January 28, 2009
Methadone clinic gets home at port
By EILEEN STILWELL
Courier-Post Staff
A methadone clinic that has been a trouble spot in downtown Camden for decades will get a new home inside the Broadway Terminal of the South Jersey Port Corp.
Directors of the South Jersey Port Corp. voted 6-0 Tuesday to lease space within its secure marine terminal to Parkside Recovery Inc., a division of NHS, a private, nonprofit corporation. Based in Layfayette Hills, Pa., NHS operates 580 facilities in nine states.
The move has fostered a six-year bitter war between two neighborhoods in the city. Those living near the current clinic, which dispenses methadone to 700 addicts a day, are glad to see it go. Those living near the new site in Waterfront South picketed the port and lobbied hard to bar the move.
The Broadway marine terminal is a gated compound near the Gloucester City border in a highly industrial area that buzzes round-the-clock with longshoremen, truckers, government inspectors and port employees.
It is 18 blocks south of the clinic's current location at 400 Broadway. The clinic has operated in the shadow of Cooper Hospital for about 30 years. Now that the area is slated for housing, an elementary school and a massive infusion of capital from the health and science sectors, officials determined the clinic sitting on a state-owned property must go.
Recently, the state sold the site to the Camden Redevelopment Authority for $775,000 with funds from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. The university plans to build classrooms there for third- and fourth-year medical students who do their clinical training at Cooper. The long-range goal is to expand that program into a four-year medical school.
"I'm pleased the decision has finally been made. It's been a long time coming. At least, the new site is further away from residents and the port is better able to secure these services. A medical school helps Cooper remain an academic center, and it will give us a facility that will make medical education much better in South Jersey," said John P. Sheridan, president and CEO of Cooper Health System.
Monsignor Michael Doyle, pastor of Sacred Heart Church at Broadway and Ferry and a South Camden activist for decades, called the move "barbaric injustice" to a neighborhood already burdened with the Camden County Sewage Treatment plant and a trash-to-steam operation.
"It would be hard to find another area in North America that has been trampled as much by powerful people, mostly men in white shirts, who care little about the poor. A methadone clinic here will have a neon sign for the mind that says "drugs sold here.' "
Patrick Mulligan, assistant director of the Heart of Camden, a grass-roots neighborhood group, called the forces behind the move "the height of hypocrisy."
"You're not doing the city any good to have one neighborhood claim its success depends on the death of another," he said.
Under the agreement, Parkside Recovery will lease 7,500 square feet on the first floor of building P1 and P2 within Broadway Terminal for 10 years for $3.50 a square foot, or $26,256 a year. The port also will provide 40 parking spaces on the opposite side of Broadway and space within the port for a mobile van.
The new site will be 1,300 square feet larger than the current site. The extra room should eliminate some of the concerns expressed by residents that addicts would be spilling out onto the streets.
The new site will have a large waiting room, space for child care for those parents who come for counseling, and better security, said Parkside's Executive Director Charles Greene.
"I just can't wait to get my staff into a decent building," Greene said.
The state Division of Addiction Services is prepared to spend $1.9 million on renovations to the port building.
The port will bid the work out in March and hope to begin construction in April or May. By October, the port expects the old clinic to close and the new one to open, said Marlin Peterson, the newly named assistant executive director of the South Jersey Port Corp., a quasi-state agency.
Also on Tuesday, Kevin Castagnola was named acting executive director Tuesday. Castagnola will fill in temporarily for Joseph Balzano, who is recovering from an illness.
Reach Eileen Stilwell at (856) 486-2464 or estilwell@courierpostonline.com
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Redevelopment Proposed for Broadway
If you look past or ignore the illegal activity on Broadway, you will find a busy commercial corridor.
More to come...
Again, Camden plans opposed
Lawsuits are trying to stop the redevelopment of the Lanning Square neighborhood.
By Matt Katz
Inquirer Staff Writer
What, exactly, is a bad neighborhood?
That's the question before a court as property owners in Camden challenge the city's latest redevelopment plan.
