Working to make a difference in our communities takes dedication and support from people who take the time to get involved. Thats why Habitat-NYC is proud to introduce our newest board member, Ron Darling, Mets Alumnus and SNY broadcaster.

The renowned Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher for the New York Mets was part of the 1986 World Series winning team, a 1985 All-Star and winner of the 1989 National League Golden Glove Award.

Ron brings to Habitat-NYC what he has contributed to sports: commitment and team work. This is what he has done all his life in baseball; he has even taught this to his sons when they first got involved in Habitat by helping to build in New Orleans after

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Habitat-NYC TIMES

>>Inside

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Ron Darling signs home plate for Habitat homes

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High Schoolers Get On-the-Job Training

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100 Homes in BrooklynProjects take shape

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Mets and Citi Team Up with Habitat-NYC

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Family Partner Jeffrey Douglas knows that his sweat equity with Habitat-NYC will soon help keep his family warm in the winter.

Ron Darling Signs on with Habitat

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Mets Star Joins the Board to Pitch for Affordable, Green Homes

A Warmer, Brighter Future

A Warmer, Brighter Future

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From the Executive Director

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Habitat-NYC Board of Directors

Peter Knitzer, ChairE*TRADE Bank

Karim Hutson, Vice ChairGenesis Companies

David A. Terveen, Vice ChairDK Display Corp.

Zali Win, TreasurerCredit Agricole

Christine A. McGuinness, SecretarySchiff Hardin LLP

Jennifer ArmstrongCIT Inc.

Neil BaderGuaranteed Home Mortgage Company, Inc.

Evan BauerDealerTrack, Inc.

Rodneyse BichotteAmerican Express

Alatia Bradley

Robert L. BurchA.W. Jones Company

Ron DarlingSportsNet New York

Dr. Michael Dean

Charisse FordThe Este Lauder Companies, Inc.

Carmen GellineauJPMorgan

Candace GeorgeHabitat-NYC Family Partner

Aileen GribbinForsyth Street Advisors, LLC

Chris HoeffelInvestcorp International Inc.

Jeff InfusinoOliver Wyman Financial Services

John IsaacsCB Richard Ellis

Rabbi Bob KaplanCAUSE-NY / JCRC

Shauna Long

Peter MurrayC&C Affordable Management LLC

Martha Parrish

Douglas L. PaulCredit Suisse

Douglas Renfield-Miller

Nia RockSovereign Bank

The Rev. Thomas SynanChurch of the Heavenly Rest

Judy TeevenAmerican Express

Rev. Johnny Ray YoungbloodMt. Pisgah Baptist Church

Josh LockwoodExecutive Director

At Habitat-NYC, were serving more families than ever before, and with our staff level remaining constant, that has meant weve been asking our supporters for more time, energy and generosity than ever before. And you have delivered!

As we continue to acquire vacant, dilapidated and abandoned multifamily buildings in high-foreclosure neighborhoods, weve had to reach out to volunteers to help us rehabilitate and green many buildings simultaneously. The citys Department of Education School of Cooperative Technical Education has sent scores of students seeking construction skills to help in this effort. Alongside their instructors, they are performing much of the volunteer work to renovate our homes in Bedford-Stuyvesant (read about Co-op Tech on page 6).

Similarly, on our buildings on Monroe, Halsey and Bainbridge streets in Bedford-Stuyvesant and at St. Johns Place in Ocean Hill-Brownsville, Habitat-NYC put out a call to action to our base of skilled volunteers from throughout the metro area. These volunteers, with professional-level experience in drywall and flooring, have only asked, When do you need us? The response from these folks has been incredible, and these skilled volunteers are undertaking complicated, critical work to ensure green, high-quality buildings for deserving families.

Lastly, more building means were in search of more family partners. Again, New Yorkers have responded. A Champions group of nonprofits, businesses, elected officials, individuals and faith institutions is convening monthly to help promote Habitat-NYCs homeownership opportunities. With over 50 family partners now successfully enrolled in our program and undertaking sweat equity, the Champions have proved invaluable to our staff homeownership team.

These are challenging times for our city, and our work has never been more vital. As a staff and board of directors, we remain in awe of all of you, for your selflessness and generosity in helping low-income families on a path to a better, more just, future.

Thank you!

111 John Street, 23rd Floor, New York, NY 10038Tel: (212) 991-4000 www.habitatnyc.org

Healthy, affordable homes will be ready for 14 hardworking families in December, when we will host a home dedication at The Melody. This 63-unit LEED Platinum building is the second collaborative project weve built with the Blue Sea

Development Company.The innovative project is the first

residential project to meet the citys new Active Living guidelines.

Watch for details on the dedication and plan to join us for this happy event.

On Sat., Dec. 10, Habitat-NYC Will Welcome Families to Their New Homes in the South Bronx

Save the Date

Habitat for Humanity - New York City transforms lives and our city by building quality homes for families in need and by uniting all New Yorkers around the cause of affordable housing.

