PROGRAMS & PROJECTS

From 2021 to present, I have been leading, managing and developing all assets for SERI's Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP) - Education and Outreach Initiative (EOI) through $125,000 grant funding (renewal available annually) from the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

 

The program aims to educate and spread awareness of equal opportunity for all in housing, promote inclusivity and encourages compliance with the Fair Housing Act (FHA). Limited-income and minority communities have the least access to resources, making them most at-risk to housing discrimination. The program provides a complaint inquiry hotline service to assist and refer individuals who think they have been discriminated against in housing on the basis of race, national origin, color, religion, sex, familial status, or disability. The program serves the general public in the Southwest region of Arizona with an emphasis on limited-income and minority communities in Tucson, Arizona. Fair housing educational material is provided in English, Spanish, Swahili, Mandarin, and Arabic.

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The Scope of Work (SOW):

• Program website pages

• Website accessibility tool

• Press releases and news articles

• Blog posts

• Print and digital educational material

• Community partnerships

• Community outreach events

• Retractable banners

• Educational classes

• Social media campaigns

• Email newsletter campaigns

• Display advertising

• Direct-mail campaigns

• Outdoor advertising (bus: benches, shelters, supertails, interiors, etc.)

• Print advertising (newspapers and magazines)

• Radio advertising

• TV advertising

• Home visits

• Community meetings and presentations

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Contributions through December 2023:

• SERI staff trained on Fair Housing through HUD Exchange.

• 12 approved quarterly reports.

• 1 HUD Fair Housing Leadership Conference in 2023.

• 6 fair housing news articles (in multiple languages).

• 1 fair housing page (in multiple languages).

• Database tracking events, meetings/presentations, home visits, online promotions, advertisements and complaint inquiries.

• 8 program partnerships.

• 3 educational presentations (in multiple languages).

• 6,800-copies of brochures, handouts, postcards, flyers printed (in multiple languages) for use at community outreach events, meetings/presentations and home visits​

• 900 educational material printed in braille.
• 5 educational videos (in multiple languages).

• 11,003 households in target area received direct-mail postcards (in multiple languages).

• 32 community outreach events attended.

• 700-copies of handouts and flyers distributed through local distribution service.

• 159 posts published in social media campaigns (in multiple languages).

• 23 educational classes/workshops hosted (in multiple languages).​

• 27 display ads launched in digital media campaign (in English and Spanish).

• 116 bus ads printed and distributed in Tucson (in English and Spanish).

• 20 meetings/presentations to community and neighborhood groups (in multiple languages).​

• 8 public service announcements (PSAs) (in English and Spanish).​

• 3 ads in newspapers or magazines (in English and Spanish).

• 1 blog post (in English and Spanish).

• 2 table top and 1 large retractable banner for exhibiting at outreach events (in multiple languages).

• Established complaint inquiry hotline phone, online form and email address.

• 33 fair housing complaint inquiry referrals to partner agency.

• A Relay Friendly Business Partner with Arizona Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.

SERI received a $100,000 environmental justice grant from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to study precipitation patterns in limited-income areas of the City of Tucson and South Tucson with 160 participants in the study for 12-18 months. 

 

The purpose of the study is to learn how precipitation varies within the Tucson Metropolitan Area. If green space affects the amount of precipitation a location receives and if low-income communities receive less precipitation. The study is assisting ​SERI's Limited-Income Rainwater Harvesting Loan & Grant Program by helping participants pick the best cistern size and native plants for their project based on where they live. The data collected from participants in the study is being compared to NASA's Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) image satellite data, US Census Bureau data, NOAA data, and Pima Association of Governments data. After 18-months of the study Climate Science Specialist, Dr Theresa Foley, will submit data and insights collected for a research paper to a peer-reviewed academic journal for publication.

 

Contributions from May to August 2023:

• I collaborated with the Climate Science Specialist, Dr Theresa Foley, to track 160 participant rain gauge installations which included collecting data (participant ID, study start date, rain gauge install date, rain gauge mount material, staff assigned, method of contact, method of participant data recording, and Zip Code).

• I proposed and developed participant packet templates (in English and separately in Spanish) that were utilize at each participant home visit. The packets included SERI and program branding, a consent form, diagrams for installing rain gauges and recording rain levels, and rain gauge logs.

• I designed a recruitment flyer, diagrams for installation instructions, consent form, and rain gauge log recording template.

• I worked with a local news station advertiser to launch email newsletter campaigns to get people into the study. From the campaigns we received 80+ referrals.

• I spread awareness of the study by publishing posts across SERI's social media channels, performed in-house email newsletter campaigns and published a news article.

• I attended a few community outreach events to help spread awareness and recruit for the study.

• I performed calls and emails to past SERI program participants and email newsletter referrals to recruit them into the study.

• I performed 61 home visits in Tucson, Arizona to conduct participant surveys, complete onboarding paperwork, surveying backyards for installations, provided hand-on tutorials for recording data, assisted with installations, and took photographs of each completed installation.

In 2022, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) provided SERI grant funding to buy smoke and carbon monoxide (CO) alarms to increase the safety of limited-income, minority community and senior residents from fire and related hazards. The primary goal was to reduce and prevent injuries in the home related to fire and carbon monoxide exposure.

 

Due to the rising cases of COVID, health and safety protocols limited SERI from entering homes to distribute and install alarms. At high-risk populations including senior citizens and limited-income communities were who I primarily distributed the alarms to. The smoke alarms detect fast flaming fires and slow smoldering fires. The CO alarms detect when carbon monoxide gas is in the air and alerts people to leave or ventilate the room so they do not receive CO poisoning.

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Contributions from April to July 2022:​

• I performed outreach to neighborhood associations and Pima County Library to spread awareness of the free smoke and CO alarms by collaborating on email newsletter campaigns.

• I promoted distribution of the alarms by publishing posts across SERI's social media channels, published SERI email newsletter send-outs, and published a news article on SERI's website.

• I distributed 1,280+ smoke and carbon monoxide alarms at community outreach events, Pima County Library center locations, and partner meetings.