Lawsuits filed this week threaten a project in Lanning Square, the neighborhood next to Cooper University Hospital, that would bring new and rehabilitated housing while turning the Broadway commercial strip into a health campus with new shops and a medical school.
Two suits against the city - one filed by 40 residents, the other by the owner of stores on Broadway - question how the city determined that Lanning Square is blighted.
Without a blight designation, the city cannot declare an area a redevelopment zone. Without a redevelopment designation, the city cannot acquire property, through eminent domain or otherwise, for economic development.
The suits argue that the Camden Redevelopment Agency conducted an arbitrary analysis of the properties without taking into account a thriving, improving, 51-acre community.
And the residents allege that City Council, in unanimously voting to approve the redevelopment plan last month, ignored concerns that redevelopment makes all properties subject to acquisition for 25 years.
The project is the third proposal in four years for the neighborhood, and was intended to signal a new approach to redevelopment under the city's chief operating officer, Theodore Z. Davis.
The redevelopment plan limits the number of properties to be acquired to three occupied homes for an elementary school and 14 businesses on the first blocks of Broadway. Also, more community input was sought than in previous years.
Davis was unavailable yesterday to comment. Officials from the Redevelopment Agency said they could not speak about litigation.
A third suit was filed yesterday against South Jersey Port Corp., a state-created agency, because it has taken steps to move a methadone clinic from Broadway in Lanning Square to the port in the Waterfront South neighborhood.
The removal of the clinic was used as a selling point for the redevelopment plan because the clinic is believed to attract illegal activity. That's exactly why Andrea Ferich, a Waterfront South resident, filed the suit. She has said the clinic will hurt her community's efforts to rebuild.
Last month, South Jersey Port hired a consultant to estimate the cost of turning port space into a clinic, but the 1968 state law that created the corporation does not allow it to lease to nonmaritime operations, according to the suit.
Neither Joseph Balzano, the port's executive director, nor Richard Alaimo, chairman of its board of directors, returned calls for comment.
The Ferich suit does not strike at the heart of the Lanning Square plan, but the other two suits do.
The attorney for the residents, Olga Pomar of South Jersey Legal Services, has successfully represented three other communities - Cramer Hill, Waterfront South and Bergen Square - in their fights against redevelopment and eminent domain.
In all of those cases, the redevelopment plans were thrown out because of procedural mistakes by the city.
In the Lanning Square case, Pomar is not arguing that there were mistakes. But she hopes to capitalize on recent court rulings that demand that cities be specific in determining blight.
"That definition of blight kept getting stretched broader and broader, so it started seeming that it was just for the purpose of private development and helping a developer have a more profitable, more feasible project," Pomar said.
She argued that the neighborhood should be "rehabilitated," which does not include eminent domain, rather than "redeveloped."
The suit says much of the alleged blight is the city's fault because it failed to maintain its own properties, and it argues that the percentage of Lanning Square buildings in good condition rose from 23 percent to 50 percent from 2005 to 2008.
The other suit, filed Wednesday by Carmel Realty, the owner of Valu-Plus and other stores on Broadway, says the Broadway shopping district is both "active" and "vibrant."
Carmel argues that the city did not interview property owners or do interior inspections to determine blight.
There is no evidence, the suit says, "that condition of the subject properties - consisting of retail and accessory uses - is 'detrimental to the safety, health, morals or welfare of the community.' "
Contact staff writer Matt Katz at 856-779-3919 or mkatz@phillynews.com.
More to come...
Again, Camden plans opposed
Lawsuits are trying to stop the redevelopment of the Lanning Square neighborhood.
By Matt Katz
Inquirer Staff Writer
What, exactly, is a bad neighborhood?
That's the question before a court as property owners in Camden challenge the city's latest redevelopment plan.
Lawsuits filed this week threaten a project in Lanning Square, the neighborhood next to Cooper University Hospital, that would bring new and rehabilitated housing while turning the Broadway commercial strip into a health campus with new shops and a medical school.
Two suits against the city - one filed by 40 residents, the other by the owner of stores on Broadway - question how the city determined that Lanning Square is blighted.