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Teammates in the Community

On a warm summers day, the New York Mets Alumni Association and Citi teamed up with Habitat-NYC to help build at the St. Johns Place condos in Ocean Hill-Brownsville. This was the third year that volunteers from the Teammates in the Community Mets and Citi partnership worked with Habitat-NYC to build affordable homes.

This year, Mets legends Ron Darling and Keith Hernandez donned hard hats and construction boots to install drywall. Pitching in to help were James Cava, Executive Vice President, Citi Realty Services, and dozens of volunteers from Citi.

Ron and Keith literally made their mark by signing well wishes on an actual home plate, which will welcome the new homeowners. It will be a wonderful reminder to the families of these new homes of the many hands that took part to make their dreams come true.

It was a day filled with excitement as volunteers drilled, cut and installed Sheetrock and paused to take pictures with the Mets greats and the team mascot, Mr. Met, and Brooklyn Cyclones mascot, Sandy the Seagull.

At an evening ball game, the Mets and Citi honored two longtime Habitat-NYC volunteers for their many years of service. Since 2008, Tom Pace and Martin Freedman have

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Mets and Citi Team Up to Build Habitat Homes

spent almost every Friday volunteering on Habitat-NYC construction sites. The annual award recognizes individuals who have demonstrated extraordinary ways to give back to the community.

Continued from page 1 occurred to Ron that he could continue to be a part of making a difference by building right here in New York City.

. . . So often, people only think of the people in ravaged areas; sometimes its the families in your neighborhood that need help, the family down the street, he said.

With Ron Darling on board as an advocate in our mission to build safe, affordable homes for New York City families in need, Habitat-NYC will be a stronger team.

Hurricane Katrina. My two boys and I went down to New Orleans and worked with Habitat there, and it was such a wonderful bonding experience for us. I really think its a great program, Ron explained his motivation for continuing his Habitat work in New York City.

This summer, Ron, along with fellow Mets Alumnus Keith Hernandez, helped Habitat-NYC build homes at St. Johns Place in the Ocean Hill-Brownsville section of Brooklyn. Thats when it

Ron Darling

Above, left to right, Keith Hernandez, Tom Pace, Ron Darling and Martin Freedman cut drywall. Below left are Ron Darling, family partner Georgette Lee, Josh Lockwood and Keith Hernandez. Below right are Citi volunteers.

Port Authority volunteers, above, built homes with Habitat-NYC to honor colleagues lost on 9/11.

4 w w w . h a b i t a t n y c . o r gFounded by Millard and Linda Fuller in 1976, Habitat for Humanity is a Christian organization that welcomes people of all beliefs to join in its mission.

Brooklyn Boro Presidents Staff Helps Build Habitat-NYC Homes

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Habitat-NYC will salute some of our star supporters on Tuesday, Nov 1, at our 12th Annual Builder Awards.This years awards will go to Credit

Suisse and Douglas L. Paul, Corporate Partner of the Year; Les Bluestone, Millard Fuller Social Justice Award; Collegiate Church Corporation, Richard Wong Faith-in-Action Award; and Juliet Smith, Family Partner of the Year.

Our annual gala, which attracts leaders in the worlds of business, social justice, media and entertainment, celebrates our mission to build desperately needed, affordable homes for remarkable working families.

Our Builder Awards will be at Cipriani Wall Street, 55 Wall Street, Manhattan. Cocktails are at 6:30 pm; dinner is at 7:30 pm.

For details, contact James Andrews at (212) 991-4000 ext. 330 or jandrews@habitatnyc.org.

Builder AwardsSet for Nov. 1

Habitat-NYC Earns Another Four-Star Award from Charity Navigatior

Juliet Smith, with daughter Jada

Habitat-NYC Joins Call toSave AmeriCorps Program

Today, ten AmeriCorps volunteers at Habitat-NYC are building affordable homes, organizing free financial empowerment workshops and helping low-income NYC families become homeowners. They earn only a small stipend but their contributions are invaluable. Without them, Habitat-NYC would struggle to accomplish our mission.

But the AmeriCorps program along with its sister Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) programs, which include VISTA and other vital services may be facing extinction as Congress resumes budget-cutting discus-sions.

Habitat-NYC staff visited almost a dozen local Congressional leaders in Wash-ington recently, urging them to support AmeriCorps and CNCS funding. The visits were coordinated by Voices for National Service, a coalition of nonprofit organizations throughout the U.S. that rely on CNCS members.

Habitat International and its affiliates are active with the coalition. Last year alone, 657 AmeriCorps volunteers gave more than one million hours of service to Habitat affiliates nationwide and helped provide 3,642 families with homes.

Charity Navigator, the well-respected charity watchdog organization, has again awarded Habitat-NYC the top four-star rating. This rating is for sound fiscal

management, commitment to accountability and transparency.

The four-star designation is achieved by only about a quarter of all charities. Staff members from Brooklyn Borough President Marty

Markowitzs office gave a day to help out with our St. Johns Place homes.

