HARTFORD, CONN (October 3, 2022) – Today, Mayor Luke Bronin visited the Frog Hollow neighborhood to announce a $1.5 million federal grant, spread out over three years, to promote homeownership opportunities in Hartford’s Frog Hollow and Northeast neighborhoods. Called "Welcome Home Hartford: Promoting Health and Wealth through Homeownership", the grant was awarded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office of Minority Health (OMH).
The City of Hartford received this competitive grant as part of the OMH’s Community Driven Approaches to Address Factors Contributing to Structural Racism in Public Health initiative, demonstrating that lower homeownership rates can negatively impact public health. According to Healthy People 2020, housing and neighborhood environments, along with other social factors (known as Social Determinants of Health) can account for 30-55% of health outcomes. With research-supported assumptions that homeownership supports improved health outcomes, by improving stability and wealth-building ability, the City of Hartford will use this grant to support homeownership opportunity in the Frog Hollow and Northeast neighborhoods, which have homeownership rates of 7% and 23%, respectively.
Funding from this grant will be used to support community outreach, in the form of community events, direct door-to-door outreach, and paid advertising, as well as “community voice” listening groups and policy research by partner organizations.
“Homeownership can be a game changer for families and neighborhoods alike, providing an opportunity to build wealth and build stronger, safer, healthier communities,” said Mayor Bronin. “But for many of our residents, there are significant barriers to homeownership. With this three year $1.5 million federal grant, we’ll be able to expand our work to break down those barriers and make home ownership more accessible to residents of the Frog Hollow and Northeast neighborhoods. I want to thank groups like NINA, SINA, Habitat for Humanity, as well as our Development Services team, who have been doing incredible work creating new homeowner-occupied housing across Hartford, and I want to thank the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for this investment in our community.”
”Social and economic factors, like the availability of affordable housing, can have a profound impact on health outcomes and overall wellbeing. The connection of these ‘social determinants of health’ is becoming increasingly clear and important in the public health literature, and so we are proud to be launching this homeownership initiative here in Hartford,” said Liany Arroyo, Director of the City Department of Health and Human Services.
“We are delighted that the city has taken this initiative,” said Melvyn Colon, Executive Director at SINA. “We stand ready to partner in the future. It will bring homeownership to many deserving families and in so doing, will improve the health and wellbeing of our neighborhoods.”
Federal Disclaimer: This project is supported by the Office of Minority Health of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of a financial assistance award totaling $1.5M with 100 percent funded by Office of Minority Health/OASH/HHS. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, Office of Minority Health/OASH/HHS, or the U.S. Government. For more information, please visit https://www.minorityhealth.hhs.gov/.
Original source can be found here.
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