The Community Place- Media Room

The Community Place One of Three Agencies Nationwide to Receive Annie E. Casey Foundation Award

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (October 26, 2007) – The Community Place of Greater Rochester was awarded the United Neighborhood Centers of America/Annie E. Casey Foundation Family Strengthening Award for its Housing Opportunities for Sustainability and Transition (HOST) Program. Just three such awards are given each year to nonprofit agencies in the United States. In addition to planning and implementation support, the award comes with a $20,000 grant.

The Community Place’s HOST Program, started in 2002, focuses on purchasing dilapidated properties in the northeast sector of the city (The Community Place’s primary service area), rehabbing them, and renting them at below-market rates to responsible community members. The program focuses on stabilizing neighborhoods by reducing transience and improving the financial wellbeing of residents. The HOST Program also has an economic development branch which incubates small businesses in the city to improve the overall economy of the city. The program currently includes 26 apartments and single-family homes and two storefronts.

“We are honored to receive this prestigious award,” said Roderick Jones, president and CEO, The Community Place. “Our work helps to strengthen the social fabric of the community so that families are better supported, the streets are safe and clean, and children have the stability they need to succeed.”

The Annie E. Casey Foundation partnered with UNCA to develop the national Family Strengthening Award program to support nonprofits with innovative, effective programs that strengthen communities and the families and children who live in them. To be recognized with the award programs must respond to the varied needs, improve the economic prospects, and create networks of support for the families they serve.

The Community Place of Greater Rochester, Inc. is a nonprofit provider of neighborhood-based human services that offers a variety of programs and services to individuals, families, children, the aging, and the developmentally disabled living in the greater Rochester area. The Community Place was formed from the merger of the former Lewis Street Center, Genesee Settlement House, and Eastside Community Center. 2007 marks The Community Place’s centennial. Find out more at www.communityplace.org.