Without a blight designation, the city cannot declare an area a redevelopment zone. Without a redevelopment designation, the city cannot acquire property, through eminent domain or otherwise, for economic development.
The suits argue that the Camden Redevelopment Agency conducted an arbitrary analysis of the properties without taking into account a thriving, improving, 51-acre community.
And the residents allege that City Council, in unanimously voting to approve the redevelopment plan last month, ignored concerns that redevelopment makes all properties subject to acquisition for 25 years.
The project is the third proposal in four years for the neighborhood, and was intended to signal a new approach to redevelopment under the city's chief operating officer, Theodore Z. Davis.
The redevelopment plan limits the number of properties to be acquired to three occupied homes for an elementary school and 14 businesses on the first blocks of Broadway. Also, more community input was sought than in previous years.
Davis was unavailable yesterday to comment. Officials from the Redevelopment Agency said they could not speak about litigation.
A third suit was filed yesterday against South Jersey Port Corp., a state-created agency, because it has taken steps to move a methadone clinic from Broadway in Lanning Square to the port in the Waterfront South neighborhood.
The removal of the clinic was used as a selling point for the redevelopment plan because the clinic is believed to attract illegal activity. That's exactly why Andrea Ferich, a Waterfront South resident, filed the suit. She has said the clinic will hurt her community's efforts to rebuild.
Last month, South Jersey Port hired a consultant to estimate the cost of turning port space into a clinic, but the 1968 state law that created the corporation does not allow it to lease to nonmaritime operations, according to the suit.
Neither Joseph Balzano, the port's executive director, nor Richard Alaimo, chairman of its board of directors, returned calls for comment.
The Ferich suit does not strike at the heart of the Lanning Square plan, but the other two suits do.
The attorney for the residents, Olga Pomar of South Jersey Legal Services, has successfully represented three other communities - Cramer Hill, Waterfront South and Bergen Square - in their fights against redevelopment and eminent domain.
In all of those cases, the redevelopment plans were thrown out because of procedural mistakes by the city.
In the Lanning Square case, Pomar is not arguing that there were mistakes. But she hopes to capitalize on recent court rulings that demand that cities be specific in determining blight.
"That definition of blight kept getting stretched broader and broader, so it started seeming that it was just for the purpose of private development and helping a developer have a more profitable, more feasible project," Pomar said.
She argued that the neighborhood should be "rehabilitated," which does not include eminent domain, rather than "redeveloped."
The suit says much of the alleged blight is the city's fault because it failed to maintain its own properties, and it argues that the percentage of Lanning Square buildings in good condition rose from 23 percent to 50 percent from 2005 to 2008.
The other suit, filed Wednesday by Carmel Realty, the owner of Valu-Plus and other stores on Broadway, says the Broadway shopping district is both "active" and "vibrant."
Carmel argues that the city did not interview property owners or do interior inspections to determine blight.
There is no evidence, the suit says, "that condition of the subject properties - consisting of retail and accessory uses - is 'detrimental to the safety, health, morals or welfare of the community.' "
Contact staff writer Matt Katz at 856-779-3919 or mkatz@phillynews.com.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
First Map of Camden
Hopeworks, a technology nonprofit for youth in Camden, recently produced this map.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Quoted from DRPA Public Hearing in Inquirer
Karen Heller: A cash machine known as DRPA
By Karen Heller Inquirer Columnist
Driving over the Ben Franklin Bridge as the sun slipped behind the city, I wondered where my $3 toll contribution would travel. Would $1 be indirectly kicked toward Chester's soccer complex, another $1 to dredging the Delaware, and the last headed for the National Museum of American Jewish History?
Oh, the places my bills could go!
Such thoughts occurred after the first of two public rate-increase hearings held by the Delaware River Port Authority. The crowd was angry and vocal, though "less than I expected," said Jeffrey Nash, DRPA board vice chairman.
That's what happens when you conduct hearings during a July heat wave in Camden and at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, places most commuters don't live.
In the last nine years, DRPA disbursed $375 million in "economic development" to the Kimmel Center, the National Constitution Center, and Lincoln Financial Field. Today, the authority is $1.2 billion in debt. It has proposed raising PATCO fees 10 percent and tolls a buck, the latter a 33 percent increase.
