With a two acre lot donated by local resident Charlie Pingree, $25,000 in locally-raised funds and a matching grant of $25,000 from the Islands Challenge Fund, the members of North Haven Sustainable Housing (NHSH) are ready to start construction on an energy efficient, affordable home.

On October 6, NHSH members John Dietter (pictured at right with house plans with Genesis Fund board member George Shaw) Pat Curtis, and Joan Amory walked Genesis board members and staff around the construction site on the first day of excavation.

Beginning in 2004, NHSH, an all-volunteer community group, saw the need for year-round affordable housing and contacted Genesis for assistance in becoming an incorporated nonprofit organization. With the promise of donated land from NHSH board member Charlie Pingree, the group approached the Islands Challenge Fund and was awarded a $25,000 challenge grant in March 2006.

Members spent the spring and summer of 2006 busily engaged in both clearing the lot of trees and brush and raising $25,000 in matching funds from the local community. By early fall, both goals were accomplished and a local excavator rolled in to begin foundation work.As the site preparation continues, members of the board are working on eligibility and selection criteria to choose a North Haven year-round resident or family as the new homeowner. The locally-raised funds and the Islands Challenge Fund grant will allow the completed home to be sold for $130,000, which falls into the standard guidelines of affordable for a family that makes 80 percent of the area median income.

This fall Genesis Fund Executive Director Beth McPherson spoke at two statewide events.

On October 5 she organized and moderated a panel on the connection between land conservation and affordable housing at the Governor's Annual Affordable Housing Conference in Rockport. Panelists Philippe Jordi of Island Housing Trust, Martha's Vineyard; Jim Libby of Vermont Housing and Conservation Board; and Terry Kelley of the Ellsworth/Mount Desert Island Housing Authority described efforts to integrate land conservation and housing development, in effect making limited development a conservation tool.

On October 21 Beth served on an affordable housing panel at the Maine Council of Churches’ conference in Augusta, How Shall We Live So All May Thrive? Building Neighborhoods of Environmental and Economic Justice. She suggested that members of church congregations could lend to a “silent second mortgage loan pool” to bridge the gap in a given community between the mortgage that a young family could afford and the selling price of a suitable home, plus needed green improvements. Principal and interest would be repaid at the time of resale.

Other panelists were Rachel Talbot-Ross of Maine NAACP; Tae Chong of MaineHousing, and Susan Hammond of Four Directions Development Corporation, which serves Native American tribes in Maine.

Over the course of FY 2006, the Genesis Fund made loans of more than $1.6 million dollars and helped to leverage an additional $10.5 million for 27 nonprofit groups working to build better, stronger communities.

That's great news and the many projects Genesis has assisted will make a difference in the lives of many Mainers.

The three stories we feature in this year's annual report, "A Place to Call Home," focus on the individuals who have benefited from Genesis involvement.