New Haven Independent

Empower New Haven (ENH) was created in 1999 as part of the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Empowerment Zone program, designed to fight poverty in specific zones nationwide. For ten years ENH has worked in New Haven’s neediest neighborhoods doing grant-making, small business development, and homeownership programs.

The federal Empowerment Zone program runs out at the end of this year; ENH is faced with the questions of how and whether to continue. With all of its service contracts set to conclude within the next two months, the agency is prepared to shut down completely. But President and CEO Althea Marshall Richardson (pictured), with an eye to the future, has applied for grant funding to keep ENH going. By November, ENH’s board of directors will have to decide on a course of action.

Richardson appeared before the Board of Aldermen’s Community Development Committee on Thursday evening to explain ENH’s situation.

ENH works in 10 census tracts in six neighborhoods: Fair Haven, Dwight, Dixwell, West Rock, and Newhallville. When the program was first created in 1999, Congress promised to fund ENH at $10 million per year for ten years.

“None of those commitments held true,” Richardson told the four aldermen present at Thursday’s hearing.

Congress came through with only $25 million, a quarter of what it promised. It sent its final Empowerment Zone funds to ENH in 2004. In the last four years, ENH has raised $6.6 million through other federal sources, as well as through the state, and private donors.

With that money, ENH has been able to provide workforce training for 6,000 people, help 158 people purchase homes, and give technical assistance and training for small businesses, Richardson reported. ENH has also provided grants and assistance to neighborhood organizations like the Grand Avenue Village Association and the Whalley Avenue Special Services District.

“So that’s been the focus of the Empowerment Zone to date,” Richardson said.

Asked about the agency’s future, Richardson said that Empower New Haven can live on even after the Empowerment Zone program ends on Dec. 31. “We are separate 501(c)3 so we can continue to operate as long as we choose to,” Richardson said. “We can close or we can stay around as a nonprofit.”

Richardson cautioned, however, that the latter might not be the best option for ENH. “It’s not in our best interest to be another nonprofit in the city, chasing after grants,” she said.

There may be more federal money available in the future for ENH, Richardson said. HUD recently announced a new Choice Neighborhoods grant program, which might be a good match for ENH, she said.

Downtown Alderwoman Bitsie Clark (pictured looking at a map of the tracts that ENH serves) expressed hope that ENH will persevere. “It would be too bad to lose the expertise and reputation that this organization has built up,” she said.

“What assistance can the Board of Aldermen offer at this juncture?” Richardson asked.

East Rock Aldermen Roland Lemar suggested that the board could sponsor a public workshop to discuss the problem. Committee Chairwoman Michelle Edmonds-Sepulveda of West Hills committed to holding a special hearing.

After the meeting, Richardson expressed hope that ENH will continue.

“It always comes down to money,” she said. ENH is waiting to hear on four federal grant applications that would fund the organization through 2011, she said.

She said that a public hearing could be helpful, to give “insight into what people’s expectation is going forward.”