If DRPA were a publicly held company, no one would invest. The head reels studying the intricate nest of political connections. It's a river-based House of Borgia given to absurd expenditures directed toward well-connected pals.
This year, three-quarters of DRPA's $229 million annual revenues will go for debt service, lovely salaries and swell pensions.
So the authority goes trawling for rate increases, income from citizens like AmeriCorps worker Nicole Yarbrough, who spends $150 monthly of her not-so-grand paycheck commuting on public transit.
"I don't want to drive," she said. "But this is costing as much."
"The whole focus of the country is to increase use of mass transit," said Alan Basewitz, a commuter and lawyer. "PATCO ridership is up, and what do they do? Propose raising rates, the one thing to do to decrease use."
Earlier this year, Nash declared that "the days of throwing money into the Delaware River are over."
No, instead DRPA lobbed $10 million to Chester.
That amount is "a fraction of what we need," CEO John Matheussen said. To him, $10 million "wouldn't make a large difference in the amount of a toll increase."
"Ten million dollars is a lot of money," Nash concurred, in what begins to sound like DRPA's mantra, "but it's not going to repave the Walt Whitman Bridge."
Really, it couldn't hurt.
The bridge needs $170 million in redecking. Ten million here, $5 million there, and pretty soon you're talking real money.
This spending is akin to looking at your home's leaking roof and ballooning mortgage and deciding you need to build a pool. For your cousin in Altoona.
Troubled waters
William Love is the kind of taxpayer officials dread. He's a CPA, a former comptroller, a numbers guy. He arrived the other night with charts and a fat binder.
"These are farce meetings. They come with doom and gloom," he said. "They never show the public actual projections of operating expenses and revenues. You can't trust them. They're rife with waste and patronage."
DRPA has $35 million in an economic-development fund that has yet to be allocated. At the hearing, Matheussen and four other officials - cumulative annual income: $657,754 - refused to say what they would do with that money.
"Yes, $35 million is a lot of money, but that would not change what we need even if it was returned to the general fund," Nash said.
Oh, that again.
People don't want to pay for stadiums or a museum when the bridge they're on needs repairs and debt service clots at $271,233 daily.
"They're asking us to pay more because of their incompetence and malfeasance," Basewitz said.
The rate-hike vote is scheduled for next month. If approved, the initial increase goes into effect in September; the second in 2010. If you don't think this is a done deal, well, I've got a bridge to sell you.
By Karen Heller Inquirer Columnist
Driving over the Ben Franklin Bridge as the sun slipped behind the city, I wondered where my $3 toll contribution would travel. Would $1 be indirectly kicked toward Chester's soccer complex, another $1 to dredging the Delaware, and the last headed for the National Museum of American Jewish History?
Oh, the places my bills could go!
Such thoughts occurred after the first of two public rate-increase hearings held by the Delaware River Port Authority. The crowd was angry and vocal, though "less than I expected," said Jeffrey Nash, DRPA board vice chairman.
That's what happens when you conduct hearings during a July heat wave in Camden and at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, places most commuters don't live.
In the last nine years, DRPA disbursed $375 million in "economic development" to the Kimmel Center, the National Constitution Center, and Lincoln Financial Field. Today, the authority is $1.2 billion in debt. It has proposed raising PATCO fees 10 percent and tolls a buck, the latter a 33 percent increase.
If DRPA were a publicly held company, no one would invest. The head reels studying the intricate nest of political connections. It's a river-based House of Borgia given to absurd expenditures directed toward well-connected pals.
This year, three-quarters of DRPA's $229 million annual revenues will go for debt service, lovely salaries and swell pensions.
So the authority goes trawling for rate increases, income from citizens like AmeriCorps worker Nicole Yarbrough, who spends $150 monthly of her not-so-grand paycheck commuting on public transit.
"I don't want to drive," she said. "But this is costing as much."
"The whole focus of the country is to increase use of mass transit," said Alan Basewitz, a commuter and lawyer. "PATCO ridership is up, and what do they do? Propose raising rates, the one thing to do to decrease use."
