Affordable Housing...
Project for Pride in Living (PPL) is a non-profit organization that provides supportive programs to nearly 7,000 people in the Twin Cities metropolitan region. The organization was founded in 1972 and has been dedicated to making available the resources necessary for low and moderate income families achieve sustainable self-sufficiency. They do so via three integrate divisions that address the specific needs of affordable housing, job readiness and employment, and supportive services for children.
In the 35 years since the organization was founded, PPL has created or revitalized more than 1.300 housing units. They have developed many housing projects around the Twin cities and are committed preserving and creating new affordable housing while also revitalizing neighborhoods to provide decent and safe housing for both tenants and homebuyers. They have done so by working with different forms of housing developments. Included in their list are: townhome developments, single-family homes, large single-family redevelopment projects, rehabilitated apartment buildings, and new construction multi-family developments.
I feel PPL is successful in addressing the needs and issues surrounding affordable housing because their approach is multi-faceted. Obtaining and remaining in decent, safe and affordable housing is not just an issue of having enough housing units to meet the demand. It is also about providing the resources individuals need to sustain themselves. It is about job training, life skills and finding and keeping employment that provides a living wage. PPL addresses this.
In addition, they provide supportive services to children so that they have the opportunity to access educationally enriched programs. Such services not only ensure that children receive the attention and care they may not be able to access through other community resources, the program also offers an insight to ending the much bigger social issue of generational poverty. Achievement and success in school create pathways to options, opportunities, and in the end, economic stability.
I became familiar with PPL because I am currently volunteering with Homework n' Hoops which is a program that PPL runs. It's exciting to be involved with program that I feel provides our communities with such important resources.
A clip of Homework n' Hoops: