June 15th, 2007
-Clarke clinic may quit accepting new patients, Loses out on federal grant
Athens Banner Herald
A struggling Athens health clinic recently lost out on a large federal grant, threatening its ability to continue accepting uninsured patients. The Athens Neighborhood Health Clinic learned last week that it won't receive the New Start grant, which would have put up to $650,000 in its coffers, Director Diane Dunston said. The grant would have provided the clinic with cash, subsidized doctors' salaries and higher Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements. Athens-Clarke Commission turned down a request for $120,000 in local taxes next year, instead awarding it about $92,000, about 2 percent more than this year. "We have no voice in Washington, and the plight of those who need help most, the children and the poor, are not at the forefront," she said.
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June 14th, 2007
-Cuts to close sexual assault center
Athens Banner Herald
The agency dedicated to serving the needs of rape and sexual assault victims in Athens-Clarke and six other counties will close its doors for good because of funding cuts. The Sexual Assault Center of Northeast Georgia's board of directors decided Tuesday that the center's last day of operation will be July 31 because its $204,000 budget for fiscal year 2008 - down from the current $350,000 budget - is not enough to pay staff and provide services. Among other services, the 33-year-old sexual assault center provides a 24-hour hotline, counseling, financial assistance, and legal and medical advocacy for victims and their families. "It's a sad day because the center offers so much needed support in the community," board president Ben Rivers said Wednesday. "It will leave a large void."
... READ MORE
April 11th, 2007
-"Entrepreneur Friendly" Designation May Help Small Businesses
Athens Banner Herald
Georgia economic development officials declared Athens-Clarke County an "Entrepreneur Friendly" community Tuesday under a program designed to make it easier to recruit and nurture small businesses.
The designation makes the county eligible for Entrepreneur-Friendly Implementation Fund grants to help pay for programs the county may establish to support existing small businesses or help small businesses get started.
In addition, entrepreneurs and small-business owners in Athens can apply for customized and enhanced market data, such as demographic information, from the state Department of Economic Development.
... READ MORE
March 25th, 2007
-Growth fund helped create jobs, launch businesses since 1990
Athens Banner Herald
"The whole reason we have this loan program is to help businesses create jobs geared to low- and moderate-income individuals, which is part of our mission at HED," said Catherine Hogue, community economic development coordinator with HED. "It's to help people rise up out of poverty through working." Including the $50,000 loan made to Uncommon Grounds, the growth fund has dispersed $469,000 to nine businesses that have created approximately 185 jobs since the program was started in 1990, said Keith McNeely, director of HED.
The growth fund, which makes loans from $10,000 to $150,000, provides only a portion of the money a business will need to start, and an owner has to show the ability to obtain conventional financing as well as personal funds, Hogue said. Any loans for more than $150,000 have to be approved by the Athens-Clarke mayor and commission. The loans don't require a down payment and are set up for a five-year duration. The loans, referred to as gap financing, are meant to supplement conventional bank loans by covering costs beyond what a bank might cover. The growth fund requires the loaned money be spent on fixtures and materials that can be used as collateral. "The owner has to put 10 percent of their own money toward the project, then we partner with a traditional lender who puts in 40 percent to 60 percent and the remaining 30 percent to 50 percent they apply to growth fund for," Hogue said. The growth fund loan is tied to current interest rates, but often at a lower rate, depending on how many jobs a project will provide. The loan automatically requires that a business create one job for every $10,000 borrowed. If the plan exceeds that requirement, Hogue said, the rates can be reduced more. A business has about two years to meet its job creation goals. ... READ MORE
March 4th, 2007
-Housing Glut, but little is affordable
Athens Banner Herald
Have four kids, work in a factory and need a place to live? In Athens, you're probably out of luck. Despite a large surplus of housing, the unique economy of a college town and the strange logic behind real estate prices keep the cost of housing high. As newspapers and television report on housing bubbles bursting in cities across the United States, rents and mortgages in Athens remain high relative to wages. There's no relief in sight for the more than 10,000 Athenians the federal government says put too much of their income toward housing. "It's really not like other housing markets," said David Esary, a local real estate broker. "I don't think we have a housing bubble here. A housing bubble is when prices decline. Here, prices are flat or going up."
