I haven't written anything in a while, and I especially have been avoiding talking more about my position at the HDA. Mostly that's because there is so much to say that I didn't know where to start. So there are things that I'll talk a little about today, and more about in later posts.
As the title suggests, most of the things I do at the Housing Development Alliance started by me doing them first, and then learning more about during/after. As I wrote when I first started, my very second day here I started taking all of the client intakes: both in person and over the phone. I didn't even really know everything we do at the time, so I was winging it for sure. But as I've talked to more and more clients and found out their situations and what programs they fit into, I now (and for a while now) know what to say to clients and how to direct them towards their next steps in the application process. As time has gone by, my responsibilities have grown. A few weeks ago, I was working to help re-do our Housing Counseling Manual. We do housing counseling throughout the homebuying process, and this is one of the requirements of USDA Rural Development for them to provide a loan to a client. Much of it was outdated and we decided to look at it and see what we could change for the better. The parts that I worked on were ones I was not an expert in, so I had to do a fair amount of research to make sure what I wrote was correct. This included sections on living "green," saving money on your food and phone bill, and avoiding predatory lenders (watch for a later post on predatory lending). Learning more about all of these things has also been helpful in my own personal life- and trying to manage/stretch the limited living allowance I get from AmeriCorps.
My other more recent responsibilities include doing Credit Reviews and serving as a Loan Originator. Checking people's credit actually did require quite a bit of learning ahead of time. But I am continuing to learn as I see different credit reports. For the most part, the credit reports we see are either Not Scored or have low scores. So I am learning how to counsel clients on how to build credit, improve credit, and dispute any false information on their credit report. I very recently started filling out loan applications with clients who need repairs, which involves A TON of paperwork. And everything has to be arranged just right when the finalized applications get sent up to Rural Development. This has made me think about the differences between ASP and what I'm doing now (also to be discussed in a later post)- one of which being the amount of paperwork. If I could go back to this past summer, I would complain much less about having to find deeds and titles compared to the massive amount of documentation required here for each client to apply for a government loan.
Hopefully it doesn't sound like I'm complaining, I actually do like this style of learning. It keeps things exciting and I get to see how the things I'm learning apply in all different situations.
*Also, a note on the last post/ Coal Severance: I have learned a little more about it, and I guess the Coal Severance Tax is county-based. So counties with a lot of coal industry physically located in their county get a lot of Coal Severance money, and vice-versa with counties who do not. This can be unfortunate for smaller counties that don't have a lot of coal mines located in their county, yet many of their residents are coal miners. Organizations who want some of their county's money (non-profits, etc.) petition their county judge, who ultimately makes the decision about where the money goes.
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Sunday, October 7, 2012
Black and Gold
This was originally supposed to be a post devoted to the Black Gold festival held annually in Hazard, but I've been slacking and several weeks have passed since the festival. So instead I'll focus this post on focus of the festival... Coal.
Fall is festival season in Eastern Kentucky. West Liberty has the Sorghum Festival (which sadly, I had to miss). Whitesburg has the Mountain Heritage Festival. Beattyville has the Wooly Worm Festival... and the list goes on and on. Hazard's annual festival (Black Gold) is devoted to celebrating coal. Although the bumper stickers I see driving around are a pretty good indication of the sentiments about coal in the area ("If you don't like coal, then don't use electricity" is a Perry County favorite), the festival took things to a whole 'nother level. There were T-shirts proclaiming that "I Support Coal Because Coal Supports Me," etc. And in Triangle Park in downtown, there was a huge display of very large coal mining machinery.
