People

Rick Cohen has become president of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP). Previously, Cohen was vice president for field strategies at the Local Initiatives Support Corporation in New York City. He also served as vice president for the Enterprise Foundation and director of the Department of Housing and Economic Development in Jersey City, New Jersey. Outgoing NCRP President Bob Bothwell will remain with the organization as president emeritus/senior fellow.

Luis Garden Acosta and Frances Lucerna of El Puente (The Bridge), a human services organization for youth in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, New York, received the Heinz Award in the Human Condition for profoundly influencing the nature of community building and youth development. Mr. Acosta is the organization's founder and president, and Ms. Lucerna is founder and principal of El Puente's Academy for Peace and Justice.

The National Neighborhood Coalition (NNC) presented the National Award for Leadership on Behalf of Neighborhoods to Norman B. Rice, former mayor of Seattle and new president of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Seattle. Former Massachusetts Congressman Joe Kennedy also received special recognition for his contributions to neighborhoods, and the Pablo Eisenberg Award for Neighborhood Leadership went to Holy Name Camden, an inter-disciplinary, community-based initiative dedicated to reconstructing civic life in North Camden, New Jersey. The awards were given at a reception in Washington, D.C., celebrating NNC's 20th anniversary.

Carlos Romero has been named executive director of Mission Housing Development Corporation (MHDC). Mr. Romero has extensive experience in affordable housing, was co-founder of EPACANDO, East Palo Alto's leading community development corporation, and most recently served as a project developer for Mercy Charities Housing California.

Lynn Summers will leave her position as executive director of the Community Partnership for the Homeless, Inc. (CPHI), in Miami, Florida, to become president of Community Technologies, Inc. Under Summers' helm, CPHI opened two facilities for the homeless that have served nearly 10,000 clients. In joint ventures with others, Community Technologies plans to develop and operate a continuum of housing and services for the Florida senior housing market.

Safe at Home, an initiative launched by New York City in 1998, will invest more than $88 million in the next three years in development and preservation in two neighborhoods, including constructing homeownership housing on vacant city-owned land, renovating and privatizing occupied city-owned buildings, and intensifying efforts to stabilize privately-owned buildings at risk of owner abandonment. The program involves the New York Police Department (NYPD), the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), and a community group in each neighborhood. LISC will fund a program coordinator at each community-based organization to act as liaison between residents, NYPD, and HPD. Information: Deirdra Picou, HPD, 212-863-5176.

HUD has provided $3.5 million in grants to educate the public about housing discrimination and help communities respond to tensions caused by housing rights conflicts. Consumer Action (CA) of San Francisco received $2 million to launch a national education project informing the public of fair housing rights and opportunities. The Leadership Conference Education Fund (LCEF) of Washington, DC, received $1.5 million for the Community Tensions Project, which will develop and implement a plan for preventing and responding to tensions or hate crimes resulting from a person or group exercising fair housing rights. Information: CA, www.consumer-action.org. LCEF, 202-466-3311; www.civilrights.org

Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation has acquired Community Development Online from the Community Information Exchange (CIE). The acquisition process is targeted to be completed by September 1999, at which point CIE will be dissolved. Information: CIE, 202-289-3709; www.comminfoexch.org

The federal Corporation for National Service has awarded a grant to the Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED) to recruit 50 AmeriCorps*VISTA members, train them in Individual Development Account (IDA) best practices, place them in 50 IDA programs around the country, and develop a close-knit learning network among IDA programs. Information: CFED, 202-408-9788; www.cfed.org

Fannie Mae exceeded all of its statutory and corporate lending goals in 1998, including lending to 451,000 minority households, a 27 percent increase over its previous highest year. One loan in three went to first-time home buyers, 44 percent of the units it financed were home to low- and moderate-income households, and over 26 percent were located in underserved areas nationwide. Information: Kate Fralin, Fannie Mae, 202-752-6720; www.fanniemae.com

The American Planning Association (APA) has received two grants totaling $2.55 million from the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Foundation and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation to launch the City Parks Forum to bring together mayors, park directors, planners, and community leaders with urban park experts to redesign and enhance urban parks. Information: APA, 312-431-9100.