As part of MHP’s work helping strengthen neighborhoods, we once again are collaborating on an Earth Day cleanup in the Long Branch community on Saturday, April 13. The Long Branch Earth Day cleanup has become a local tradition, bringing together neighbors to pick up trash that pollutes a tributary to the Anacostia River.  This year there also will be the opportunity to help remove invasive species (under the guidance of a trained weed warrior). Free gloves and bags supplied on site, as well as snacks.  Hurry to register if you want a free Earth Day t-shirt!

When: Saturday, April 13, 2019, from 9 a.m. – noon

Where:  Long Branch Community Center, 8700 Piney Branch Road, Silver Spring

Registration:  anacostiaws.org or by email to pgrenier@mhpartners.org

Note: You can also just show up without registering, but please let us know in advance so we can have enough supplies on hand.  To reserve a free t-shirt, you must register at the anacostiaws.org website.

 

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.

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.”

                  

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.

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.