https://eleanorcollaborative.com/general-3 daily 0.75 2020-05-15 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5e680c63785a88269518ab91/t/5ebab331ad2c4f3dd509c507/1589293886202/Maureen21.jpg Eleanor Collaborative | Our Leadership - MAUREEN FREEHILL HAS SPENT HER 17+ YEAR CAREER IN THE FIELD OF AFFORDABLE HOUSING WITH A PASSION TO PROVIDE HOUSING PROGRAMS, AND SERVICES THAT BREAK THE CYCLE OF INTER-GENERATIONAL POVERTY. Maureen began her career as a Section 8 caseworker and Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) certification specialist with Rural Ulster Preservation Company in upstate New York. She then went on to start the organization’s scattered site supportive housing program, renovate their Family Self-Sufficiency Program tripling the number of families moving to economic independence and home ownership, and finally lead their Neighborworks home ownership center providing assistance to first time home buyers, foreclosure counseling, and administration of local allocation HOME and CDBG programs for down payment and rehabilitation. From there she served as Special Needs Housing Policy Analyst for New York State Homes and Community Renewal (NYS DHCR), generating the Nursing Home Transition and Diversion Housing (NHTD)Subsidy Program as a response to the Supreme Court Olmstead decision. This program won the 2009 National Council of State Housing Authorities (NCSHA) award for innovation in special needs housing. The NHTD program provides a bridge to Section 8 subsidy to enable institutionalized individuals to move into community- based housing of their choice while receiving needed Medicaid support services. In that role she also served as liaison to a number of inter-agency committees and working groups designed to support special needs groups of all stripes to access affordable housing opportunities as well as performed presentation and training on NHTD and other NYS supportive housing initiatives statewide. Maureen then served as one of 2 program mangers assigned to NYS Neighborhood Stabilization Programs(NSP 1&3) with a focus on serving single family rehabilitation north of New York City. After moving to Atlanta in 2012 Maureen began work as a LIHTC developer with NorSouth Development executing 2-3 projects new construction projects per year utilizing LIHTC, HOME, and public and private partnerships to provide housing opportunities in the Atlanta Metro area. As Senior Project Manager for Walton Communities she oversaw the Affordable Housing pipeline, focused on Public Housing redevelopment in Gainesville, Augusta, and Villa Rica, Georgia as well as new construction in partnership with Marietta Housing Authority. A cum laude graduate of the State University of New York at New Paltz, she was identified as one of the Young Leaders in Affordable Housing, by the New York Housing Conference and served on the Young Leadership Council. Currently she serves as a Board Director with the Georgia Supportive Housing Association, and Room Parent at Turning Sun Preschool. https://eleanorcollaborative.com/our-inspiration daily 0.75 2020-05-06 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5e680c63785a88269518ab91/t/5eb2e2f401406769885da972/1588781829092/Young-eleanor.jpg Eleanor Collaborative | Our Inspiration - SAFE, DECENT, AFFORDABLE HOUSING LONG BEFORE SHE WAS FIRST LADY, AND 40 YEARS BEFORE HUD WAS ESTABLISHED, ELEANOR ROOSEVELT, AS DIRECTOR OF THE ‘CITY HOUSING CORPORATION’ WOULD DECLAIM THE RAPID CONSTRUCTION OF APARTMENTS (TENEMENTS) THAT WERE ROBBING AMERICANS OF “REAL HOME LIFE” AND INDEPENDENCE THAT IS SO ESSENTIAL TO THE AMERICAN CHARACTER. Then, as now, is is not just a matter of too little housing but “too little housing for those who cannot afford to pay higher rents.” Seeing that the government was not stepping in to fill this void she and a collaboration of stockholders formed a $2,000,000 capital fund (a HUGE amount of money when white collar workers were making $175 a month). Stockholders then agreed to limiting their income to 6% annually. Thus Sunnyside Gardens was conceived and the idea of “safe, decent, affordable” housing came to life. “The object was not to find the bottom cost to be put over a family’s head, but the least cost at which a satisfactory environment could be created”. These “apartments” were not built to be rented, but rather sold; to foster home-ownership, and build capital for the City Housing Corporation. Play spaces were arranged so the mothers could watch children play from the kitchen and the none were more than two rooms deep to allow for outside light and air, a commodity sorely missing in the narrow tenements of the day. Monthly costs to homeowners were 30% below average costs for similarly sized homes in NYC with restrictions put in place to prevent speculation. Sunnyside Gardens still stands today as a testament that housing for working class families that can be beautiful, sustainable and a stepping stone to inter-generational opportunity for families. HERE AT ELEANOR COLLABORATIVE WE STAND ON THIS GREAT WOMAN’S SHOULDERS TO CARRY ON THAT MISSION AND BUILD COMMUNITIES, PLACES, AND PROGRAMS THAT SUPPORT WORKING CLASS FAMILIES OF ALL KINDS TO ACHIEVE AMERICA’S HIGHEST IDEALS. https://eleanorcollaborative.com/why-eleanor daily 1.0 2020-05-15 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5e680c63785a88269518ab91/t/5eb2e7385d30eb61ad4b47e6/1588782953973/image-grid1.jpg Eleanor Collaborative | Why Eleanor https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5e680c63785a88269518ab91/5eb2db2b5b56414a35aebb79/5eb2e801d4c5096694f24508/1588783111478/0000_01.jpg Eleanor Collaborative | Why Eleanor https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5e680c63785a88269518ab91/5eb2db2b5b56414a35aebb79/5eb2e80e5d30eb61ad4b7fe6/1588783124713/0001_02.jpg Eleanor Collaborative | Why Eleanor https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5e680c63785a88269518ab91/5eb2db2b5b56414a35aebb79/5eb2e81ee72d270d75d8e2aa/1588783141689/0002_03.jpg Eleanor Collaborative | Why Eleanor