But there were also other things to celebrate. This year was the 100 year anniversary of the 1st train coming to Hazard. The festival consisted of an abundance of greasy food, lots of rides (which I heard enough about their un-reliability to want to stay far, far away from), and several sub-par musical performances. Unfortunately we did not get to enjoy any of the bluegrass that the state of Kentucky is known for. Instead we got to enjoy the KISS cover band and many other interesting musicians. There were some upsides to the festival- the craft fair portion of the festival was fun to walk through and we got to see some of the local artisan's products. And on Saturday morning, there was the parade. The parade was very long, and consisted of MANY pageant winners. I use the term "winners" loosely here, because there may have been 20-30 of them in the parade. I'm still perplexed as to how the pageant (that had happened prior to the festival) worked, I guess there were a lot of categories. And, since Hazard is where the idea for the Dukes of Hazzard came from, of course General Lee was in the parade! To say the least, the parade was entertaining.
So I do, without question, live in the heart of Coal Country.
What I've been hearing some about lately is the Coal Severance Tax. I'm a little hesitant to talk about it here because I don't know much about it yet. Here is an excerpt taken from maced.org:
For many years after Kentucky created a coal severance tax in 1972, almost all of the revenue was used for general state appropriations rather than specified for use in the coalfields. In 1992, the General Assembly passed legislation to apportion half of the monies back to the coal mining regions of eastern and western Kentucky. The legislation allocated a share of those dollars (15 percent of coal severance receipts) to a revenue-sharing program for local governments to provide basic services (known as the Local Government Economic Assistance Fund (LGEAF)) and a portion (35 percent of receipts) to
local funds whose use was restricted to developing industrial parks and sites (the Local Government Economic Development Fund (LGEDF)). The authors of the legislation believed industrial recruitment was key to diversifying the region’s economy as coal jobs disappear. During the 1990s, LGEDF monies built a series of regional industrial parks. After mixed success recruiting industry, the
legislature began utilizing coal severance monies for a wider range of purposes, including the following:
Educational and social programs that serve coal mining areas
The budget has funded specific programs in areas like education (the Read to Achieve program in coalfield counties; education technology in schools; the Robinson Scholars program; scholarships to the medical school at Pikeville College); health (Trover Clinic in western Kentucky); and drug abuse (Operation UNITE, the drug courts program).
Debt service on infrastructure and buildings
State budgets since 2002 have included debt for coal county capital projects, including expansion of water and sewer services and the construction and renovation of schools. The state issued bonds, and a growing share of coal severance revenue goes to paying debt service on those bonds. In the governor’s proposed budget for 2013-2014, over $30 million in coal severance revenue is reserved for debt service payments.
Local projects
In several legislative sessions, the legislature approved earmarks using monies that had built up in single-county LGEDF accounts for a variety of specific local projects, including senior centers, veterans memorials, recreation and sports facilities, tourism projects, community centers, library supplies, fire trucks and other public safety expenditures, and more.
Coal and energy-related expenses
A portion of severance tax dollars has been allocated to coal industry-related expenses and spending. For a while, $19 million a year was allocated to pay workers’ compensation liabilities for injured coal miners. Recent budgets have also included monies for a mining engineering scholarship program, mine safety enforcement, and energy-related economic development projects in coal counties.
On a level more closely related to what I'm doing in Hazard- there is a Coal Severance Grant that helps to fund the local homeless shelter, Community Ministries. As I learn more about this tax and how the money is used- I will definitely share! I'm not taking a stance on our country's use of coal as a source of energy- I'm just trying to bring up another side of the issue that many people probably don't know about.
Also I did the Run for the Hills 5K/Charity Challenge this Saturday! The weather was pretty terrible but I persevered. It was put on by the Foundation for Appalachian Kentucky, another topic for a future post!
Fall is festival season in Eastern Kentucky. West Liberty has the Sorghum Festival (which sadly, I had to miss). Whitesburg has the Mountain Heritage Festival. Beattyville has the Wooly Worm Festival... and the list goes on and on. Hazard's annual festival (Black Gold) is devoted to celebrating coal. Although the bumper stickers I see driving around are a pretty good indication of the sentiments about coal in the area ("If you don't like coal, then don't use electricity" is a Perry County favorite), the festival took things to a whole 'nother level. There were T-shirts proclaiming that "I Support Coal Because Coal Supports Me," etc. And in Triangle Park in downtown, there was a huge display of very large coal mining machinery.