Earlier this year, Nash declared that "the days of throwing money into the Delaware River are over."
No, instead DRPA lobbed $10 million to Chester.
That amount is "a fraction of what we need," CEO John Matheussen said. To him, $10 million "wouldn't make a large difference in the amount of a toll increase."
"Ten million dollars is a lot of money," Nash concurred, in what begins to sound like DRPA's mantra, "but it's not going to repave the Walt Whitman Bridge."
Really, it couldn't hurt.
The bridge needs $170 million in redecking. Ten million here, $5 million there, and pretty soon you're talking real money.
This spending is akin to looking at your home's leaking roof and ballooning mortgage and deciding you need to build a pool. For your cousin in Altoona.
Troubled waters
William Love is the kind of taxpayer officials dread. He's a CPA, a former comptroller, a numbers guy. He arrived the other night with charts and a fat binder.
"These are farce meetings. They come with doom and gloom," he said. "They never show the public actual projections of operating expenses and revenues. You can't trust them. They're rife with waste and patronage."
DRPA has $35 million in an economic-development fund that has yet to be allocated. At the hearing, Matheussen and four other officials - cumulative annual income: $657,754 - refused to say what they would do with that money.
"Yes, $35 million is a lot of money, but that would not change what we need even if it was returned to the general fund," Nash said.
Oh, that again.
People don't want to pay for stadiums or a museum when the bridge they're on needs repairs and debt service clots at $271,233 daily.
"They're asking us to pay more because of their incompetence and malfeasance," Basewitz said.
The rate-hike vote is scheduled for next month. If approved, the initial increase goes into effect in September; the second in 2010. If you don't think this is a done deal, well, I've got a bridge to sell you.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Camden Police Chief did an Excellent Job and was a Great Partner with FMS
He did an excellent job, and I am sorry to see him go. He was a great partner of Fairview Main Street roped in by Sue, the previous executive director. Because he was very hands on, FMS was able to demand a better police presence in Fairview than it had previously last year when rotations started. It was also important for the business community, because they received crime information and learned ways to avoid crime.
Inquirer Editorial: Camden's Police Chief
Another step back
Tue, Jul. 22, 2008
After only seven months on the job, Camden Police Chief Edward Hargis has decided to step down and leave the troubled department in limbo once again.
His sudden decision to depart is disappointing and will leave the department facing its sixth leadership change in six years.
This comes amid escalating violence in the impoverished city of 79,000 residents. So far this year, Camden has had 32 homicides, compared with 42 for all of 2007.
Hargis, 44, plans to retire from the force, effective Sept. 1, to take an undisclosed job in the private sector. It is believed to be a better-paying position, but he hasn't said.
This should have been a difficult decision for Hargis, a 21-year veteran and former deputy chief of the Camden force. He says it was in the best interest of his family.
Family should always come first, but this is a bitter pill for a city with one of the highest per-capita murder rates in the country.
Hargis became the city's top cop in January. Since then, he has helped stabilize the force, boost morale and restore public confidence.
Hargis had the right background and experience to garner support from the rank-and-file and union leaders. That helped squash the type of bickering that occurred previously when outsiders were chosen to lead the department.
The Police Department appeared headed in the right direction with Hargis overseeing day-to-day operations, while interim civilian police director John Huertas handled policy and budget matters.
By most accounts, the two worked well together, realigning and reorganizing the 500-member department. They implemented a strategy to deploy more officers to high-crime areas during peak hours.
In May, the department kicked off a summer-long anti-violence campaign, "Caring for Camden," that linked the city's residents with social-service providers, and business and religious leaders.
The crime strategy has yielded mixed results. But Hargis deserves credit for seeking to make a dent in crime with tactics to get more illegal weapons off the streets, enforce a curfew for minors and target neighborhood crime to improve the quality of life for the people of Camden.
The state took over the department after Chief Robert Allenbach was ousted in 2003. The Attorney General's Office put the department under the supervision of the county Prosecutor's Office. Since then, it's been like a revolving door at the top.
