News and Events
- Jordi Reyes-Montblanc, community activist and our longtime board member, passed away
 in December.
It is with great sadness and a profound sense of loss that we
report the
passing of Jordi Reyes-Montblanc, Vice Chairman, and friend, in late December. He was 65. Jordi was a tireless crusader
for the preservation and promotion of HDFCs (Housing Development Fund Corporations) in New York City Later
in life, mutual housing became
a passion for Jordi as well. He was deeply involved in community affairs in his
beloved Manhattanville and served as Chairperson of Community Board 9.
See PFNewsletterInsert
- Parodneck urges Congress to consider "bottom-up" approach to bail-out of the financial services industry.
On Sept 25th, a letter, BailoutLettertoCongress, was sent from the Parodneck Foundation to twelve Members of Congress on the House Financial Services and Senate Banking Committees, covering all New York area members as well as the Chairs and Ranking members.
It represents an alternative perspective on the bail-out of the financial services industry -- a “bottom up” approach that should be considered as well as the “top down” approaches currently under discussion. If you have comments, please send them to:
ccollier@parodneckfoundation.org or hderienzo@parodneckfoundation.org
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- CATCH Develops Seven New Affordable Brownstones in Central Harlem for
First Time Homebuyers .
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A lottery was held Tuesday, September 9th at Logan Gardens (a CATCH building for seniors and the disabled) for the seven newly renovated three family brownstones on West 124th, 127th and 129th Streets. Over 400 names were entered in the lottery and all were drawn in order with the first seven to be notified shortly of their acceptance. The balance were placed on a wait list.
Each completely renovated brownstone is an attached three family home with a two bedroom duplex unit for the owner and two one bedroom rental units.
Home prices range from $455,695 to $668,693 and preference will be given to current residents of Harlem. Income restrictions require that applicants have incomes below 165% (based on household size) of the Area Median Income.
Four home purchase workshops on the roles and responsibilities of homeowners were held in August by CATCH for lottery participants.
The homes were offered by CATCH through the Neighborhood Housing Program (NHP) in partnership with the City’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development and the Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development.
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The Food Museum, (http://www.nyfoodmuseum.org), a lively and interesting New York City-based online museum (which occasionally presents physical exhibits), is planning an online exhibit on the history of the Consumer-Farmer Milk Cooperative and the Consumer-Farmer Foundation, the precursors of the Parodneck Foundation.
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Their interest in the history of milk in New York City lead them to “rediscover” both organizations and their founder Meyer Parodneck. We have helped them with access to our archives and are looking forward to their exhibit in 2009.
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In the Museum’s recent newsletter, FoodMuseumNewsletter2 they have presented an interesting history of the early “Milk Wars” of the 1930s and Meyer Parodneck’s role. For those interested in the history of food, we think you will find this piece and their larger work an interesting discovery.
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- "Where the Foreclosures Are" - Parodneck on the Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC- April 11/08
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"Dwayne Jones, Director of Lending at the Parodneck Foundation, a nonprofit that does foreclosure default and intervention counseling, and Eileen Markey, freelance journalist, talk about the neighborhoods that are hit the hardest by the subprime mortage crisis". Listen to the interview here.
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- Logan Gardens for seniors and the disabled rededicated
On Thursday,March 20th, nearly a hundred invited guests, dignitaries and residents rededicated Logan Gardens at West 131st Street in Harlem in honor of Dr. Arthur C. Logan.
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The former distressed apartment building has been transformed by CATCH into a thriving home for 102 senior and disabled residents. The event also celebrated and revived a part of Harlem history that had been lost. The building once housed Knickerbocker Hospital, whose guiding force was Dr. Logan, who was a leading civil rights activist and prominent surgeon, as well as the personal physician to such luminaries as Dr. Martin Luther King and Duke Ellington. Dr. Logan was also a tireless advocate for the poor.
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The crowd was addressed by Executive Director Carlton Collier, Kim Hardy, Deputy Commissioner of NY City's HPD, Martin Smith from Councilmember Robert Jackson’s office, and Warren Logan, Dr. Logan's son, and others. A proclamation from Mayor Bloomberg was also presented to building resident Marjorie Callender on her 100th birthday. A reception in the 11th floor Community Room followed.
