PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
I am in great company with a supportive board and professional team to help guide us forward. We finished 2021 with a successful year-end donor drive and I want to thank everyone who gave generously to our mission to preserve and build housing that is affordable to people who are vital to our community.
With your support, we continue strengthening our organizational infrastructure so we can increase our impact. We now have approximately 50 affordable housing units in various stages of the development pipeline, an exciting and significant undertaking. We are fortunate to partner with non-profit affordable housing developers including Burbank Housing and Napa Valley Community Housing, who are providing technical expertise and assistance with the workload necessary to bring these homes to reality.
We are thrilled to share that the eight families who have been building their own homes on McCorkle Avenue for the better part of three years will be able to move in soon and start the next chapter of their lives, and reclaim their weekends for quality time with their families! I hope you will join us for a fun volunteer shift to put the final touches on the landscaping and fencing, and officially welcome your neighbors to their new homes (see article below).
If you would like to be more involved with Our Town St. Helena, either by serving on the Board Directors or in another volunteer capacity, please contact Executive Director, Jennifer La Liberte at jennifer@ourtownsthelena.org or (707) 812-9839.
Be a Part of Community Building at Brenkle Court
Please join us for a fun morning or afternoon of fellowship while putting the finishing touches in place at Brenkle Court. Don your work gloves and help with hole digging, planting, landscaping, and fencing. No skill necessary, just a willingness to help and a positive attitude. Come by for an hour or a day, whatever you can offer!
Weekends of May 28-29, June 4-5, June 11-12
Morning shift 8:00 – 12:00. Afternoon shift 1:00 – 5:00
684 McCorkle Avenue, St. Helena
If interested, please RSVP to projectmanager@ourtownsthelena.org with your name, preferred date and time, and number of volunteers in your group.
OUR TOWN ST HELENA PROJECT UPDATE
Brenkle Court USDA Mutual Self-Help Project Close To Completion!
After nearly three years of construction, the eight local families who have been building their homes at the Brenkle Court site on McCorkle Avenue will get to put their hammers away and enjoy living in their new homes by early summer! While the construction has taken much longer than anticipated, it is remarkable that the project was completed under budget despite the impacts from wildfires, the pandemic, supply chain issues, and increasing building materials costs. Huge kudos to Larry Vermeulen, project manager extraordinaire, and all the homeowners, volunteers and local supporters who helped shepherd this project through a challenging maze of twists and turns.
A community ribbon cutting will be held in August, stay tuned for a future announcement.
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“When we started construction, we anticipated completion within two years. The COVID outbreak occurred in our sixth month and the pool of volunteers dried up. The families continued on, working every weekend, also impacted at times by infections within their family circles and needing to take a few weeks off. It’s been a long, hard road, but we are really close to wrapping this up. I couldn’t be more proud of the quality and magnitude of the work these homeowners have produced.”
– Larry Vermeulen, Project Manager
ADU CONSTRUCTION FINANCING
New Lifeblood for Accessory Dwelling Units to Help Solve the Housing Crisis
Would you like to generate additional income, and help solve the housing crisis? You can put your property to work by building a small accessory dwelling unit, or ADU, that you can rent at an affordable level. Or, you can live in the ADU and rent the main residence, depending on your preference and circumstance. An ADU may be a practical solution for aging people who don’t want to leave their home or the community, would like a smaller space to maintain, and prefer to live in a single-story residence.
Napa Valley Community Foundation has partnered with Redwood Credit Union to create an innovative ADU construction loan product that will enable more homeowners to borrow the capital they need to construct second units on their properties. This product is favorable to borrowers and technical assistance is provided through the Napa Sonoma ADU Center. Learn More
We are grateful for our business and foundation strategic partners
OTSH relies on grants to support its operations and activities. We would like to publicly acknowledge and thank our generous 2021 strategic partners, without whom we cannot do this important work!
California Wellness Foundation
Carpy Family Foundation
Central Valley
City of St Helena
Fidelity Charitable
Gasser Foundation
Mechanics Bank
Napa Valley Community Foundation
Napa Community Projects, Inc.
Silicon Valley Bank
Silicon Valley Community Foundation
United Methodist Church of St Helena