Now, the state needs to work closely with Mayor Gwendolyn Faison and other stakeholders to quickly name a permanent chief. The best person, whether from inside the department or not, must be found to effectively fight crime in the city.
Inquirer Editorial: Camden's Police Chief
Another step back
Tue, Jul. 22, 2008
After only seven months on the job, Camden Police Chief Edward Hargis has decided to step down and leave the troubled department in limbo once again.
His sudden decision to depart is disappointing and will leave the department facing its sixth leadership change in six years.
This comes amid escalating violence in the impoverished city of 79,000 residents. So far this year, Camden has had 32 homicides, compared with 42 for all of 2007.
Hargis, 44, plans to retire from the force, effective Sept. 1, to take an undisclosed job in the private sector. It is believed to be a better-paying position, but he hasn't said.
This should have been a difficult decision for Hargis, a 21-year veteran and former deputy chief of the Camden force. He says it was in the best interest of his family.
Family should always come first, but this is a bitter pill for a city with one of the highest per-capita murder rates in the country.
Hargis became the city's top cop in January. Since then, he has helped stabilize the force, boost morale and restore public confidence.
Hargis had the right background and experience to garner support from the rank-and-file and union leaders. That helped squash the type of bickering that occurred previously when outsiders were chosen to lead the department.
The Police Department appeared headed in the right direction with Hargis overseeing day-to-day operations, while interim civilian police director John Huertas handled policy and budget matters.
By most accounts, the two worked well together, realigning and reorganizing the 500-member department. They implemented a strategy to deploy more officers to high-crime areas during peak hours.
In May, the department kicked off a summer-long anti-violence campaign, "Caring for Camden," that linked the city's residents with social-service providers, and business and religious leaders.
The crime strategy has yielded mixed results. But Hargis deserves credit for seeking to make a dent in crime with tactics to get more illegal weapons off the streets, enforce a curfew for minors and target neighborhood crime to improve the quality of life for the people of Camden.
The state took over the department after Chief Robert Allenbach was ousted in 2003. The Attorney General's Office put the department under the supervision of the county Prosecutor's Office. Since then, it's been like a revolving door at the top.
Now, the state needs to work closely with Mayor Gwendolyn Faison and other stakeholders to quickly name a permanent chief. The best person, whether from inside the department or not, must be found to effectively fight crime in the city.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Harrassed in Fairview
I discovered at the latest Board meeting from other members that they have been verbally attacked by one of Fairview's longstanding residents! And it was not the first time over the duration of several weeks. In particular, this resident, BJ, came to a committee meeting I was at with only the Chair, with the purpose of taking the same actions to accost her and then issue a long tirade about why the Chair had not said anything to prevent the layoff of the Executive Director (ED).
more to come...
more to come...
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Can I Change my VISTA Job Description Please?
So I waited for over two months for the Board of Directors to revise my vague job description. When the executive director was laid off, I worried that I would be encumbered with additional responsibilities and tasks because there are no other staff. Instead, I continued working on my projects and actually progressed much faster.
In addition, I revised my job description with hopes that the next VISTA would have better direction than I did. It describes exactly what I did for the ten months I have been placed with Fairview Main Street. I am still waiting for feedback. It will be interesting to hear what they say because I never did receive a traditional evaluation. I also think an evaluation would be beneficial for both the Board and their personnel policies and myself to have a clear understanding of my role and how to accomplish these responsibilities. It would also help me more instead of a simple pat on the pack and telling me how good I am doing.
Lastly, I have advocated for a job title so the VISTA can have value in the organization and outsiders can have a general idea the VISTA's role. I used to be introduced as an assistant to my executive director or as an intern! It was very frustrating because it appeared that I was there to support the staff and Board. The diminishing line between what I was supposed to be doing was burdening me with administrative tasks. Actually, it hindered my performance of working to accomplish my responsibilities and fulfilling my commitment to the organization. It also degraded their commitment to the VISTA program and me, because I was not there for such work when I was supposed to be learning, developing professionally, and aiding the organization.