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- Parodneck receives substantial coverage in major French newsweekly, L'Express Feb. 7, 2008
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 Titled "The American Nightmare",the article quoted extensively from Parodneck staff and our remediation clients. Its headline read ... "The poorest, generally immigrants and minorities, have found themselves trapped by high risk loans that unscrupulous lenders sold them. Thus tens of thousands of New Yorkers were plunged into a downward spiral of poverty". See FrenchPressFeb2-08 and below in Press Coverage.
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- Parodneck executive Harry DeRienzo authors book on community development - February, 2008
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Titled "The Concept of Community, Lessons from the Bronx " and published in English by an Italian publisher, it is now available in the US. A quote on the dust jacket describes the book as ".....a wonderful hands-on blend of theory, practice and community history woven together by an abridged autobiography of a truly special and dedicated community builder....". For excerpts and ordering information, see The Concept of Community.
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- Two recent Parodneck grants.
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JPMorgan Chase recently awarded a $60,000 grant to Parodneck to support its CATCH Mutual Housing Association Program and its Citywide Mortgage Remediation Program. On January 16th, Jenny Low, JPMorgan Chase Community Relations Officer, presented a check to Carlton Collier, Parodneck Foundation Executive Director/CEO outside 310 West 153rd Street, the site of a recently renovated 30 unit CATCH building in Central Harlem.
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L-R: Tadessech Scott-Lewis, Project Manager; Annemarie Griglik, Smart Start intern of JPMorgan Chase, Jenny Low, Marcia Evans, Central Harlem Mutual Housing Association (CHMHA) Board President, Carlton Collier, and Russell Charles, CHMHA Vice President.
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Also, on January 15th, at Queens Borough Hall, Queens Borough President Helen Marshall, in her 2008 State of the Borough address, announced a $20,000 grant to the Foundation for activities in Queens of our Citywide Mortgage Remediation program.
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Ms. Marshall noted that “to keep our neighborhoods strong, today I am announcing a quarter-of-a-million dollar allocation from my office to several organizations that assist victims of the mortgage foreclosure crisis. Do you know that one in every 622 Queens households is in foreclosure?”
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- Parodneck staff joins Anti Foreclosure rally in Queens
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City Council Member James Sanders invited the Rev. Jesse Jackson to a rally at St. Luke Baptist Church on 232nd Street in Queens on Dec. 18th. Parodneck staff Dwayne Jones, Director of Lending (pictured), and Sotirios Assimacopoulos, Remediation Specialist, were also invited and spoke at the rally
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- Home Repair Loans Networking Breakfast ……..December 6th/07
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Over 50 members of community based organizations and city and state agencies attended a SCHAP networking breakfast to hear more about the Foundation’s Senior Citizen Homeowner Assistance Program. Attendees learned how the program provides home repair loans to senior homeowners and also serves as “an early warning system” for much of the predatory lending activity so much in the news recently. Also present was Manhattan Council member Robert Jackson who made brief welcoming remarks focused on the mortgage foreclosure crisis.
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A Parodneck Service Award was presented to Regina Enman of the city’s Weatherization Referral and Packaging Program (WRAP) for referring several hundred clients to us over the last five years.
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We also heard moving testimony from Inez Taylor, a Queens homeowner and SCHAP loan recipient, who was assisted by Parodneck when she faced mortgage foreclosure proceedings which had brought her home close to the auction block.
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- Carlton Collier, Executive Director, at Drum Major Institute panel to discuss what New York and other cities can do to rehabilitate vacant properties.
Panel members on November 19th, 2007 at the Harvard Club
also included Mayor Thomas Menino of Boston,
Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer; and
Brad Lander, Director of the Pratt Center for Community Development.
For a live blog and report see
Turning Vacant Buildings Into Affordable Housing
and for a video,see
http://www.drummajorinstitute.org/events/unique_event.php?ID=50
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- Parodneck Foundation gives testimony and provides recommendations on sub-prime lending and the mortgage foreclosure crisis to the NY City Council.
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On November 20th, 2007, Carlton Collier, Executive Director and Dwayne Jones, Director of Lending,
gave testimony to the Joint Committees On Housing and Buildings and Consumer Affairs on the mortgage crisis. Also testifying were NY City HPD Commissioner Shaun Donovan and NY State Superintendent of Banks Richard Neiman, as well as others. See our full testimony at City Council Testimony - Mortgage Crisis
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News Updates ---- See New and Noteworthy - September 2007
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