families can break out of poverty with financial services, education and employment resources.

CONNECT’s “bundled” model of services is based on proven models for client success. The earliest supporters of the project include local and national funders who have developed a body of knowledge on what it takes for low-income households to overcome economic obstacles.  These funders include Boston LISC, Catalyst Fund for Non-Profits, Citi Foundation, Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development, National Credit Union Foundation, NeighborWorks America, and United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley .

A core component of CONNECT’s model is creating a place where peers c
an gather to talk and help each other reach their financial goals. “When you’re surrounded by people who want to go for the goal, it gives the opportunity for the other person to say, ‘if they can do it, I can do it too.’ Now let’s do it!” says a five year participant in Metropolitan Boston Housing Partnership programs.

The launch of CONNECT is comprised of two events on January 19^th, starting with a free afternoon symposium examining the economic challenges facing low-income Massachusetts residents and best practices for cost effective service delivery. In the evening, Representative Capuano will provide keynote remarks at a cocktail reception. To register for both events visit launchconnect.eventbrite.com.

The Community Engagement department saw this fun holiday event as an opportunity to build connections between neighbors and so we organized tenants to help make it happen. With suggestions from tenants, the party activities consisted of mask making, a mummy wrapping contest and string the donuts, in which kids had to race to eat donuts off a string.

It was great to see parents from both properties coming together to join in fun and games with their children. One of the kids’ favorite activities of the night, was posing with their mask creations.

The trip was a great success! With ten tenants in attendance (youth and parents), the day was full of fun learning and active playtime. The kids jumped into the adventure of the museum the minute they saw the netted maze of a stairway at the entrance. Scaling to the top, just to explore one exhibit after the next. The favorite exhibits of the day were Arthur and Friends and The Japanese House. Although the Boston Black  exhibit held a close third. In this exhibit, the kids enjoyed shopping around at a Dominican grocery store and then jumping over to “John Smith’s Barbershop” to style their mothers’ hair. We even stopped into “Café Sodade” to learn some Cape Verdean dance steps.

It was great to organize a fun and positive activity for tenants outside of the Spencer Green property.The trip to downtown Boston itself was an educational adventure for the children—pushing the youth to navigate the train and bus systems with the help of the adults.

Overall, the trip was a great opportunity to strengthen the relationships between neighbors and to support the youth through positive recreational activities.  Best of all, the fieldtrip acted as a kick off to the second session of the afterschool program!

Dockside Restaurant & Grill: Dockside is opening a new location in Chelsea at the Mystic Mall shopping center on Everett Avenue. To apply, fill out the application for here. For more information on how to apply, please contact Dockside directly at their Malden location:

229 Centre Street
Malden, MA
781.321.3000

Marriott Hotel: The general contractor for the Marriott Hotel will hold a job fair this Thursday, November 3, from 12-4pm, at Chelsea City Hall. The job fair will take place in the Planning Conference Room. This fair is for construction jobs. There will be another job fair in the spring for the permanent jobs at the hotel. In you are interested, come to Chelsea City Hall on Thursday! City Hall is located at:

500 Broadway
Chelsea, MA 02150

With federal interest rates reaching record lows, refinancing has become an appetizing option for homeowners who bought their homes when interest rates were much higher. Refinancing at a lower interest rate usually results in a more favorable loan to the borrower, usually in the form of lower monthly payments, or a quicker loan repayment schedule. Financial institutions, however, are unwilling to refinance mortgages in situations where borrowers owe more than the market value of their home (or the value the home would sell for if it were to be put on sale today).

The changes to regulations also eliminate or reduce many of the fees associated with refinancing through the HARP program.

To be eligible for refinancing under new FHFA rules, borrowers need to have a loan owned or secured by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac as of May 31, 2009. This can be checked at the websites of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Additionally, you must be up-to-date with your mortgage payments, with no late payments in the last six months and a maximum of one late payment in the past twelve months.

Lenders should start offering refinancing through new HARP rules sometime in December, or early in 2012.

Sources:

http://bucks.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/24/new-refi-rules-offer-help-to-more-underwater-borrowers/#

http://www.fhfa.gov/webfiles/22721/HARP_release_102411_Final.pdf

Why apply?

• One Family Scholars helps to pay for up to 5 years of education for a Bachelors Degree, and up to 3 years for an Associates Degree
• 17 One Family Scholars graduates have gone on to purchase homes
• The average earnings of One Family Scholar Alumnae working full time is $40,700

Interested in applying?

