A Reflection of the Community Dialogue Held at Heartland Community Church

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This struggle in detail included my how to frame my presentation… I believe that many residents are tired of hearing about the plans… the more than 100 meetings by multiple parties who have “authority” in and provide direction for RHA’s work. From work done by our City Staff and Alderman (Comprehensive Plan, Consolidated Plan) the Regional Metropolitan Agency for Planning (Sustainable Development Plan, Regional Analysis to the Impediments to Fair Housing, Fair Housing Equity Assessment, Public Housing Deconcentration Plan), Community (Choice Neighborhoods Plan), the RHA staff and Commissioners (Public Housing Plan) and the State (Housing Plan and Qualified Action Plan) a community housing plan was developed for Rockford and approved. These plan approvals came within the weekly City Council meetings and/or monthly RHA meetings among others… but I felt people didn’t want to hear this. I believed what they want to hear is – why is this important to me? Hmmm… I decided to share why kids don’t make it to Kindergarten. Specifically, why don’t poor kids make it to kindergarten?

Kids not making it to kindergarten is based on a myriad of conditions and problems not the simple statement of parents just don’t care enough to get them there; that is an assumption.

Evidence-based practice requires us to get to root causes so that systems change happens and improved outcomes occur. The presentation included an analysis of the root cause – unhealthy environments that cause asthma, anxiety, and pain. Contributing conditions like an unsafe route to school exacerbated the problem. The presentation also showed the distinct environmental differences between a walk from Fairgrounds to Lewis Lemon Elementary School vs. the walk from the proposed Newtowne site to Gregory Elementary School. With an evidence-based approach, best practices were implemented and a 67% reduction in kindergarten truancy has been achieved for kindergarteners in Ellis Heights.

This same evidence-based approach is what RHA has applied to its plan to redevelop 1100 units of public housing; transitioning them to a public/private partnership through the improvement process. This same evidence-based approach is how RHA is working with Rockford community partners to help “wrap” a holistic service delivery system around our clients to provide improved outcomes and quality of life. What does all this really mean? It means that research, quality data, and a desire to get to the cause of a problem helps to drive the implementation of evidence-driven, best-practice solutions to that problem. It means we have changed our focus from just bricks and mortar housing to housing that provides opportunities for education, jobs, health, income, and higher quality of life. And what it really, really means is that RHA cares about people – our residents and our neighbors. This is how RHA is different. I hope you hear this as you take a few moments to get to the “heart of housing” in our community.