Smith Hill CDC Home Ownership Informational Seminars

Smith Hill CDC and our partners in the creation of high quality, affordable homes are proud to announce two Home Ownership Seminars:

Saturday, Dec 10th 10-11, which will be followed by open houses at all our properties until 1 pm, and

Monday, Dec 12th 6-7

Light refreshments will be served and child care is available on-site.

The sessions will focus on home ownership and credit building.  There will be many industry professionals available for folks to ask questions and schedule follow-up appointments.

We will also have information and tours available for the home ownership opportunities available through Smith Hill CDC.

Our homes are professionally renovated with all new heat and electric, come with warrants on the work and materials and are priced well below market levels.

Currently, we have a varied selection of units available -

Capital Square - 3 bedroom condominium units located on Douglas Ave, minutes from Downcity Providence.

42 Violet - a spacious one-bedroom cottage

93 Goddard and 63 Candace – two floor townhouse homes with 4 bedrooms, each with a 2-bedroom rental unit.

ProvConnex, New On-Line Tool for Residents

The City of Providence now offers 24-hour online assistance through ProvConnex. You will find links to information, forms, permits, applications, payments, and service requests organized by categories below.  Report a stolen vehicle, pothole, etc…

Click here for ProvConnex

Help for Home Owners

Rhode Island has been selected to receive assistance from the U.S. Treasury to help prevent foreclosures and stabilize the housing market. This funding was made available through the Housing Finance Agency Innovation Fund for the Hardest Hit Housing Markets (HFA Hardest Hit Fund). Rhode Island was chosen to receive this funding because the state’s high unemployment rate has left many families struggling to make mortgage payments.  To learn more about this new program, please click here for the Rhode Island Housing website that contains the details.

Clean Hands – Free Appliance Removal and Recycling

As part of Smith Hill CDC’s continuing effort to employ sustainable technologies and practices in every aspect of our development work, we are excited to be currently working with Clean Hands, a new Rhode Island business whose mission is to reduce or eliminate the landfill footprint of the products they recycle at little to no cost to the end user.  Clean Hands employs alternative recycling methods to remove residential and commercial waste that is typically thrown out.  In Smith Hill CDC’s case, Clean Hands is removing every refrigerator, stove, oven, hot water heater and boiler, regardless of condition, from all of our vacant houses which will soon be developed into affordable housing units.

Once these items are removed, Clean Hands will process each item, designating some for repair and resale through used appliance dealers, breaking some down into useful replacement parts, and recycling most of the remaining material.  The key is that careful screening allows for a far greater percentage of reuse than simply selling everything for scrap metal, where over 40% of the material still results in waste.   The methods employed by Clean Hands allow for approximately 95% of material reuse.  Beyond these benefits, the service is also free, which results in thousands of dollars of savings from removal to dumping fees to the CDC and the Visions II project.  Clean Hands free appliance and waste removal services are available to anyone by filling out the application on its website.  Click the Clean Hands link above.

New Bank Accounts Available for All, Bank on Providence

Why spend hundreds of dollars a year at a check-cashing company when you can deposit your money in a free or low-cost account and pay your bills at no additional cost? Today, everybody can get an account at a bank or credit union. Even if you’ve had problems with an account in the past, have never had an account before, or don’t have a Social Security number, you can still bank in Providence with Bank on Providence.

Bank on Providence is a comprehensive program intended to connect the “unbanked,” those who live without access to mainstream financial institutions and are forced to rely on expensive check-cashing services, with affordable and appropriate mainstream financial services.

Trees, Trees, More Trees!

Smith Hill is about to witness some serious tree plantings.  Smith Hill CDC co-sponsored and was awarded a Neighborhood Street Tree Planting Award from The Providence Neighborhood Planting Program which will result in close to 50 trees planted on the sidewalks along Bath St., Goddard St. and Candace St. in front of  the Library.

We would like to also take this opportunity to inform residents about two great non-profit organizations working in Providence that help neighborhoods and individual residents acquire high-quality, inexpensive (or free!) trees for side walks and private property.

Trees 2020 is an initiative with an ambitious goal: to plant and care for 40,000 new trees across Providence’s 25 neighborhoods over the next 12 years. By planting 40,000 trees, Providence can increase its tree cover to 30%.  Trees 2020 will make low-cost trees available for purchase to encourage you to join the effort and plant a tree.

The Providence Neighborhood Planting Program (PNPP) is a street tree planting and maintenance partnership between the Mary Elizabeth Sharpe Street Endowment, the City of Providence and the residents of Providence.  Since 1988, The Mary Elizabeth Sharpe Street Tree Endowment has matched Providence Parks Department funds to provide sidewalk preparation, new soil, trees, and tree delivery at no cost to Providence residents who apply and receive a Neighborhood Street Tree Planting Award.

Are you eligible for SNAP? – (Formerly Food Stamps)

The Supplemental Nutrition Asisitance Program is designed to help low-income families and individuals increase food budgets and eat healthier.  For more information about this program and income guildlines, please follow this link.

Lead Hazard Reduction Program Comes to Smith Hill

The Childhood Lead Action Project, in partnership with the Healthy Kids Collaborative (HKC), is working to make one area of Smith Hill lead-safe! We are currently enrolling eligible property owners in a free program to reduce lead hazards in your home.

Lead hazard reduction work is underway in an area of Smith Hill identified as a “hot spot” for lead poisoning where many young children have been at risk for lead poisoning over the years.  A primary source of lead poisoning is deteriorating lead-based paint that is commonly found in older residences. Lead poisoning can permanently damage children’s brains resulting in learning, language, and reading disabilities and behavioral problems such as hyperactivity.

Utility Concerns

Is there a street light out on your street? If so, report it here on National Grid’s website.

SeeClickFix is an on-line resource for citizens to report neighborhood concerns and issues.  These concerns are tracked and directed to the appropriate governmental departments.  The site’s creators ” imagine a world where every citizen feels empowered and part of their neighborhood. Imagine if everyone trusted and felt taken care of by their local government. We know there are already a lot of involved citizens and hard-working local authorities and service people. We seek to use the power of the internet to bring them closer together and reach even more people.”  Click here to check it out and report issues in our community.