• Step 1: Check out the One Family Scholars website for more information (onefamilyscholars.org)
• Step 2: Check the FAQs page to see if you are eligible.
• Step 3: Contact Marissa Guananja at Chelsea Neighborhood Developers (mguananja@chelseand.org, 617-889-1375, ext. 20) for more information and to see if you qualify for an endorsement from CND.

Many consumers in recent years have moved from using credit cards for purchases in favor of debit cards. Because debit cards are directly linked to the money in your checking account, using a debit card for purchases has traditionally helped curb unnecessary spending. With the new fees, many consumer advocates fear that spending will revert to credit cards. They warn that since credit cards charge interest for balances that aren’t paid in full by the end of the billing period, switching from debit to credit may tempt some to not pay off their full balance, causing interest charges to accrue.

Overall, a recent study conducted by bankrate.com showed that debit cards aren’t the only fees banks are implementing. According to the annual report, all kinds of bank fees have hit new highs. This includes higher fees for bank ATMs used by customers of other banks, higher fees for bounced check, and banks charging fees for “free” checking accounts that don’t maintain a certain balance or have money direct deposited into the account.

With banking fees on the rise, it’s important that we as consumers take note of what our banks are charging us. Here are some things you can to do avoid getting slammed with fees from your bank:

• Review your bank account’s current fee policies – Make sure you know what your bank is charging you for, and how much. The only way you can successfully avoid getting charged fees is by fully understanding what services your bank has agreed to provide to you for free, and what services it will charge you for.
• Don’t use “out-of-network” ATMs – Only use ATMs belonging to your bank. If that isn’t a viable option, you can also consider finding a bank that uses either a network of ATMs or reimburses you for ATM fees from using out-of-network ATMs.
• Consider switching to a bank that doesn’t charge fees for debit card usage – While many larger banks are starting to implement these fees, many smaller local banks and credit unions still offer no fees for using your debit card on purchases. Some banks even reward you for using your debit card!
• Don’t switch all your debit card purchases to credit card purchases – Credit cards charge interest for balances that aren’t paid in full after the end of the billing period. Try to limit credit card use for purchases that you know you can pay off. You should also find low-interest credit cards for purchases that you plan to finance over a longer period of time.

Sources: http://bucks.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/29/banks-adding-debit-card-fees/

http://bucks.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/28/fees-fees-everywhere-higher-bank-fees/

Little Ms. Maria Barhoma making paper beads

The group of approximately 14 residents has met for 3 sessions. The sessions have allowed the group to spend up to 2. 5 hours working on the first half of the project; to create a beaded curtain for 1 of the windows in the community room. The second half the project will be to create individual pieces for a quilt that will be mounted onto the wall.

Residents show off their creativity

This art project is very pleasurable for the residents, and a way of building relationships and expressing their own feelings through art.

The residents are so excited about this project that on days that we do not meet they are working on beading thread on their own. As for days of the session, the residents arrive early and never want to leave as the session approaches the end.

Spencer Row residents creating art

The residents are anxious to see the final product.

Finishing the Curtain!

[Post written by Alfredo Alvarez]

Two weeks ago, Chelsea Farmers’ Market successfully opened and started off the 2011 season with a bang!  Our grand opening this year was on July 23, 2011 and an estimated 200 people showed up despite the overcast morning.  For the past few years, the market has been located in the park across the police station and had only one vendor, Farmer Dave; but this year they’ve expanded and have relocated to the City Hall Parking lot providing a more centralized location for the conveniance of customers.  In addition to that we’ve invited more market vendors, allowing Chelsea Farmers’ Market to thrive and flourish.

Vendors who will be at the market every Saturday are Silverbrook farms from Dartmouth MA, Grants Plants from Essex, MA and Chelsea’s own Community Garden.  Signature Breads from Chelsea, MA will be at the market selling bread as will Chelsea Fire Hot Sauce. You might also encounter in the upcoming weeks a fruit vendor, and a farmer specializing in East Asian vegetables!  We take pride in being able to provide Chelsea residents with the option of fresh locally grown food and we hope that you’ll attend our market which runs until October 15 every Saturday from 10:00AM to 1:00PM

Chelsea Farmers’ Market

City Hall Parking Lot

Every Saturday until October 15

10 a.m. – 1 p.m.