HEALTH, CULTURE, EDUCATION, SOCIAL PROGRAMS
Cook Inlet Housing Authority is Planning for the Future
Cook Inlet Housing Authority (CIHA) is currently implementing program
changes to insure that, despite rising housing costs, generations of Alaska
Native and American Indian families in the Cook Inlet region will have
the opportunity to experience America's dream of home ownership.
Not only does CIHA's newly revised HOME Loan program make homeownership affordable to many lower income families, homebuyers will play an important role in contributing to a future revolving loan fund that will help other family members, friends and neighbors become future homeowners as well.
The HOME Loan Program works in conjunction with local lenders to make participants' house payments more affordable. The program provides down payment and closing cost assistance and secondary financing totaling up to 26 percent of the purchase price of the home.
In the past, CIHA forgave the loan at the end of 15 years. The new program requires participants to make three percent interest-only payments to CIHA in addition to their payment to the bank for the primary financing. The principal balance is due only at the end of 35 years, or five years after the maturity date on the bank's primary loan, whichever occurs first. The interest payments on CIHA's loan will serve as a new source of income for the housing authority: a source of income that will allow the organization to help more families buy their own homes.
"The goal of the change is to continue CIHA's ability to provide affordable homeownership loan products to lower income families through the establishment of a long-term loan pool funded through interest repayments," said Jeff Judd, CIHA's director of operations and asset management. "In doing so, we continue to meet the present affordable housing needs of our clients while planning for the future's increased funding needs as the demand for the program grows."
With the Native American Housing and Self Determination Act (NAHASDA), CIHA's HOME Loan program has been helping low to moderate income Native people purchase their own homes since 1996. CIHA has helped more than 450 Alaska Native and American Indian families purchase homes of their own in the Cook Inlet region.
For more information on CIHA's HOME Loan program, call (907) 276-8822.
The application deadline is February 28 at 5 p.m. for high school-age students to apply to the Alaska Native Youth Media Institute (ANYMI 2002). Created by Koahnic Broadcast Corporation's Training Center, ANYMI 2002 gives Native youth a hands-on introduction to media and encourages them to explore additional training and career development in the broadcast field.ANYMI 2002 will be held in Anchorage from June 9 to June 17. Application forms are on the Koahnic Broadcast Corporation website at www.knba.org. Applications will also be available in Alaska high schools in December. Prospective applicants can contact Marie Jeno at (907) 258-8924 or by email at mjeno@knba.org for more information. Since its inception, ANYMI has collaborated with local media and universities to give students a realistic introduction to media professions. Instruction will take place in the Koahnic Broadcast Corporation Training Center and in the studios of KNBA 90.3 FM, the country's first urban Native American public radio station.
Former ANYMI students learn from Loren Dixen (left).During the 2002 ANYMI program, students will receive an introduction to careers in video and radio production, print and photojournalism. Students will also get a close-up look at the industry through tours of television and radio stations and local newspapers. Students will receive hands-on training in radio production and Internet technology. A radio feature produced by the students will be broadcast on KNBA 90.3 FM and made available on the station's website. Alaska Pacific University provides lodging to ANYMI students, giving them an introduction to campus life that can help ease the transition for those headed to college.
The lead instructor for ANYMI 2002 is Brian Maracle, a Mohawk journalist who was the host and principal reporter for "Our Native Land," a program that ran for 22 years on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Media training partners for ANYMI 2002 include KTUU Channel 2, Alaska Public Radio Network, Alaska Newspapers, Inc., and the Associated Press.
Southcentral Foundation Opens New Teen Treatment Center
Troubled Native youth have a new place to turn, thanks to a new treatment
program run by Southcentral Foundation called The Pathway Home. The new
36-bed facility located in Anchorage was dedicated Nov. 21, 2001. The
dedication ceremony included the blessing of a totem pole created by inmates
and employees of Spring Creek Correctional Center in Seward, Alaska.
Katherine Gottlieb, president/CEO of Southcentral Foundation, calls the program a dream come true. She has been working on making this dream a reality for four years.
George Bennett of Sitka blesses the totem pole at Southcentral Foundationšs Pathway Home.The Pathway Home represents the partnership of tribal, federal, state, local and private resources that together have contributed more than $10 million in construction and operating costs.
For more information about the Pathway Home or other Southcentral Foundation programs and services, call Southcentral Foundation at (907) 729-4955.
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