COURT STREET VILLAGE NONPROFIT HOUSING CORPORATION

NICE INITIATIVE

Court Street Village Nonprofit developed the NICE Initiative (Neighborhood Investment for Community Enhancement) in 2009 to assist the neighborhoods we support become safe, strong and vital communities.  Beginning with the "tipping point" neighborhood of Central Park, the NICE Initiative focuses on five (5) strategies, or BLISS (Blight, Lighting, Investors, Safety and Security). The NICE Initiative was unveiled to neighborhood stakeholders in January, 2013.  

Central Park is one of the oldest neighborhoods in downtown Flint, Michigan, and its proximity to two anchor institutions, Mott Community College and UM-Flint, make the stability of this neighborhood vital. Central Park is 65% rentals, 35% owner-occupied. A large number of college students rent in the neighborhood, many of them international students. The NICE Initiative works to improve neighborhood conditions, thereby attracting homeowners, landlords, tenants and college students.

The most diverse neighborhood in the city, Central Park’s stability rests with the residents who own homes and housing conditions will continue to be dictated by the landlords who own homes here. Through the NICE Initiative, our goal is to increase the curb appeal of the neighborhood so housing values increase and the quality of life improves. This contributes to the long-term stability and safety of the neighborhood. 

I. Blight

A. PIP – Our Property Improvement Plan is designed to improve the curb appeal of homes through painting, repairing/replacing roofs, porches, steps, handrails, garage repair/demolition and windows. A condition report on each home in the neighborhood was completed in March, 2013 and a follow up in conjunction with the City of Flint took place in 2017. From 2016-2018, we received a total of $115,000 to paint 17 homes in the neighborhood.  More detail is listed below under Investor's about the Paint Project.  

B. Landscaping – Future plans are to assess homes in need of foliage trimming and removal in an effort to beautify the neighborhood and improve curb appeal. This will also deter would-be criminals that can use overgrown foliage to obscure their activity.

C. Vacant Homes – Research was completed in 2015 to determine which vacant homes are bank owned, foreclosed due to taxes, owned but empty, owned by the Land Bank, etc. We have been successful in working with the Land Bank to have a dilapidated homes in Central Park and Fairfield Village demolished. Each neighborhood is currently compiling a list of homes to be added to the Land Bank's demolition list and we continue to seek funding to rehabilitate livable homes. 

II. Lighting

The lighting in Central Park did not have an adequate footprint, causing pockets of dark areas throughout the neighborhood. Students and homeowners walking at night felt unsafe. In addition, the Mercury Vapor and High Pressure Sodium light fixtures were outdated and not cost efficient. Court Street Village presented a plan, and budget, to a local nonprofit in May, 2013. Funding was approved by the McFarlan Charitable Foundation and we collaborated with Consumers Energy and City of Flint officials to begin plans for the conversion. Five test light fixtures were installed by Consumer's Energy in August, 2014. The remaining 45 fixtures were completed on December 5, 2014.  An additional ten LED street lights were installed in July, 2015.  This was a cutting-edge project that directly involved residents from the Central Park Neighborhood Association.  Since the completion of the project, the effort is being replicated throughout the city.  Funding was secured in 2018 to convert 41 street lights in Fairfield Village to LED.  We are proud to be the only 2 neighborhoods in the City of Flint where street lights have been converted to LED - where people actually live. We thank our partners; City of Flint, Habitat for Humanity, Community Foudnation of Greater Flint, McFarlan Charitable Foundation and Consumers Energy.  

III. Investors

The Central Park neighborhood is 65% rental. Some landlords lack the initiative to keep their properties attractive. In addition, there is a disconnect between landlords, homeowners and renters. Our goal is to beautify the neighborhood by improving housing conditions, bridge the gap between all stakeholders, and establish accountability.

A. CPC (Central Park Certified) – We are developing a program that would allow landlords to become “certified”. This includes working with the city of Flint on code enforcement. Once a landlord passes city inspection and criteria set forth by the Investors Committee, they will be able to utilize services through the program. This includes usage of a standardized lease agreement and access to credit and background checks. Increasing the caliber of renters will result in less turn-over. Less turn-over will result in higher profits for landlords. Higher profits will result in positive cash flow, which will allow landlords to maintain and beautify their property.  We received a grant from the Community Foundation of Greater Flint in 2017 that helped fund materials to move CPC forward.  This includes plaques that will be mounted to the exterior of rental homes that become CPC. There is more information under the "Landlord" tab regarding the program, however, the program is currently at a standstill while the city implements rental code compliance.  Our goal for 2019, is to form a coalition to petition the City of Flint to enforce rental code. 

B. Landlord/Tenant Handbooks – One segment of becoming CPC is the ability to use a standardized landlord handbook and tenant manual. This will help landlords become consistent with their rental policy and procedures. The tenant handbook will inform renters of expectations (ie; when to put trash to the curb, inform them of recycling criteria, etc.). Better communication and consistent policy will make for better landlords and tenants and assist in bridging the gap between renters, landlords and homeowners. The Community Foundation of Greater Flint issued CSVNP a grant to have the landlord/tenant manual printed on CD in 2014, and additional funding in 2017 to have hard copies printed and the manuals duplicated on flash drives. 

 

IV. Safety

After a rash of B&E’s in the Central Park neighborhood in 2012, allegedly by neighborhood youth, Court Street Village assisted the neighbohrood in establishing a Safety Committee. The following are initiatives that came as a result of the committee meetings.

A. Youth Council – After the B&E’s occurred in Central Park, we discovered many adults in the neighborhood could not properly identify the youth. This was an opportunity to bridge the gap between neighborhood youth and adults. Because of the many renters, transient youth did not feel connected to the neighborhood and there was no sense of pride. We began with a brainstorming session involving neighborhood teenagers in September, 2012.  The Youth Council remained active until May, 2015 when seventeen of our eighteen active youth relocated out of the city due to the high cost of water.  As youth are beginning to move into the Fairfield Village neighborhood, our plan is to replicate the Youth Council concept into that neighborhood.

B. Patrols – We have been working with Mott Campus Police and they have increased their presence in the neighborhood. We will further attempts to work with the UM-Flint campus police to do the same. UM-Flint’s investment in the UAH (Urban Alternative House) on Eddy Street increases their stake in this neighborhood, along with the number of students who rent in the neighborhood. 

C. Cameras – In summer, 2013, CPNA purchased one wireless camera that can be moved easily to known “hot spots” throughout the neighborhood. A second wireless camera was purchased with funding from the Community Foundation of Greater Flint in November, 2014.  The Fairfield Village Safety chairperson and CSVNP met with officials from the City of Flint Police Department in January 2019 to begin discussions regarding piloting a neighborhood surveillance camera system.