Character education is a key component of MHP’s Community Life enrichment programs, which are offered to preschool, elementary and middle-school students at locations across Montgomery County. Lead Instructor Kyle Brown, who works with young students at Arcola Elementary in Wheaton, talks about the importance of the after-school program and the impact it has on his students. You can learn more about MHP’s Community Life programs here.
MHP has been preserving and creating quality affordable housing for 30 years. Montgomery Community Media talked with MHP President Robert Goldman about the organization’s history, mission and vision.
Nearly 6% of Montgomery County residents — almost 64,000 people — are considered food insecure. To help address this, MHP is piloting a Food Assistance Volunteer Program, developing a team of volunteers to help our residents connect to food assistance resources including Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly Food Stamps). If you would like to volunteer with this opportunity, please check out the information below.
This program is made possible in part by the Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services, the Montgomery County Food Council, the Community Action Agency and Maryland Hunger Solutions.
Learn more from these fact sheets about the program:
Apply to become a Food Assistance Volunteer here.
Apply to become a Food Assistance Volunteer Advisor here.
Contact Information
Naudia Porter
AmeriCorps VISTA, Health and Housing Coordinator
Montgomery Housing Partnership
Phone: (301) 812- 4146
Email: nporter@mhpartners.org
Elementary school-age children in MHP’s Great Hope Homes Homework Club celebrated Black History Month with an inspiring presentation to a gathering of proud parents, focusing on African-American achievers. Students gathered information and then presented themselves as their heroes, sharing facts about their lives. Some students even dressed the part, as one young man did to share the accomplishments of Dr. Charles R. Drew, a medical researcher who developed ground-breaking techniques in blood transfusion and storage.
Students portrayed many other historic figures, including: former President Barack and First Lady Michelle Obama; Garrett Morgan, traffic light inventor; tennis legend Serena Williams; cosmetics innovator/entrepreneur Madame C.J. Walker; Super Soaker water gun inventor Lonnie Johnson; astronaut Mae Jemison; poet Paul Dunbar; education and civil rights activist Dorothy Height; and Lewis Howard Latimer, inventor of the carbon filament light bulb.
A highlight of the presentation was an assistant teacher’s performance of “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”
MHP has entered into an exciting collaboration with Code Partners, a coding academy that will be offering an Introduction to Web Design class at MHP’s 7610 Maple Avenue location in Takoma Park this spring.
The class will be offered May 6-10, 6:30-9pm. There is a cost for the classes. Scholarships are available. More information about scholarships is available here. For more general information, contact Code Partners via email info@codepartners.net or phone: 240-385-9113.
Mark your calendar! MHP’s annual golf tournament is Monday, June 24, at Hampshire Greens Golf Course in Silver Spring. Noon shotgun start. This event is an important source of funding for MHP’s programs. Learn more here.
Residents at MHP’s Great Hope Homes took part in a financial success workshop presented by the Montgomery County Employees Federal Credit Union (MCEFCU). Topics covered included setting financial goals, developing a savings plan, budgeting and assessing insurance needs. MHP will be sponsoring future financial workshops at Great Hope Homes and other MHP sites on additional topics, such as achieving and maintaining a good credit score. Many thanks to MCEFCU for providing the expertise and training.
MHP is encouraging Metro to end the so-called Silver Spring turnback, a cost-cutting practice that means many northbound trains on the east side of the Red Line only go as far as the Silver Spring station and then turn around without reaching the Forest Glen, Wheaton and Glenmont stations.
At a town hall meeting convened by Montgomery County Council’s Transportation and Environment Committee, Amee Bearne, MHP’s Neighborhood & Policy Coordinator, urged the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) to provide the funding to end the turnbacks because of their negative impacts on people living near the three affected stops.
“MHP is not only worried about our residents, but the many other community members that we work with regularly who we know rely on Metro and must live in these areas due to income constraints,” she said. “There are significant social and economic equity impacts surrounding this policy, particularly on this side of the Red Line, and we urge WMATA to acknowledge these residents by eliminating the disruptive turnbacks at Silver Spring station.”
