[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 5] [Extensions of Remarks] [Page 6003] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]RECOGNIZING THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE HARLEM CONGREGATIONS FOR COMMUNITY IMPROVEMENT, INC.--FAITH AT WORK ______ HON. CHARLES B. RANGEL of new york in the house of representatives Tuesday, April 25, 2006 Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today, on the eve of the twentieth anniversary of the Harlem Congregations for Community Improvement (HCCI) to enter into the Congressional Record a perspective that recognizes the many achievements and accomplishments attributed to the HCCI. Since 1986, the Harlem Congregations for Community Improvement (HCCI) has been devoted to bringing about positive change to the Harlem community as its coalition of churches remain vigilant in their efforts to revitalize the spirit of Harlem by continuing to work to improve conditions in the community. The HCCI initiative started with a consortium of 16 ministers and has grown to a membership of nearly 100 churches. Their organization has constructed over 2,000 units of affordable housing, provided job development and training and established support groups to reinforce and assist with services to the community. I have lived in Harlem my entire life and can attest to the success of the many initiatives undertaken by the HCCI. I have witnessed the collective conception of ideas that grew into plans that resulted in major improvements to the lives of the people of Harlem. Mr. Speaker, I am extremely proud of the achievements of the HCCI and I respectfully enter into the Congressional Record this perspective which serves to recognize the HCCl's noteworthy accomplishments as we approach the organizations' twentieth anniversary. The Harlem Congregations for Community Improvement, Inc.: Faith at Work For the past two decades, the Harlem Congregations for Community Improvement (HCCI) has quietly, yet methodically, changed the physical landscape and the spiritual soul of the people of the Harlem community. HCCI was founded in 1986 as a consortium of 16 Harlem churches, whose pastors and congregants had long endured the surrounding urban decay. HCCI's first President was the late Bishop Preston R. Washington, Sr. The organization grew to an organization of more than 90 churches, mosques and a synagogue. The organization began with a grassroots planning and organizing initiative. Harlem area churches raised $100,000 which was matched by the Trinity Episcopal Church on Wall Street. A plan for the Bradhurst community was developed by working with the Harlem Urban Development Corporation, Columbia University's Urban Technical Assistance Project and the City College Architecture Center. That plan was eventually adopted by the City of New York as the Bradhurst Urban Renewal Area Plan. The Bradhurst area had such a high level of deterioration that the blight seemed almost incurable, with rampant crime, drug addiction, abnormally short life expectancy, high infant mortality rates, population exodus, HIV/AIDS, an unemployment rate that outstripped the national average, poor schools with alarming dropout rates, and no decent or affordable housing. The first grants to address the Bradhurst area were received from Local Initiative Support Corporation and leveraged donations raised through special church collections. The organization used the Industrial Areas Foundation method of developing an organization. Since then, HCCI's community service has been reversing these conditions concurrently, block by block. From welfare-to-work training and placement, to adult basic education and GED prep (in collaboration with Literacy Partners), HCCI has helped hundreds of Harlem residents prepare for the workforce through its Office of Human Capital Development and trains still others to become licensed family childcare providers. Other job readiness services include computer training at HCCI's Career and Technology Center, and collaborations with Literacy Partners. The Intel Computer Clubhouse trained neighborhood kids in web design so well that they won a grant to create a Web site on the negative effects of tobacco. The city's building trade industry has welcomed graduates of the Construction Trades Academy where students learn valuable skills in construction work, including handling hazardous materials such as asbestos abatement and lead paint control. HCCI's customer service training program proved valuable for residents who were hired at the new Pathmark Supermarket at 145th Street and Frederick Douglass Boulevard. Part of a $42 million real estate initiative, HCCI's Office of Real Estate Development broke ground on the market and a 126-unit co-operative apartment complex in the heart of the Bradhurst neighborhood. Indeed, quality affordable housing has been the centerpiece of HCCI's services to the community from the very beginning. To date, approximately 2,000 units of affordable housing have been built through innovative cross sector collaborations with city and State elected officials, the NYC Housing Development Corporation, the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, a host of banking institutions that include JPMorganChase, Citicorp, Roslyn Savings, the Bank of New York, Bank of America, Wachovia and Washington Mutual. Embarking on the Equitable Development initiative, JP Morgan Chase's Community Development competition awarded the $25,000 top prize to three New School University graduate students to create an architectural design that would transform the Erbograph Building on l46th Street into a new community facility space for some of HCCI's offices and housing for the elderly. One of the more damaging health care crises of the twentieth century has been the AIDS epidemic. Communities of color have been the hardest hit. African-American men and women are nine times more likely to die from the disease than white AIDS patients. In 2004, Central Harlem recorded 218 newly diagnosed cases of HIV/AIDS. HCCI began to educate Harlem residents about HIV/AIDS and other diseases, and more recently created a pilot program called the Community Organizations and Congregations for Health institute (COACH), offering technical assistance to five faith-based institutions to help them start nonprofits to sustain their HIV prevention services. For the past seven years, HCCI has hosted the Balm in Gilead/Annual Black Church Week of Prayer for the Healing of AIDS. HCCI increases awareness through street education and outreach, presentations and workshops, and their growing Health Resource Library. HCCI's scattersite housing initiative has proved effective in housing HIV/AIDS patients, many of whom were homeless. Food stamp access programs and other services funded by the city's Human Resources Administration have helped restore them to more productive lives. The question is always asked whether the church can be an agent for change if it is facing all of the previously mentioned challenges. It is an uphill battle to be sure. But HCCI's 100-church membership has proven that with God's help it can be done. ____________________