But there were also other things to celebrate. This year was the 100 year anniversary of the 1st train coming to Hazard. The festival consisted of an abundance of greasy food, lots of rides (which I heard enough about their un-reliability to want to stay far, far away from), and several sub-par musical performances. Unfortunately we did not get to enjoy any of the bluegrass that the state of Kentucky is known for. Instead we got to enjoy the KISS cover band and many other interesting musicians. There were some upsides to the festival- the craft fair portion of the festival was fun to walk through and we got to see some of the local artisan's products. And on Saturday morning, there was the parade. The parade was very long, and consisted of MANY pageant winners. I use the term "winners" loosely here, because there may have been 20-30 of them in the parade. I'm still perplexed as to how the pageant (that had happened prior to the festival) worked, I guess there were a lot of categories. And, since Hazard is where the idea for the Dukes of Hazzard came from, of course General Lee was in the parade! To say the least, the parade was entertaining.
So I do, without question, live in the heart of Coal Country.
What I've been hearing some about lately is the Coal Severance Tax. I'm a little hesitant to talk about it here because I don't know much about it yet. Here is an excerpt taken from maced.org:
For many years after Kentucky created a coal severance tax in 1972, almost all of the revenue was used for general state appropriations rather than specified for use in the coalfields. In 1992, the General Assembly passed legislation to apportion half of the monies back to the coal mining regions of eastern and western Kentucky. The legislation allocated a share of those dollars (15 percent of coal severance receipts) to a revenue-sharing program for local governments to provide basic services (known as the Local Government Economic Assistance Fund (LGEAF)) and a portion (35 percent of receipts) to
local funds whose use was restricted to developing industrial parks and sites (the Local Government Economic Development Fund (LGEDF)). The authors of the legislation believed industrial recruitment was key to diversifying the region’s economy as coal jobs disappear. During the 1990s, LGEDF monies built a series of regional industrial parks. After mixed success recruiting industry, the
legislature began utilizing coal severance monies for a wider range of purposes, including the following:
Educational and social programs that serve coal mining areas
The budget has funded specific programs in areas like education (the Read to Achieve program in coalfield counties; education technology in schools; the Robinson Scholars program; scholarships to the medical school at Pikeville College); health (Trover Clinic in western Kentucky); and drug abuse (Operation UNITE, the drug courts program).
Debt service on infrastructure and buildings
State budgets since 2002 have included debt for coal county capital projects, including expansion of water and sewer services and the construction and renovation of schools. The state issued bonds, and a growing share of coal severance revenue goes to paying debt service on those bonds. In the governor’s proposed budget for 2013-2014, over $30 million in coal severance revenue is reserved for debt service payments.
Local projects
In several legislative sessions, the legislature approved earmarks using monies that had built up in single-county LGEDF accounts for a variety of specific local projects, including senior centers, veterans memorials, recreation and sports facilities, tourism projects, community centers, library supplies, fire trucks and other public safety expenditures, and more.
Coal and energy-related expenses
A portion of severance tax dollars has been allocated to coal industry-related expenses and spending. For a while, $19 million a year was allocated to pay workers’ compensation liabilities for injured coal miners. Recent budgets have also included monies for a mining engineering scholarship program, mine safety enforcement, and energy-related economic development projects in coal counties.
On a level more closely related to what I'm doing in Hazard- there is a Coal Severance Grant that helps to fund the local homeless shelter, Community Ministries. As I learn more about this tax and how the money is used- I will definitely share! I'm not taking a stance on our country's use of coal as a source of energy- I'm just trying to bring up another side of the issue that many people probably don't know about.
Also I did the Run for the Hills 5K/Charity Challenge this Saturday! The weather was pretty terrible but I persevered. It was put on by the Foundation for Appalachian Kentucky, another topic for a future post!
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