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Building Up in Brooklyn

Habitat-NYC is reaching out to volunteers with construction skills to help work on our 100 Homes in Brooklyn initiative.

Hector Colon of Lynbrook is among the dedicated volunteers who took up the challenge. Now retired from the heating oil business, Hector is giving his time to install Sheetrock at one of our Bedford-Stuyvesant buildings.

Bihiche Hamid, who brought con-struction experience from his interior de-

Skilled Volunteers Are Lending Their Expertise

Skilled Volunteer Hector Colon

sign business in Morocco, has become a regular with Habitat-NYC. Bihiche, who boasts of tiling an entire kitchen at St. Johns by himself, says that volunteering brings you happiness because you are helping out people.

Members of our skilled volunteer program must be 16 or over and able to donate at least one day every week. For more information, contact Barbara Wengerter at bwengerter@habitatnyc.org.

Walls are rising rapidly. Ceilings are going in. Roofs and win-dows are being replaced. Kitchens and bathrooms are getting new tile.Habitat-NYC volunteers are moving full speed ahead to bring our

100 Homes in Brooklyn initiative to life. Volunteers have just started work on the six-unit Halsey Street

building and more than 500 volunteers have contributed their time to the 100 homes initiative so far.

Over 50 families have already been selected for these homes and are adding their own sweat equity to help construct their future homes.

Our 12-home, new-construction project at St. Johns Place in Ocean Hill-Brownsville is almost three-quarters of the way done, with completion expected in January, 2012. And our rehab buildings currently being renovated in Bedford-Stuyvesant are expected to be finished between March and May of 2012.

100 Homes Making Progress

100 Homes Launches New Online Marketing Outreach

Our 100 Homes initiative means more affordable housing opportunities than ever before for low-income working families.Habitat-NYC is increasing our homeownership

marketing efforts aimed exclusively for these homes. Know someone who would like to become a Habitat

homeowner? Tell them to go to www.habitatnyc.org and click on Own a Habitat Home for detailed information on available homes and applications.

For the second year in a row, city Buildings Commissioner Robert LiMandri, Acting First Deputy Commissioner Thomas Fariello and 20 DOB inspectors, architects, engineers, lawyers and administrative assistants recently volunteered their time to build with Habitat-NYC.

Scaffolding is off at 475 Monroe Street

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High School Students Get On-the-Job Training with Habitat

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This is a great opportunity, enthuses 16-year-old Rewanda Joseph, as she pauses in making a careful cut in a sheet of drywall.Kids like us dont often get opportunities like this. Many older people will never have the opportunity to do the kind of work we do.

Rewanda is among 30 high school students who are spending part of a semester helping to build Habitat-NYC homes in Brooklyn.

Their instructor, Anthony West, works on-site with students to help them fine-tune their construction skills. The students also spend part of their semesters on academic studies that reinforce their technical training. For example, he says, they may be assigned to write an essay about the construction work they performed that week or about the various tools they used.

In addition to leaving high school with job-ready skills, West said the collaboration with Habitat-NYC is a great motivator for his students. It makes them proud when they can walk by these homes and say I worked on this building.

One student announced that the Co-op Tech program has already benefited his family by giving him the ability to help out at home. Last week, I helped my mother change a faucet, he added.

This is what I want to do with my future, said Triston Estrom, who is planning a construction career. I love working with Habitat, because I can give back to people.

Co-op Tech Students Help Build Affordable Homes

son live nearby, with the whole family squeezing together on weekends.

Until recently, Tamesha slept in the living room, with the kids in the bedroom. But since rats gnawed through the floorboards, they now barricade themselves into one room at night, with rolled up towels jammed against the door to keep the vermin at bay. However, the towels dont keep out the smell of drugs, which wafts from the hallways where dealers ply their trade.

Despite the daily hardships Tamesha and Jeff face, they are always smiling and laughing when they don hard hats and

A Chilling Choice: Heat or Carbon Monoxide

When winter comes, Tamesha Absons unheated apartment is so cold she turns on the oven . . . until the carbon monoxide alarm goes off. Once the poisonous air clears, she turns the oven back on.

Thats only one reason why Tamesha, her fiance Jeffrey Douglas and their three children are working hard for their Habitat-NYC home. Right now, theres not enough room in Tameshas one-bedroom apartment for the family to stay together. During the week, she shares it with her 10-year-old daughter and five-year-old son. Jeff and his 10-year-old

build towards their new home.A school bus driver, Jeff delivers his

busload of kids to classes in the morning, heads over to install Sheetrock with Habitat-NYC, then steers his bus back to school in the afternoon to pick up students and return them home.

Even with this job schedule, Jeff says he loves the time he spends on site. Everyone is just so warm and positive, he says. If all work was like this, our world would be better. It gives you enthusiasm. It gives you hope.

Abson-Douglas Family Looking Forward to a Safe and Warm Future

Co-op Tech high school students gain construction skills as they build Habitat-NYC homes.

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