City Living:
Ithaca Style
Our magazine devoted to Ithaca's community and housing issues

INHS Initiates Drive to Help Affordable Housing Rebuild in the Gulf Coast

	Paul Mazzarella

Hello, my name is Paul Mazzarella. For the past sixteen years,
I have served as executive director of Ithaca Neighborhood Housing Services. I'm here to talk to you about the Gulf Coast's catastrophic housing loss.

Devastation caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita not only uprooted families but left entire towns and cities uninhabitable. Of the more than one million people evacuated from their homes in Louisiana and Mississippi, a majority still remain in temporary housing. As these displaced individuals and their damaged communities try to get back on their feet, they will be looking to organizations like INHS to provide advocacy and technical support.

INHS understands how important it is to create the long-term capacity that's needed to rebuild neighborhoods. For the past three decades, INHS has been working hard to keep Ithaca strong by recycling deteriorated houses, providing high quality rental housing, and helping people become homeowners. Like INHS, NHS of New Orleans and other affiliated NeighborWorks America agencies in Mississippi have also served low to moderate income residents for many years and have earned their trust.

INHS has pledged its support to our sister organizations in the NeighborWorks America network of community development corporations that operate in the Gulf Coast region. We are leading a national fundraising effort among the other 230 members of our network to raise more than one million dollars to help the Gulf Coast rebuild. INHS has already pledged $5,000 from our 2005 Individual Campaign goal of $50,000 for this purpose.

If you are looking for a practical way to help in the rebuilding stage of the Gulf Coast's recovery efforts, we hope you will allow us to donate ten percent of your individual gift to help create new housing. Donors can be reassured that their gifts will go to an established program with rigid standards and measurable results.

Donations should be sent to INHS, 115 W. Clinton St., Ithaca, NY 14850. A pledge form can be printed directly from our website. Thank you so much for your generosity on behalf of those who need it most!