Athens has more than 1,800 vacant units, including more than 1,300 vacant single-family homes, enough to last until 2013 if construction completely shut down, according to U.S. Census data. On the other hand, there is a need for almost 300 apartments with rent lower than $500 a month, according to an Athens Housing Authority study of multifamily housing. The city has plenty of houses and condominiums, but the market for affordable housing is not being filled because it's not profitable, said Esary and Matt Murphy, an Athens-Clarke County affordable housing expert. Instead, most of the new construction is out of the reach of the average Athenian.... READ MORE
June 30th, 2006
-Affordable housing in Athens scarce, and poor families pay, new study shows
Athens Banner Herald
A recent study commissioned by the Athens Housing Authority seems to prove what many in Clarke County have been saying for years: Truly affordable housing is rarely available, particularly for families trying to scrape by on the low wages many make in Athens. "There is a shortfall of affordable housing in this community," Parker said. "If you're making below $25,000 a year, affordability is a problem. Above $35,000 a year, the market seems to work. The survey found that about 52 percent of the market for apartments in Athens is made up of families, while about 48 percent is made up of college students. Students tend to live in larger apartments, which tend to charge more per bedroom - a cost more easily borne by the student market. Most four-bedroom units, for instance, cost $950 per month or more, sometimes in excess of $1,200, the study found - a rent out of range of many families. ... READ MORE
June 30th, 2006
-Grants given to agencies for homeless across northeast Georgia
Athens Banner Herald
Ten local agencies that serve homeless citizens in Northeast Central Georgia will receive $420,000 in federal and state grant money through the state Department of Community Affairs. The award is part of a total of $6.4 million given to the Georgia shelter and service providers. One in particular, the Athens Area Homeless Shelter, which was in danger of closing in late 2005 for lack of funds, is getting a considerable boost from both the DCA - $65,000, which is $5,000 more than 2005 fiscal year's grant - and from a $61,569 grant from the U.S. Department of Labor. ... READ MORE
April 26th, 2006
-One City, Two Worlds
Red and Black
Athens is one city, but two worlds. University students see some of the homeless population when they walk through downtown. But they are only a fraction of the nearly 500 homeless who live in Athens on any given day and the 1,100 who pass through each year. There are also the hundreds of others who work, have children, have college educations and yet have no home. There are the children who live from couch to couch, in and out of shelters and schools as their parents struggle to overcome homelessness. ... READ MORE
April 14th, 2006
-Agency may freeze position despite added workload
Athens Banner-Herald
County officials will recommend freezing an open position at the Athens-Clarke Human and Economic Development Department, which distributes and oversees federal Community Development Block Grants and HOME grants for social services, economic development and affordable housing.
The cut would come despite a decision by the Athens-Clarke Commission last week to reinstate three nonprofits that HED had wanted to cut from the block-grant program, and to give a grant to another, previously unfunded agency, the shelter for drug- and alcohol-addicted women Freedom From Bondage, adding to the department's workload. In adding the agencies, the commission went against a three-commissioner committee's report that advocated cutting the number of nonprofits funded with federal grants to make the grant program more efficient.
Commissioner Alice Kinman, the committee chairwoman; "I wasn't particularly happy that we added four agencies. We're really putting a lot of burden on staff to manage those agencies."HED officials, though, say their workload is based on the number of grants they oversee, which is staying the same, rather than the amount of federal money they receive, which is declining. "It costs pretty much the same to administer a $10,000 grant as it does a $100,000 grant," HED Programs Administrator Rob Trevena said in a previous interview.
