500 delegates rally for funds
The Baton Rouge Advocate, March 18, 2007
More than 500 delegates to a community leaders' statewide meeting appealed on Saturday to state officials, lawmakers and the governor to get the Road Home program moving, so Hurricane Katrina victims can rebuild. Representatives of the Network of Louisiana Industrial Areas Foundation, a coalition of 100 community groups, all agreed on a four-tier action plan for hurricane recovery.
Said Rev. Jesse Pate, a leader with The Jeremiah Group in New Orleans, to loud applause: “We propose that ICF (International) be held accountable to meet benchmarks of 7,000 closings in March, 8,000 by mid-April and 10,000 a month thereafter until everyone is back home.“
Agreement aims to increase penalties for Road Home contractor ICF
New Orleans City Business, April 23, 2007
Performance requirements and penalties for The Road Home contractor, ICF International, will be renegotiated under a recent agreement reached by the Office of Community Development and community members. The Jeremiah Group and the Louisiana IAF Network of Organizations reached the agreement, which also clarifies ambiguities in the recently-signed Road Home Performance Measurement Plan.
Grass Roots Group Prevails on Bureaucracy
LA Political Fax Weekly, 4/27/07
It's not often that a volunteer, grass-roots organization pressures a government bureaucracy into even a minor course correction. But the Jeremiah Group, relatively new to Louisiana, prevailed upon the state Office of Community Development this week to toughen performance standards and penalties with ICF International, the Road Home contractor.
Shield sought for rental recovery
The Times Picayune, May 31, 2007
Fifty clergy peered down expectantly from a Central City church pulpit Wednesday at Louisiana Recovery Authority Housing Chairman Walter Leger, waiting for him to promise that money meant to revitalize the area's devastated rental housing market won't be redirected to cover a shortfall in the state's homeowner-aid program. "We should not be required to rob Peter to pay Paul," Leger told the leaders of the faith-based Jeremiah Group hovering above him on steps inside the New Zion Baptist Church.
LRA Approves Motion by Jeremiah Group
99.5 FM, July 30, 2007
With the proposal by The Jeremiah Group that passed at the July 30th meeting, the small rental assistance program, which received $12 million in cuts, will now be cut by only $2.5 million. The Supportive Services program, which provides assistance to homeless and special needs citizens, will be completely restored from the $2.5 million in proposed cuts.
The Jeremiah Group discovered $5.7 million in unallocated money in its analysis of the LRA budget which is helping restore the two rental programs.
Going to Congress
The Times Picayune, July 31, 2007
After bowing to pressure from a faith-based community group not to strip as much money from rental aid in order to help the homeowner program, the LRA asked the advocates to join state leaders on future trips to Washington to ask for more Road Home money.
”You're going to be a pretty tough 'no,' “LRA member David Voelker said to about 20 members of the New Orleans-based Jeremiah Group, church leaders who had come to Baton Rouge to make sure that about $12 million of rental relief slated for shifting stayed put.
Road Home standards tightened: More award letters, closings required
The Times Picayune, August 2, 2007
After being criticized for going easy on its Road Home contractor, the state has implemented its strongest performance requirements and potential fines to date, a year into ICF International's troubled management of the homeowner hurricane aid program.