Basketball Camp
Dear Editor: Sixty-six kids in grades 3-12 took advantage of the I Did. You Can. basketball camp this past week.
This excellent program taught not only basketball fundamentals but life skills as well. Greg Brittenham from Wake Forest University and the New York Knicks, along with his son, Max, ran this great camp and many thanks go out to Scott Calhoun and Sitka Bottling Co. for sponsoring the camp to help make it happen.
Andrew Friske
Donation Thanks
Dear Editor: The board of directors of the Sitka Community Development Corporation would like to thank the City and Borough of Sitka Assembly for their support of the donation of the small pocket park lot on Lillian Drive to the Sitka Community Land Trust, or CLT, program.
The CLT was recently formed through a grant from the Rasmuson Foundation, with the support of their grant administrator Chris Perez, and the hired consultant Michael Brown of Burlington Associates in Community Development. The diligent, tedious work of preparing legal documents and making difficult decisions was admirably performed by the CLT Committee: Maegan Bosak, Cleo Brylinsky, Randy Hughey, James Poulson, Michael LaGuire, and Mim McConnell.
The SCDC board would also like to thank Stephen Courtright and Melissa Marconi-Wentzel for sharing their stories at the Assembly meetings, and the following community members who have generously made donations:
Thank you to the following businesses and agencies for their generous donations: Hames Corporation, First Bank, First National Bank, ALPS Federal Credit Union, Wells Fargo, National Community Land Trust Network, State Division of Economic Development, Coast Guard Spouses & Wives Association, ASRC McGraw Construction, Sitka Vision Clinic, Allen Marine Tours, Schmolck Mechanical Contractors, and Venneberg Insurance.
Thanks also to the following agencies for their support of the CLT solution to permanently affordable housing: Greater Sitka Chamber of Commerce, USDA Rural Development, Baranof Island Housing Authority, Alaska Housing Finance Corporation, and to the University of Alaska-Sitka Campus for the use of their classrooms for our many teleconferences and web meetings.
The next steps for SCDC are to approve a house design, select a qualified prospective home owner according to the CLT process, coach the home owner through financing, select a builder for the home on Lillian Drive, oversee the building project, and then choose our next project.
With continued community support Sitka’s land trust will help create much-needed affordable housing for generations of Sitkans. Those who are interested in learning more about how to become involved with the Sitka Community Development Corporation’s Community Land Trust may contact Executive Director Mim McConnell at 738-2888 or sitkacdc@gmail.com. Watch for details coming soon in the media and to our website, sitkaaffordablehousing.org, about how to pursue the purchase of a home.
The Board of Directors of Sitka Community Development
Corporation:
Randy Hughey;
Melissa Marconi-Wentzel;
Joshua Houston; Patrick Fowler; Michael LaGuire; James Poulson; Greg Reynolds; Erin Matthes