Further cuts in federal grant programs are widely anticipated in coming years, and McNeely said the danger is that further positions may be cut in the future as the grants continue to shrink, even though commissioners keep funding the same number of nonprofits with smaller and smaller grants. "It's really going to put the squeeze on how effective we'll be in administering the grant programs," he said.
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- Homeless Count up by 40: Funding for shelters already precarious
Athens Banner-Herald
Forty more people are homeless in Athens this year than last, and local shelters and other nonprofits are facing the challenge with uncertainties about continued federal funding. During the week of Feb. 13, the Athens-Clarke County Human and Economic Development Department counted 475 individual homeless people in Athens, up from 436 last year and 188 five years ago. There's no way to tell whether the 9 percent increase is due to more homeless people, better counting methods or other factors like Hurricane Katrina, HED community development specialist Evan Mills said. ... READ MORE
March 5th, 2006
- Tough Choices: Future holds change for local nonprofits and those they assist
Athens Banner-Herald
The federal program that helps fund more than a dozen local charities, Community Development Block Grants, is shrinking, forcing local leaders to consider how to do more with less and find extra local tax dollars to help those most in need. Proposed changes to the program would leave some non-profits without the essential grants, but give a bigger share to the most successful agencies and seed money to promising start-ups. ... READ MORE
January 5th, 2006
- Anti-poverty task force to be formed
Athens Banner-Herald
Partners for a Prosperous Athens, a task force of government officials, academicians and representatives of social-service agencies and businesses, will unveil an ambitious goal to develop a plan to bring more people into the workforce, keep children in school, improve transportation and elevate people out of poverty.... READ MORE
January 4th, 2006
- Homelessness emerging as a big local issue
Athens Banner-Herald
In Athens-Clarke County, the waning days of 2005 brought news the Athens Area Homeless Shelter and the Athens Homeless Day Center, two of the primary providers of services to the community's homeless population, will likely be closing within the next few weeks, due in large part to losses of government funding. ... READ MORE
June 24th, 2005
- Numerous efforts helped county raise a Village
Athens Banner-Herald
Thank you for your coverage of our efforts to provide workforce housing for Athens-Clarke County residents at Fourth Street Village in your June 9 article and June 13 editorial. However, the articles omitted some key information, including some of our crucial partners.
For example, Fourth Street Village would not be possible without the support of the Athens Housing Authority. In September 2004, Fourth Street Village was awarded an allocation of tax credits through the Georgia Department of Community Affairs' Low Income Housing Tax Credit Program, after being denied on our application in 2003.... READ MORE
June 13th, 2005
- Village represents a real attempt at affordable housing
Athens Banner-Herald
"Affordable housing" is a phrase that permeates most conversations about the future of Athens-Clarke County. The problem, though, has been that the meaning of the phrase has never been specifically defined. Does a need for affordable housing mean a need for developers to build more $150,000 starter homes? Does it denote a need for family-friendly rental housing? For rehabilitated in-town housing?
While there is still some vagueness attached to the term, the Athens Land Trust and two other non-profit agencies, the Cooperative Resource Center and East Athens Development Corp., have begun to show the community what meeting the need for "affordable housing" actually looks like.... READ MORE
April 5th, 2005
- Services help clients start over
Athens Banner-Herald
A year ago, Calvin Hill had a job and a decent place to live. Then, he was arrested for driving under the influence and spent 47 days in jail.
"It's not long," he said, "but it is long enough to lose your job."
Now, Hill said he is working hard to secure a new job and a place to live. But in the meantime, he needs a place to use the telephone and to shower before a job interview. For Hill and hundreds of others, the Athens Homeless Day Service Center is a place to do the things many take for granted - receive mail, do laundry, bathe.... READ MORE
April 4th, 2005
- Events commemorate efforts to address needs of community
Athens Banner-Herald
The Athens-Clarke County Department of Human and Economic Development this week launches a series of open houses and commemorations in observation of National Community Development Week.
The celebration is designed to bring attention to the efforts of local government, private businesses and non-profit organizations working together to address community needs, according to HED.
