“We came together with our community partners to brainstorm how we could deliver real solutions to this problem, and that is when the Camden Community Housing Collaborative was born,” Camden County Commission Deputy Director Edward McDonnell said in a statement, adding that the program will “act as a catalyst and a facilitator to the widespread redevelopment of locations around the city so that our residents can have easier and more affordable access to housing.”
The Camden Community Housing Collaborative will be managed as a public-private partnership by the Camden County Improvement Authority and the nonprofit Camden Community Partnership, according to the county announcement. Other sponsors include the Cooper Foundation and the Rowan-Rutgers Joint Board of Governors.
The unveiling is scheduled for 11 a.m. at St. Joseph’s Carpenter Society, 2912 Federal Street.
Those attending, according to the announcement, will include many of the nonprofits involved in building housing in the city and government leaders, including Pilar Hogan Closkey, executive director of St. Joseph’s Carpenter Society; Father Vincent Guest, pastor of Sacred Heart Parish and Vicar for Camden; Bridget Phifer, CEO of the Parkside Business & Community in Partnership; Annie Fox, chief development officer for Habitat for Humanity; Carlos Morales, executive director of Heart of Camden and Brandi Johnson, executive director of Camden Lutheran Housing.
Others scheduled to attend include McDonnell, County Commissioner Jeffrey Nash, Mayor Victor Carstarphen, U.S. Rep. Donald Norcross, George E. Norcross III, chairman of Cooper University Health Care; State Senator Nilsa Cruz-Perez; State Assemblymen Bill Moen and Bill Spearman and Dana Redd, president and CEO of Camden Community Partnership.
The collaborative will award development grants to nonprofit organizations from support that includes $7.5 million from the Improvement Authority’s revolving housing fund and $5.5 million from the Rowan-Rutgers Joint Board, according to the announcement.
Workforce assistance for city residents to help construct the new housing will be provided by the Eastern Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters.