NEWS & EVENTS

June 4 - 6: Annual Yard Sale benefitting MDC's Transitional Housing Program

Army.mil: Madigan Staff Volunteer for MDC's Mobile Healthcare Services van

Restore The Portico! MDC launches effort to restore Garfield Hall for Pierce County veterans

Since 1891, the Orting Soldiers Home has housed veterans from the Civil War through Vietnam. Now, MDC needs your help to restore one of the campus's oldest buildings to serve chronically homeless veterans.

Voting Website: PartnersInPreservation.com

Starting today, you can vote for the Orting Soldiers Home at the Partners In Preservation website. Your votes will help MDC secure the funding needed to restore Garfield Hall's portico to its former glory.

Support for Pierce County Veterans

The restored building will house chronically homeless veterans with substance abuse and/or mental health disorders. The veterans will receive comprehensive services in a safe and home-like environment such as treatment, basic life skills, education and employment skills as needed per individual Stability Plans created with a case manager upon residency. MDC will partner with the WDVA and Puget Sound Veterans Hospital at American Lake and many other associations to create a team of service providers that will empower each veteran to become as self-sufficient as they possibly can within each persons capabilities.

How Funding Will Be Used

Funds will be used to restore the columns and the decoration around the top of the porch to it's original beauty and elegance. Due to the need for a specialist to repair the original look and replace with like materials, the cost is significantly more than just replacing the portico. There is lead in the paint and some of the columns are decaying to the point that we will repair the columns and cornice and then seal the old paint and then repaint with lead-free paint. We will also strip the concrete and painted floor, re-paint and seal it. The roof will be checked for dry rot and replaced if necessary. The frieze and molding will be repaired, with like materials and then re-painted and sealed. We are currently requesting additional funding to complete the rehabilitation of the rest of Garfield Hall.

About Garfield Hall at Orting Soldiers Home

Garfield Hall is currently closed. Although the building is safe, the front porch is in decay and barricaded as pieces of the columns and brocade are falling. With these funds MDC will restore the front porch to its original beauty, using contractors and materials that are certified in historical preservation. With other funds, we will also rehabilitate the entire building by upgrading major systems and tearing down insignificant interior walls to create 30 units of Single Room Occupancy(SRO) with a bathroom in each unit.

After the Civil War, veterans were lured west by tales of great job opportunities with the railroads that did not pan out for many veterans and their families. As a result, the Washington Constitution directed the first legislature as follows: The Legislature shall provide by law for the maintenance of a Soldiers Home for honorably discharged veterans who are bonafide residents of the state".

The Soldiers Home in Orting was dedicated on June 25, 1891. The 185 acres nestled at the foot of Mt. Rainier has been home to veterans ranging from the Civil and Indian Wars up through World War II, Korea and Vietnam. The community has always supported the Soldiers Home through it's many volunteer programs, church groups, military associations and guilds.

The Soldiers Home supports the community through employment & service opportunities, it's park-like grounds open to the public and it's annual Fourth of July celebration and fireworks display. Garfield, one of the oldest buildings on site, is made of brick and cement with Early American features that include brick, windows and a large round porctico with tall corinthian columns supporting elegant cornice and molding.

The whole campus has kept the theme of an Early American Colony. Garfield, with it's elegant (but decaying) front porch is the first site you see as you enter the grounds.

Voting Website: PartnersInPreservation.com

Examiner.com: The ReHarvest Center - Great option for home improvement shoppers

Tacoma News Tribune: Getting help in stressful times easier thanks to Metropolitan Development Council

Mark Pereboom Selected for President/CEO of MDC

TACOMA, Washington. Pierce County's Metropolitan Development Council Board of Directors has selected Mark Pereboom to become its President/CEO.

"Mark comes to MDC with an extensive background in health and human services," reports Board President, Latasha Wortham. "The Board is very excited about Mark's expertise, management skills and energy. We are confident that he will be a great leader of the MDC team and a wonderful asset to the Pierce County community."

Mark Pereboom brings a unique blend of for profit and not-for-profit experience to MDC. After leaving the for-profit sector in 1999, his leadership roles have included the Director of Finance and Risk Management of a healthcare quality improvement organization focused on improving health outcomes for individuals, and most recently, Mark was the Chief Operations Officer of Hopelink, a non-profit human service agency serving the needs of low-income families in North and East King County.

Mark reports, "Linsey Hinand left a wonderful legacy, one that I hope to continue and grow. This is a wonderful opportunity to lead an organization which provides critically needed services to those living in poverty."

MDC's extensive non-profit service continuum dates to its Pierce County beginnings in 1964. Its 44 programs are designed to bring crisis stabilization and recovery, prevent homelessness, and build assets for youth, adults and families who are experiencing poverty (www.mdc-tacoma.org.)

MDC Makes Guest Appearance on CityLine

President and CEO J. Linsey Hinand Retires After 40 Years of Service to MDC

In the last 37 years, no individual has championed the needs of low-income children, youth and families of Tacoma- Pierce County more faithfully and effectively than has Linsey Hinand. In 1973, Linsey became the President and CEO of the non-profit, Metropolitan Development Council (MDC). He mobilized a team of professionals and volunteers that moved MDC to the forefront of our community's human services. Currently, MDC programs serve over 20,000 low-income individuals and families per year.

Linsey is a quiet leader, whose effectiveness is measured in the thousands of lives that he has impacted—by families that are no longer in poverty, by tax inequities that have been corrected, by children protected from abuse, by homeless persons who have been freed from addiction and street life, and by many other program initiatives that directly benefit our most vulnerable citizens.

Linsey has provided dedicated leadership on local and statewide boards and has led important initiatives effecting low-income citizens. Examples of these include:

• Coalition Opposing Sales Tax on Food (COSTOF) Statewide Chairperson
• WA State Association of Community Action Agencies Treasurer
• Tacoma Pierce County Empowerment Consortium, board member
• Tacoma Pierce County Municipal League President, one term
• Pierce County Health Council-three terms
• Puget Sound Health Systems Agency board member and Treasurer
• United Way Board Planning and Allocations Committee panel chairperson
• Tacoma Community College work Force Training Advisory Committee
• City of Tacoma Comprehensive Employment Services Advisory Committee
• Puget Sound Health Planning Council, five terms

As President/CEO of MDC, Linsey focused on innovation, responding to emerging problems quickly and effectively. While most of his efforts have been on the local level he also developed national initiatives that are still in operation in the nation as well as our community. For example, in 1972, he partnered with Senators Magnuson and Jackson to develop the national model for the MDC Educational Opportunity Center (EOC), which now helps 3,000 low-income individuals each year to access postsecondary education. Linsey worked with a local pediatrician to develop and establish the first Women, Infants and Children Nutritional Program (WIC), which now serves our nation's low-income children.

For many years, Linsey operated food programs in Pierce County, including a National Second Harvest Affiliate. He launched our community's first Head Start programs and initiated legal assistance for low-income residents. Recently, his programs have helped homeless persons gain employment, have found legislative support for drug-impacted infants and abused children in foster care, and serve low-income non-custodial parents. Under Linsey's leadership, MDC owns and/or operates over 300 units of housing, including many units set aside for those with special needs, such as those with AIDS and mental illness, and for homeless individuals and families.

It is difficult, if not impossible, to measure the overall impact on our community of an individual such as Linsey Hinand whose dedicated service in Pierce County has extended for over 35 years. We congratulate him on his dedicated service and wish him the best in well-deserved retirement.

Free Tutoring for Students in Tacoma and Surrounding Pierce County

MDC is now a Supplemental Education Service Provider in Tacoma for 2008-09.

This means that students attending Title 1 schools that are in step 2 of corrective measures for academic progress with the state can sign up for and receive free tutoring provided by MDC Education staff in core academic areas.

For more information or if you are interested please contact your local school or Dean Kelly at 253-284-7846.

MDC receives Washington State College Access Challenge Grant

The Higher Education Coordinating Board is pleased to announce that four Washington nonprofit organizations have been awarded College Access Challenge Grants.

Metropolitan Development Council has been chosen as a funding recipient for the Washington State College Access Challenge Gra nt Program and will work with Tacoma School District to implement it.

The Higher Education Coordinating Board is pleased to announce that four Washington nonprofit organizations have been awarded College Access Challenge Grants. They are:

• Metropolitan Development Council (MDC)
• College Success Foundation (CSF)
• Community Foundation of North Central Washington (CFNCW)
• Northwest Education Loan Association (NELA)

The College Access Challenge Grant Program (CACGP) is a two-year formula grant program created as part of the College Cost Reduction and Access Act (CCRA) of 2007. The mission of the CACGP is to foster partnerships among federal, state, and local governments and philanthropic organizations through matching challenge grants that are aimed at increasing the number of low-income, minority, and underprivileged students in Washington who are prepared to enter and succeed in postsecondary education.

The program's priority goals include promotion and support for College Bound Scholarship, and support for schools to provide information on college application and financial aid to low-income, first-generation, and minority students and families. The CACGP will increase the college-going rate among low-income students through effective personalized assistance and innovative collaboration.

The program will:

1. Provide information on postsecondary education benefits, opportunities, planning, and career preparation.
2. Help students and families understand college application and financial aid processes.
3. Reach out to students at risk of not enrolling in or completing college.
4. Prepare students for entrance examinations.
5. Encourage students to go directly to college from high school.
6. Provide assistance with Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) completion.
7. Provide professional development, coaching, and collaborative opportunities for teachers, guidance counselors, financial aid administrators, and college admissions counselors.

The 2008 Strategic Master Plan for Higher Education in Washington calls for creating higher expectations for K-12 students and making college affordable and easy to access. The successful grantees have proposed ways to deliver services and meet both the Master Plan and the CACG program's priority goals.

MDC looks forward to working collaboratively with the Tacoma School District and all others who are able to provide collaborative partnership in the process of fulfilling the College Access Challenge Grant Program's mission.