Committee Chairman Tom Hucker and committee members Evan Glass and Hans Riemer all support eliminating the turnback practice.
Here is the full MHP statement:
My name is Amee Bearne, Neighborhood and Policy Coordinator for Montgomery Housing Partnership, or MHP. MHP is the largest affordable housing developer in Montgomery County, ensuring that people of all incomes can find affordable, quality housing. I am here tonight to testify in support of additional funding to end turnbacks at Silver Spring Metro station, which currently impact the three stations, and their communities, to the north.
There are many reasons why people choose to live in communities like Forest Glen, Wheaton, Glenmont. They’re nice places to live. They are also home to much more diverse housing price options, allowing residents greater chance to find appropriate or more affordable housing than what can be found in and south or west of the Silver Spring central business district.
In MHP’s portfolio, we have 352 units within ½ mile of either Forest Glen or Wheaton stations, and another 276 units within a 15-minute drive of Glenmont Station.
That means over 1,000 residents live in MHP properties within ½ mile of the Forest Glen or Wheaton stations. Another 700 residents living in MHP properties within quick driving distance to Glenmont Station.
Nearly all our residents make less than 60% of the Area Median Income, many as low as 30% of the AMI. Already many of them rely on Metro to access work and educational opportunities. Where they already have to wake up earlier to be to work or class on time, with the turnbacks their commutes are significantly extended, ensuring that our residents’ quality of life (time that could be spent with their families, or out in their communities) is now being eaten by platform waits.
MHP is not only worried about our residents, but the many other community members that we work with regularly who we know rely on Metro and must live in these areas due to income constraints. There are significant social and economic equity impacts surrounding this policy, particularly on this side of the Red Line, and we urge WMATA to acknowledge these residents by eliminating the disruptive turnbacks at Silver Spring station.
Montgomery County should actively seek to preserve affordable housing as it moves forward with the Veirs Mill Corridor master plan, according to Montgomery Housing Partnership.
In public testimony before the Montgomery County Council, MHP Senior Project Manager and Legal Counsel Stephanie Roodman generally praised the plan, which was initiated by the Maryland County Planning Board. MHP is the developer of Halpine Hamlet Apartments, a community of 67 primarily affordable one- and two-bedroom apartments near Twinbrook Parkway.
But Roodman expressed some concerns about the potential for redevelopment to force out affordable housing options. “To the extent that the sector plan is incentivizing redevelopment along this corridor, the plan should ensure a one-for-one replacement of the potential loss of market-rate affordable housing.” She said, “This can best be done by the county aggressively seeking to identify county-owned sites where affordable housing can be located in this plan.”
The updated corridor plan is intended to:
- Guide future land uses along the Veirs Mill Road corridor from Wheaton to Rockville.
- Improve the compatibility between the land uses adjacent to Veirs Mill Road and the future bus rapid transit corridor.
- Improve pedestrian and bicycle accessibility, connectivity and safety within the plan area.
- Redevelop at strategic locations to provide more walkable, neighborhood-serving development.
- Apply a comprehensive streetscape design and opportunities for placemaking within the corridor.
Read more:
The MHP team traveled to meet with legislators in Annapolis for Community Development Day 2019, sponsored by Community Development Network of Maryland. It’s an important opportunity to meet with state legislators to seek support for community development, affordable housing funding, and economic initiatives that help communities served by MHP. It’s also a chance to say thank you to committed supporters.
Top priorities include: 1) dedication of excess money from the Unclaimed Property Fund to the Community Development Fund; and 2) full funding of the Maryland Community Legacy program at a level of $8 million. The Community Legacy program provides local governments and community development organizations with funding for essential projects aimed at strengthening communities through activities such as business retention and attraction, encouraging homeownership and commercial revitalization.
