NEWS DETAILS

October 2017, Volume 2, Issue 3

October 1, 2017

Message From the Executive Director/CEO

It is newsletter time again and it happens to coincide with two important national issues this month that I wish to highlight in this edition. The month of October is breast cancer awareness month and fire prevention month. As we are all aware, breast cancer can be a devastating health condition and has claimed many lives over the years. It affects our mothers, sisters, aunts, daughters, wives and the list goes on. A lot of progress has been made in recent years to find a cure, and I believe that with the involvement of everyone we will someday find a cure. I there-fore encourage everyone to do their part during this month of Breast Cancer Awareness. One way to be involved is to participate in fundraising events that help raise money for the cause. I take this opportunity to encourage and appeal to all of our adult female residents to go for regular checks ups including mammograms. Remember “prevention is always better than the cure”.

Fire prevention is the other event taking place this month. This is close to home for me due to my own personal experience/tragedy a few years ago. House fires can be devastating and can cause property damage and even death. Therefore, it is in the interest of everyone to be prepared and to take measures to prevent fires. Our maintenance department has provided tips on P. 3 of this newsletter on fire prevention and I encourage you to read and apply these tips to your home. Don’t be the reason and cause of a fire in your home. Remember “prevention is always better than the cure”.

I take this opportunity to again remind you of my open door policy and to come by anytime for a visit. If you have any concerns regarding the general service de-livery or if you just want to come for a chat – my door is always open and it would be great to see you. I am always looking for new ways to improve service; so if you have any suggestions or ideas which will help to improve service, please let me know. However, if your concerns are particular to your tenancy, please first discuss the issue with the respective department and/or manager. If after that you are still not satisfied, then by all means come see me.

Thank you for your support and cooperation, and I look forward to your continuous support. Thank you for choosing the Moline Housing Authority as your housing provider. We are here to provide housing and opportunities.

Tips from Housing

Moline Housing Authority welcomes Candace Strickland and Sharita Pettigrew to the public housing team.

Candace started with MHA in March and likes meeting and getting to know resi-dents. Candace lives locally and has one child that she loves spending time with. This is her first housing ex-perience and is excited to gain additional knowledge and continuing to help the community.

Sharita started with MHA in August and likes working with the public. She also likes working with our small team and getting to know everyone. Sharita has a 10 year old son, 7 year old daughter, and 5 year old daughter. She enjoys tak-ing them to their sporting events and activities. This is also her first housing ex-perience and is looking for-ward to continuing to assist clients.

Candace Strickland – Office Assistant

Sharita Pettigrew – Housing Assistant

Melissa Neff – Assistant Property Manager

Lorena McMillan – Property Manager

If you have any general problems please contact the front desk and you will be directed to the appropriate staff. We look forward to assisting you.

Section 8 Info

The Moline Housing Au-thority welcomes Laura Rigg to the Section 8 De-partment. Laura jointed the Authority in 2015 as an Of-fice Assistant and then moved into the position of Housing Assistant for Public Housing before becoming Section 8 Assistant.

Laura is a graduate of Mo-line High School and West-ern Illinois University. She resides with her two daughters in Coal Valley, IL.

Laura enjoys working with Section 8 and helping to build the Moline community.

If you own a property or know anyone that would like to make their property available to Moline Section 8 participants, please contact the office at (309) 764-1819.

Maintenance Corner

Fire Safety Tips:

Never leave cooking food on the stovetop unattended, and keep a close eye on food cooking inside the oven. Use a cooking timer.

Keep cooking areas clean and clear of combustibles (i.e. pot-holders, towels, rags, plastics, drapes and food packaging).

Never smoke in bed, when drowsy, medicated or intoxicat-ed as this could lead to falling asleep with a lighted cigarette.

Keep smoking materials away from anything that can burn (i.e., mattresses, bedding, upholstered furniture, draperies, etc.).

Keep matches and lighters away from children.

Extinguish all candles when leaving the room or going to sleep.

Do not use portable space heaters.

Bits from the Board

The role of the Board of Commissioners as a whole include:

Establish a vision, work with staff to structure and plan goals

Determine and develop policies for effectiveness

Provide for implementation of poli-cy through staff with appropri-ate oversight

Monitor policy implementation for efficiency

Advice and consent.

As a reminder, the Board of Commissioners meet on the third Monday of every month. The meetings take place at 5:30pm at the Spring Brook office. The meeting is open to our residents and the public. Tenants and the Housing Choice Voucher Program par-ticipants are especially encour-aged to come and observe and be part of what is going on here at the housing authority!

Rap from RAB

Neighborhood Watch—Get Involved and Stay Vigilant!

The Resident Advisory Board (RAB) has been trying to estab-lish a neighborhood watch at the Spring Brook and Spring Valley location but so far residents have shown little interest. Neighbor-hood watch is a program which brings neighbors together to en-sure safety and crime free neigh-borhood for all. For the program to work, it would take all the res-idents coming together to plan and execute action plan for the program. The objective of the neigh-borhood watch program is to fight crime by working with law enforce-ment agencies, private organizations and individual residents in a housing authority-wide effort to reduce crime and improve quality of life for residents.

Our nation is built on the strength of our citizens. Every day, we encounter situations calling upon us to be the eyes and ears of law enforcement. Not only does neighborhood watch allow citizens to help in the fight against crime, it is also an opportunity for communities to bond through service. The Neighborhood Watch Program draws upon the compassion of average citizens, asking them to lend their neighbors a hand. Would you be that neighbor to lend a hand? A successful neighborhood program would empower residents to be-come active in community effort through participation in Neighborhood Watch program to fight crime. So next time a neighborhood watch meeting is call, show up, get involve and stay vigilant to make the housing authority safe for all residents.

Important Dates