-Quarterly Newsletter developed for West Elmwood Housing Development Corporation -Newsletter covers news in the West End of Providence

1. West End News
Dates to Remember:
3/28, 9:30‐12:00PM:
Elmwood Ave Tree Planting (P2)
4/9, 3:30‐5:30PM:
Ribbon Cutting at Bucklin Park
4/25, 9:00‐12:00PM:
Earth Day Cleanup (P2)
5/2: WEHDC Gospel Concert
5/15: Bucklin Park Tree Planting
7/1—9/30, Wednesday Afternoons
@ Knight Memorial Library:
Sankofa World Market (P2)
What’s New At West Elmwood Housing
S P R I N G 2 0 1 5
Inside This Issue:
P2 Caught In The Act
P2 Community Building
P2 From The Home Ownership
Center
P3 Neighborhood Green News
P3 The Inside Story
P3 Neighborhood Resources
P4 Thought You’d Like To Know
2015 marks WEHDC’s 45th year of
service! Since opening our
HomeOwnership Center, we have
counseled over 4,400 clients,
including 1,350 households at risk of
foreclosure.
Since 1995, WEHDC has helped over
563 clients achieve homeownership,
while assisting over 140 homeowners
with low‐cost loans for repairs,
refinance and foreclosure rescue.
WEHDC has developed over 275
homes and we have built and manage
188 rental units. In total, WEHDC
leveraged over $100 million for real
estate and infrastructure into the
West End, including developing
25,000 sq. ft. of community garden
space.
Help us celebrate on May 2nd at our
11th annual Gospel Concert at New
Dimension Church. This concert is
annually supported by local
performers, churches, and members
of the community
Tickets are $15 for Kids, $15 in
advance, $20 at the door. All
proceeds will benefit the
HomeOwnership Center, which
provides financial fitness and
foreclosure prevention counseling.
Homes For Sale
You can own an WEHDC home
for less than it costs to rent! We
are now offering this lovely 3
bedroom house at 173 BELLEVUE
AVE for $119,900.
We are also offering this newly
refinished 3 bedroom house at
112 ALLSTON ST for $139,900.
Call Kyle Seyboth, Realtor 508‐726‐3492

2. P A G E 2
“We as a
community need
to focus on what
we can do now
while not losing
sight of what can
be done later.”
—Paul Ritualo
Volunteer and
2015 WEHDC
Board Member
Caught in the Act: From Volunteer to Board Member
Paul Ritualo has lifelong family ties to the West
End of Providence. He grew up on Dexter Street
and attended Bishop McVinney Middle School and
La Salle Academy then moved to Long Island. Paul
moved back to Dexter Street from Cranston three
years ago. He is currently a Production Engineer at
Niantic Seal in Lincoln. After volunteering on
numerous community improvement projects,
WEHDC is delighted to welcome Paul to the 2015
board.
In Summer 2013, Paul helped build marble
benches for Dexter Training Ground (Armory
Park). That same year, he partnered with neighbor
Shawn Selleck to create the Superior/Diamond
Street Sankofa Pop‐Up community garden on a
WEHDC‐owned lot. The property had been an
eyesore, but Paul, Shawn and other neighbors
cleaned it throughout the spring. WEHDC and
Youth Build installed 12 garden beds that have
been used by neighbors ever since. “The most
rewarding part,” Paul says, “was the camaraderie
of meeting neighbors—the community really
welcomed me with open arms, making the
transition of coming home very easy.” Paul’s
favorite memory of volunteering with WEHDC is
“having a hotdog with Rosa Pastor after the Earth
Day cleanup last year.”
According to Paul, volunteering with WEHDC
helped him see how he could affect and see
change in the community. He says, “Change
always starts with a core but the more people you
have who believe they can affect change, the
greater their impact.” Paul also suggests that
achieving milestones and starting with low
hanging fruit has helped him avoid “burn out.”
“I’m excited to be a new WEHDC Board Member
and help the West End develop an environment
conducive to healthy living,” says Paul, and that “a
community’s beauty runs parallel to its members’
health. We as a community need to focus on
what we can do now while not losing sight of
what can be done later.”
Community Building News From the HomeOwnership Center
W E S T E N D N E W S V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 1
Join WEHDC’s neighborhood improvement activities this season! On March 28,
neighbors will plant 99 evergreen shrubs in support of ongoing beautification
of Elmwood Avenue. Additionally, WEHDC will coordinate an Earth Day
cleanup on April 25th, focusing on West End streets and Bucklin Park. Call
Rolando Huerta @ 401‐453‐3220 ext. 28 to volunteer or for more info about
Earth Day!
WEHDC also offers youth programs. Fulfill the Dream is a youth arts based
program that educates on a socio‐emotional level. Incorporating Hip Hop
Culture, the program helps West End youth members realize their dreams, and
how to go about achieving them, finding creative and artistic ways of
expressing both their joys and pains in life during the process. Call Antoine
Boyer @ 401‐453‐3220 ext. 30.
WEHDC is proud to host the 2nd annual Sankofa World
Market. Sankofa World Market will be held
Wednesdays 3PM‐7PM from July 1st—September 30th
at Knight Memorial Library (275 Elmwood Avenue). Call
Adeline Newbold for more market info @ 401‐453‐
3220 ext. 11.
Support WEHDC’s Housing Education and
Counseling Services by contributing to our Savers
Clothing Drive Fundraiser!
When? March 1st‐Sept. 30th. From April 26th –
May 2nd, you can drop off your donations at the
Savers Branch Ave Providence location.
Make sure you mention WEHDC when dropping
the donations off for us to get the donation
credit. You may also drop off at WEHDC. Just call
ahead to let us
know when you’ll
be coming!
Call Debra
Abboud to get
involved @ 401‐
453‐3220 ext.19.