Revised job description:
Title: VISTA Worker – Community Development Coordinator
Supervisor: President of the Board of Directors
Description: The VISTA worker would participate in the following activities to further the mission and goals of Fairview Main Street:
Assist FMS in increasing the community’s knowledge and awareness of the Main Street program and other community development initiatives as well as the benefits it provides
• Represent FMS at community meetings and participate at public events
• Create quality printed literature to promote FMS and events
• Write and disseminate press releases and letters
Work to increase the membership of each of the four standing committees
• Develop 30 minute volunteer program to streamline recruitment and tasks for committee events
• Coordinate other volunteer organizations for FMS activities and identify new volunteer organizations
• Maintain volunteer ads posted on volunteer websites
• Update and create volunteer job descriptions for committee events
• Distribute volunteer applications at FMS events and public events
Working with the Board of Directors on grant-writing and fund development research to secure additional funds for the program and committees
• Maintain and update fund development folder, donor and grant research databases, and boilerplate documents
• Assist to identify, research, and cultivate potential funders
• Work in collaboration with partnership organizations
• Develop and write funding proposals for projects and for organization support
• Together with Board and Executive Director, develop strategic plans for pursuing funding opportunities
Program development and project management
• Coordinate the local farmer’s market in conjunction with Area Health Education Centers of Camden
• Develop project ideas with Board and Executive Director by creating project objectives, goals, proposals and work plans with tasks, timelines, and budgets, including background research on project areas
• Work with partners and interns to implement projects
Working always beyond the narrow confines of this job description to advance the goals of Fairview Main Street as an organization
In addition, I revised my job description with hopes that the next VISTA would have better direction than I did. It describes exactly what I did for the ten months I have been placed with Fairview Main Street. I am still waiting for feedback. It will be interesting to hear what they say because I never did receive a traditional evaluation. I also think an evaluation would be beneficial for both the Board and their personnel policies and myself to have a clear understanding of my role and how to accomplish these responsibilities. It would also help me more instead of a simple pat on the pack and telling me how good I am doing.
Lastly, I have advocated for a job title so the VISTA can have value in the organization and outsiders can have a general idea the VISTA's role. I used to be introduced as an assistant to my executive director or as an intern! It was very frustrating because it appeared that I was there to support the staff and Board. The diminishing line between what I was supposed to be doing was burdening me with administrative tasks. Actually, it hindered my performance of working to accomplish my responsibilities and fulfilling my commitment to the organization. It also degraded their commitment to the VISTA program and me, because I was not there for such work when I was supposed to be learning, developing professionally, and aiding the organization.
Revised job description:
Title: VISTA Worker – Community Development Coordinator
Supervisor: President of the Board of Directors
Description: The VISTA worker would participate in the following activities to further the mission and goals of Fairview Main Street:
Assist FMS in increasing the community’s knowledge and awareness of the Main Street program and other community development initiatives as well as the benefits it provides
• Represent FMS at community meetings and participate at public events
• Create quality printed literature to promote FMS and events
• Write and disseminate press releases and letters
Work to increase the membership of each of the four standing committees
• Develop 30 minute volunteer program to streamline recruitment and tasks for committee events
• Coordinate other volunteer organizations for FMS activities and identify new volunteer organizations
• Maintain volunteer ads posted on volunteer websites
• Update and create volunteer job descriptions for committee events
• Distribute volunteer applications at FMS events and public events
Working with the Board of Directors on grant-writing and fund development research to secure additional funds for the program and committees
• Maintain and update fund development folder, donor and grant research databases, and boilerplate documents
• Assist to identify, research, and cultivate potential funders
• Work in collaboration with partnership organizations
• Develop and write funding proposals for projects and for organization support
• Together with Board and Executive Director, develop strategic plans for pursuing funding opportunities
Program development and project management
• Coordinate the local farmer’s market in conjunction with Area Health Education Centers of Camden
• Develop project ideas with Board and Executive Director by creating project objectives, goals, proposals and work plans with tasks, timelines, and budgets, including background research on project areas
• Work with partners and interns to implement projects
Working always beyond the narrow confines of this job description to advance the goals of Fairview Main Street as an organization
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
