News

Salem agency that aids poor is in sad shape

By Tom Dalton
Staff writer
Published: October 7, 2008

SALEM — The community agency that works with the city's poorest neighborhood has fallen on its own hard times.

The Salem Harbor Community Development Corp. has lost funding, cut jobs, eliminated programs and seen its board dwindle to a precious few.

It also has lost friends in The Point, the low-income neighborhood it serves.

The hard feelings surfaced this summer at public meetings on the CDC's request to abandon a homeownership project on Palmer Street, a bold venture for the agency, and switch the 15 condos it had built to rental apartments in order to avoid a bank foreclosure.

Several Point leaders, including former CDC board members, were bitterly disappointed the project had failed and accused the agency of mismanagement.

And that was not their only complaint.

There has been no Hispanic Festival for the past few years, they say, partly because the CDC no longer provides staffing. And the strong link between the agency and the community, they contend, disappeared when the CDC eliminated two community organizers.

"The CDC should be helping us, and they never work with us," said Yoleny Ynoa, vice president of The Point Neighborhood Association. "They forget our community."

Mike Whelan, who took over as executive director of the CDC a little over two years ago, concedes that he came in at a tough time. Government contracts were expiring, and foundation funds were running out. For example, the agency had $120,000 in public contracts a year ago — and none today. United Way funding also has declined sharply.

In his first few months, Whelan laid off three employees. The agency's staff, once at 20, has been cut in half. And many of the remaining employees don't work on traditional community programs, but help oversee the agency's 148 apartments.

With funds drying up, the CDC has had to cut programs, Whelan said. Among those chopped was a popular business development program, which had three staff members.

"We're down to bare bones," he said.

There also has been turmoil on the board. In Whelan's first few months, at least four board members resigned.

"I was the bearer of bad news," he said.

Development failures

And then there are the projects.

The failure of the Palmer Cove condos, which opened when the real estate market was in free fall, has been a disappointment for the community and the CDC. The agency hopes that, as a rental project, it will at least break even financially.

The CDC did lose money, however, on a Harrison Avenue building it bought several years ago in the hope of turning it into a community center. The project, it could be argued, was sunk by forces beyond the agency's control, but it also is the source of hard feelings in the community.

What is happening in Salem, to some extent, is happening elsewhere, a regional official said.

"It's a real hard time right now for all of our members," said Joe Kriesberg, president of the Massachusetts Association of Community Development Corporations.

Other agencies have struggled with home ownership projects, he said, largely because of the collapsing real estate market. And several have lost funding and had to cut positions.

"A number of CDCs have seen themselves shrink in the last five years, and Salem Harbor CDC is in that category," he said.

Although he has worked in this field a long time, Whelan said he did not see all of this bad news coming.

"I knew there were challenges, but you never know the depth of them until you get there," he said.

Despite all the troubles, Whelan said the agency still plays a valuable role. It manages a large number of affordable apartments and runs an English as a Second Language program that is in great demand.

The CDC, two agency officials said, is on its way back. It will set new priorities and go after funding, but it has to start by rebuilding its depleted board. First things first.

"When I came in, there were 16 members," said David Jacobson, a Salem State College business teacher who is the board chairman. "This past spring, when I agreed to become president, we had three members. We felt before we could determine the direction and make decisions, we had to build it back up."

The board is at five now, he said, and plans to add more members in the next few months.

Lucy Corchado, president of The Point Neighborhood Association and, in recent times, a strong critic of the CDC, said she hopes the agency can get back on its feet and that fences can be mended.

"There is definitely discontent out there," she said, "but I think folks all agree we don't want to see the CDC fail or leave the community. We value and respect the work they have done, and we just want to see it come back to its former mission and state."