All events are free and open to the public.... READ MORE
January 16th, 2003
- Grant will help restore historic Gospel Pilgrim
Athens Banner-Herald
When Archibald Killian was a boy, his family spent most Sunday afternoons at Gospel Pilgrim Cemetery off Fourth Street, the 11-acre tract where hundreds of local African-Americans are buried.
After church services, a crowd would gather at the cemetery to lay a community member to rest. Once that was accomplished, parents would take their children around the cemetery to show them where their own ancestors were buried. His father and grandfather are both buried in the historic cemetery, and 69-year-old Killian owns 10 plots there himself.... READ MORE
July 16th, 2002
- Historic cemetery will be cleaned up
Athens Banner-Herald
It's going to take a small tractor, 50 or 60 volunteers and half a day, but come Monday afternoon, historic Gospel Pilgrim's Cemetery will be relieved of literally tons of litter.
The verdict's still out, however, on whether or not it will remain that way.
''We've overcome a couple of stumbling blocks ... such as finding out who actually owned (the cemetery), ... but I feel there's a lot of community support for this project,'' said Rob Trevena, a cleanup organizer. ''We'll need to put up a concrete barrier at the gate to discourage (illegal dumping) from happening again and I would envision ... an interested group in the community taking it from there.''... READ MORE
November 26th, 2001
- A lesson in urban sprawl
Athens Banner-Herald
SNELLVILLE -- Athens is no Snellville -- at least not yet.
Known for strip malls, traffic congestion and unplanned retail growth along U.S. Highway 78, Snellville knows it needs to find an identity beyond Wal-Mart and fast-food chains.
Meanwhile, Athens residents and planners struggle to prevent a similar fate by creating rules to control growth and determine what the town will look like in the future. The Athens-Clarke County Commission votes on a new zoning code Dec. 5.... READ MORE
October 6th, 2001
- Carabello: Sprawl, affordable housing are closely linked problems
Athens Banner-Herald
On its surface, urban sprawl appears to be a relatively straightforward issue. When a city undergoes building and land development at a rate faster than its population grows, it's sprawling. Clarke County is sprawling. According to USA Today we are one of the fastest sprawling urban areas, hard as that is for some to believe.
Athens, like most cities, had already begun experiencing a suburban flight in earnest in the 1980s. Residents searching for bigger homes on bigger lots, neighborhoods with less traffic and crime or a touch of country living were leaving Athens and moving into new subdivisions and areas within the outskirts of Clarke County and even into surrounding counties. Where the residents went, the businesses followed. While the population experienced modest growth, we were taking up more and more space. Thus, we had urban sprawl.... READ MORE
August 12th, 2001
- Dunn: Lessons from the Garden Springs crisis
Athens Banner-Herald
Residents of the Garden Springs trailer park are appealing to the Athens-Clarke County Commission and anybody else that will listen in an effort to save their homes. At least 400 Garden Springs residents stand to be evicted from the North Avenue mobile home park next month, after a Florida-based company bought the park with intentions of converting it to a student-oriented apartment complex.
Faced with the high cost of relocating their mobile homes, an estimated expense of at least $5,000 per trailer, residents argue they need more time to relocate their trailers. Others say they cannot find trailer parks to move to within Athens-Clarke County, and still more complain that their trailers don't meet today's standards and therefore they cannot be relocated.... READ MORE
November 25th, 2000
- Managing growth: Some cities have taken action
Athens Banner-Herald
As Athens-Clarke County commissioners prepare to vote Dec. 5 on a proposed new zoning ordinance designed to curb sprawl, they join a nationwide trend that encourages strong city centers, walkable neighborhoods and protected open greenspace.
So far, 12 states have passed laws that give additional state funding to counties with long-term growth-management plans. In states like Georgia that don't have such laws, some municipalities are creating their own long-term growth strategies to combat sprawl, which critics blame for heavy commuter traffic, high infrastructure costs and unsightly, abandoned in-town shopping centers.... READ MORE