MDC Joins Tomorrows Home for Soldiers of Today

MDC, the Washington Soldiers Home & Colony in Orting, and Washington state Department of Veterans Affairs are renovating a 91 year old Barracks into 30 housing units for veterans.

MELISSA SANTOS
The News Tribune Published: May 24th, 2008 01:00 AM
Updated: May 24th, 2008 06:21 AM

The average resident at the Washington Soldiers Home & Colony in Orting isn't a veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Most hail from past eras' World War II, Korea and Vietnam. But the number of injured soldiers returning from today's wars has the 117-year-old facility making plans for how it can also serve a younger population of veterans. The 181-acre campus is looking to increase transitional housing for returning soldiers and to add treatment programs for veterans with traumatic brain injuries. The Soldiers Home in East Pierce County is the oldest of three veterans homes in Washington run by the state Department of Veterans Affairs. It offers its 182 residents three levels of nursing care on grounds that include century-old brick buildings, a fishing pond and well-maintained lawns. What it could use more of are resources such as occupational and speech therapy, said Donald Lachman, special projects coordinator for the state VA. For every fatality in this war we have 16 injured veterans, and the head injury is the signature injury of this war, Lachman said. We know these soldiers are coming because of the kind of injuries that are happening, and we're not ready for that.

NEW HOUSING

Part of the department's plan includes partnering with Pierce County's Metropolitan Development Council to renovate a 91-year-old barracks at the entrance to the grounds. The renovation would create 30 housing units for homeless veterans. The Garfield Barracks was condemned in 1978 and has since been used for storage. Half of the units in the renovated structure would become transitional housing; the other 15 would be permanent low-income units. Residents would have access to the other health care facilities at the Soldiers Home, which include a light-care nursing facility and a skilled-nursing home. We've really seen on the streets of Tacoma and Pierce County an increase of single and chronically homeless folks on the street, said Sandy Burgess, a development consultant with the nonprofit Metropolitan Development Council. I think a significant part of that is people returning from the war with severe health issues. This is an opportunity for people to regain some stability and really just recover in a peaceful setting, she added. Part of the council's mission is to provide affordable housing and reduce homelessness, making the partnership a good one for the VA and the county, Burgess said. The nonprofit has raised $75,000 for the first phase of the project, but expects it will take another 11/2 years to raise the remaining money. The total project cost is estimated at $6 million. Burgess said she hopes the renovated barracks can open in 2011. "It really benefits both parties, and in the end it benefits the people we are trying to house, Burgess said.

PARTNERING WITH THE COMMUNITY

John Lee, director of the state Department of Veterans Affairs, said he wants to see the Soldiers Home grow to serve not only a wider population of veterans, but also the nearby community. The department is trying to increase its connections with the City of Orting and the Orting School District. A healing garden designed by University of Washington landscape architecture students will also appear in the next few years, and possibly a military museum. I'm trying to look at this in terms of the vision for the Soldiers Home for the decades ahead, Lee said. We'd like to integrate the people coming into that community with the community here in Orting. Already the city's Parks and Recreation Department has started holding some recreational baseball games on the campus, Orting Mayor Cheryl Temple said. Temple said she hopes the city can soon market the Soldiers Home as an attraction for people to visit in Orting. They're kind of opening up to us, Temple said. We're really excited to be able to market them. Talks with the Orting School District include providing community service opportunities and job shadow programs. For instance, students could learn about medicine from nurses who work at the home's skilled-nursing facility, school Superintendent Jeff Davis said. The idea is to make it a win-win situation, so their residents have the opportunity to be a part of this community and our students have a chance to explore career opportunities, Davis said.

NEW THERAPIES

Students in the UW's therapeutic garden certificate program have already gotten involved. They've come up with designs for a healing and walking garden at the Soldiers Home that could be used for physical therapy. It would be placed next to the skilled-nursing facility, said Roxanne Hamilton, a lecturer in the university's landscape architecture department. Research has shown that patients benefit from using a garden as a social setting as well as a site for outdoor physical therapy, Hamilton said. Patients also could help take care of the garden. We're designing ways that people can do all their physical therapy activities, but outdoors, Hamilton said. People's fine motor skills and general health and well-being can improve greatly through personal one-on-one interaction with plants. Lachman said he hopes the garden will be just one of the new therapeutic additions to the Soldiers Home. The state VA is looking to add speech therapists to help patients who have suffered head injuries. Their work could correspond with a potential service dog and kennel therapy program and day-care services for traumatic brain injury patients. Eventually, the state VA wants to have an information center at the Soldiers Home that can educate people about living with brain injuries, Lachman said. Veterans Affairs is formulating plans to increase services this year and hopes to move forward in the next two years. We are learning more and more about the brain. We cannot just write off these young veterans who are injured, Lachman said. We have to have an aggressive program. Melissa Santos: 253-552-7058

City of Tacoma Fair Housing Award for Cathy Forslund

MDc's own Cathy Forslund, Program Assistant of Rental Management, received the 2008 City Of Tacoma Annual Fair Housing Award.