COLUMBIA, Md., June 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the Freddie Mac Foundation announced a $900,000 grant to support a partnership between Enterprise Community Partners, Providence Community Housing, and Catholic Charities Archdiocese of New Orleans that will offer resident services to 300 families displaced by Hurricane Katrina.
During the next three years, the Freddie Mac Foundation will fund efforts by Enterprise and Providence to provide needed assistance to families returning to the Lafitte public housing development in the New Orleans' neighborhood of Treme. Individuals and families will occupy temporary housing during the redevelopment of Lafitte. Families will have access to housing- based services including career counseling; skills training; adult education and job placement; after-school programs designed to help children succeed in school; mental and physical health care; as well as connections to other community and supportive services. Catholic Charities and Providence have already contacted many displaced Lafitte families to assess their basic needs and provide resources. Through other financial support, they also will provide case management to returning residents who need them.
"Families have endured a lot of hardship since the storm. By providing resources and services we will do our part to bring them home to rebuild their lives in vibrant neighborhoods," says Doris Koo, president and CEO of Enterprise Community Partners. "This partnership is very exciting as it will continue our efforts to build affordable, healthy, and sustainable communities in the Gulf Coast."
With this Freddie Mac Foundation commitment, the partners will implement strategies to coordinate and link families to basic and asset-building services as well as to document and share lessons learned with other interested parties.
"We are blessed by Freddie Mac's tremendous commitment to the most vulnerable victims of Hurricane Katrina," adds James Kelly, chief executive officer of Providence Community Housing and Catholic Charities Archdiocese of New Orleans. "They have shown true corporate leadership and stewardship."
The Enterprise and Providence partnership also was recently awarded $12.8 million in low-income housing tax credits from the Louisiana Housing Finance Agency; and $27 million in Community Development Block Grants from the Louisiana Office of Community Development to support the development of 1,500 affordable, healthy homes in Treme.
For more information on Enterprise's rebuilding efforts in the Gulf Coast, call 410.715.7427.
Enterprise Community Partners is a leading provider of the development capital and expertise it takes to create decent, affordable homes and rebuild communities. For more than two decades, Enterprise has pioneered neighborhood solutions through public-private partnerships with financial institutions, governments, community organizations and others that share our vision. Enterprise has raised and invested $7 billion in equity, grants and loans and is currently investing in communities at a rate of $1 billion a year. Visit to learn more about Enterprise's efforts to build communities and opportunity, and to meet some of the half a million people we have helped.
Source: Enterprise Community Partners