3. To register for a workshop:
Call Rosa Pastor @ 401‐453‐3220 ext. 17
The Inside Story
Neighborhood Resources
Parade St. Community Garden
W E S T E N D N E W S V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 1
P A G E 3
Neighborhood Green News
In addition to repaving roads, installing new bus
stops and many other changes, over $400,000 has
been invested in the past year in the
beautification of Elmwood Avenue.
Continuing this trend, on Saturday, March 28th
,
WEHDC will be partnering with the Elmwood
Neighborhood Association to plant 99 evergreens
along the length of Elmwood Avenue. Volunteers
are needed for this important event to beautify
and celebrate the recent transformation of
Elmwood Avenue!
Many neighbors worked hard to bring these
changes about. Join the community effort to
transform Elmwood Avenue into our
neighborhood boulevard! Call Rolando Huerta @
401‐453‐3220 ext. 28 to join the West End team in
the planting on the 28th
!
We still have garden beds available at 135 Parade
St. for residents to own for the year. Anyone
interested please call Antoine Boyer @ 401‐453‐
3220 ext. 30.
Get to know who serves you and what resources are available:
Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Services: 401‐421‐2489
City Council Office: 401‐521‐7477
Commanding Officer of District 2, Lt. Oscar Perez: 401‐243‐6920
Councilwoman Mary Kay Harris: ward11@providenceri.com
State Representative Grace Diaz: rep‐diaz@rilin.state.ri.us
State Representative Scott A. Slater: rep‐slater@rilin.state.ri.us
State Senator Juan M. Pichardo: sen‐pichardo@rilin.state.ri.us
Since January 2015, 29
students have graduated from
our Homebuyer Education
Program. The four types of
courses offered this year by
WEHDC are:
(1) Homebuyers Education
(2) FastTrack Homebuyers
Education
(3) Landlord Education
(4) Financial Education
By partnering with Savers for
a clothing drive (see story on
Page 2), residents donating
clothing support our
HomeOwnership Center,
benefiting all those who
participate in our workshops
and who attend our financial
counseling services.

4. Thought You’d Like to Know
P A G E 4
About Us
West Elmwood Housing was founded in 1970 as a full service community
development agency devoted to revitalizing and engaging the West End of
Providence. We redevelop neglected historic sites, build new homes into affordable
healthy housing opportunities and rehabilitate foreclosed property and blighted
land as opportunities for first time homebuyers.
WEHDC’s HomeOwnership Center provides education and counseling services to
owners from across Rhode Island through Financial Empowerment Workshops, and
Homebuyer Education including Landlord classes and Foreclosure Intervention
Counseling. Our Lending Department programs consist of down payment
assistance, home repair loans and green loans.
Our Community Building and Engagement Department focuses on community
engagement, youth programs, healthy neighborhoods, creating economic
opportunities and an array of collaborative initiatives.
Between 2004—2011, WEHDC’s ClearCorps Program remediated over 1,300 lead
contaminated homes. WEHDC is a certified NeighborWorks Chartered Organization
and certified Green Organization.
WEHDC is delighted to have received $50,000 in grants, expert
consulting services, tools and assistance from NeighborWorks
America to develop a marketing campaign for the West End.
This campaign will highlight the neighborhood’s unique assets,
grow the sense of community pride, and encourage more
people to buy homes, open businesses, and invest in the
neighborhood. Our neighborhood was one of 17 communities
across the country selected to participate in this round of the
Neighborhood Marketing Program.
Since last summer, WEHDC and partners including the West
End Community Center, Knight Memorial Library, Genesis
Center, local realtors, residents and businesses have received
guidance from an expert marketing consultant to develop a
campaign and logo to highlight the best things about our
community. By focusing on what makes the neighborhood a
great place to live, work and visit, the marketing campaign will
lead to more positive perceptions and make the neighborhood
more competitive in the regional marketplace.
Together these partners identified that the West End is a place
that offers great opportunities for affordable and culturally rich
urban living, including education, recreation and more. The
West End is a place of creative thinking and
new ideas, with innovation in
business and community
programs.
Look for the “West End:
Opportunity + Innovation”
logo and information
throughout the
neighborhood and beyond!
“Reputation is extremely
important for a community
to attract housing and
business investment,” said
Ascala Sisk, Director,
Community Stabilization at
NeighborWorks America. “Marketing in this case isn’t about
spin – it’s about telling the real story of a neighborhood in a
way that resonates positively.”
NeighborWorks America launched the Neighborhood
Marketing Program in 2012 and is working with 32
organizations to create strong neighborhood brands and
rebuild market demand. More information about community
stabilization work supported by NeighborWorks America can
be found at nw.org.
PROUDLY SERVING AND CELEBRATING
THE WEST END FOR 45 YEARS
224 Dexter Street
Providence, RI 02907
401.453.3220
Website: www.westelmwood.org
FaceBook: WestElmwoodHousing
Twitter: @WestElmwoodHDC
Email: info@westelmwood.org