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New Jersey-born rocker Jon Bon Jovi kicked off his 2007 world tour
with a 10-day engagement at Newark's brand new, state-of-the-art
Prudential Center arena, home to the New Jersey Devils ice hockey team
and the first indoor entertainment and sports venue to open in the tri-
state area in more than 25 years.

On Sept. 2, 2008, the lead singer and founding member of the eponymous rock band was back in
Newark, shovel in hand, to turn first dirt on the Newark Genesis
Apartments, 51 units of housing and support services for low-income and
special-needs families that his philanthropic organization, the
Philadelphia Soul Charitable Foundation, is helping to build in the
city's North Ward. The mission of the public/private partnership of the
city, the State of New Jersey and New York City-based developer HELP
USA, a national not-for-profit organization founded by Andrew Cuomo in
1986, is to help formerly homeless adults and low-income families
become and remain self-reliant.

The project is the first residential facility in New Jersey to provide permanent housing that is
fully integrated with the services of a post- acute-care AIDS facility,
setting aside 25 percent of the units for residents living with
HIV/AIDS. Newark Genesis also incorporates a number of environmentally responsible elements,
including a green roof that makes the four-story building eligible for LEED certification.

Mister Soul
When the members of the band decided to open their tour in Newark, Bon Jovi
said it was with the idea of giving something substantial back to the
community. That concert at the Prudential Center brought 150,000 people
to Newark who might not otherwise go there, and allowed the city to
show off to attendees its top-notch transportation system, restaurants
and hotels.

"It also afforded Jon the opportunity to talk
about the housing issues that affect residents of Newark - the need for
rental housing for low- income and special-needs families currently
residing in substandard housing, and for homeless families presently in
transitional housing facilities throughout the city," said Mimi Box,
director of the Soul Foundation, created to tackle issues that force
families and individuals into economic despair, through programs and
partnerships that would bring about positive change in the lives of
others.

It was then that Newark Mayor Cory Booker and
Maria Cuomo-Cole, Chairman of HELP USA, a nationally recognized
provider of housing and a broad range of service programs that meet the
needs of a local community, found the right project for the North Ward area.

Bon Jovi became involved with HELP USA in fall of 2006, when he
collaborated with Kenneth Cole, fashion designer and Cuomo-Cole's
husband, on a fundraising effort they called R.S.V.P to HELP, which
included sales of limited edition outerwear and a holiday gala event to
raise awareness and support for homelessness, donating net proceeds to
HELP USA and the Philadelphia Soul Foundation, which then made a
private investment in around three acres of land in Newark's North Ward.

"Jon is a tremendous partner and force of this project and his leadership
and commitment to raising funds certainly enabled the process," said
Cuomo-Cole of Bon Jovi's involvement and his foundation's $1 million
contribution to the development effort that already has benefitted the
local community. Thanks to the efforts of the Booker administration and
North Ward Councilman Anibal Ramos, the mostly single-family
neighborhood is experiencing renewal. "Families are now staying to
raise their children in this community where there are tremendous
services dedicated to local residents," said Cuomo-Cole.

Bon Jovi quotes the proverb, "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day.
Teach him to fish and you feed him for a ifetime." And that philosophy has become the guiding principal of
the four elements The Soul Foundation looks for in the projects it
chooses to support: A housing component; support services that enable
residents to attain home ownership or transition to independent living;
a green component and a volunteer component, or mentoring opportunity
that encourages clients to become vested in their community.

In 1986, HELP USA created the HELP model that would become a national
congressional model for housing service delivery for homeless families
and evolved that concept in 1992 to include Genesis Home, permanent
housing for the formerly homeless. HELP USA has built a total of 29
transitional and permanent housing communities across the country using
innovative financing structures, including low-income housing tax
credits.

"Part of our strategy is to partner with the
most formidable partner that serves the special population that we are
going to serve. In Philly, at the HELP Philadelphia transitional
housing site, it was mental health provider Philadelphia Health
Management Corporation and in Newark, it's a group called Broadway
House. They run a brilliant facility, which provides medical services
and health services for people with HIV/AIDS, and fifteen of the
units at Newark Genesis will be allocated for their clients, who
will move from Broadway House to our residence," said Cuomo-Cole.

Other resident services will include a job development effort, a mentoring
program for youth and graphic arts training curriculum. In addition to
the project's social amenities is its eco-friendliness.
Newark
Genesis will exceed the standards of two green building programs that
are part of the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency's
(NJHMFA) low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) green initiative. They
include the Energy Star program, a requirement for many HMFA-funded
developments, and the state's Green Future program, which adds a number
of requirements like building durability, resource efficiency, indoor
air quality to the former program.

"We've tried to incorporate as many green elements as possible and that was a challenge
for us working in a state with new guidelines. We implemented all their
required and requested green elements and we've also invested in a
green roof," said Cuomo-Cole.

HELP USA also worked with
George Marks of Kramer + Marks Architects to incorporate some green
areas and some recreational quiet garden space, she said.

Through the efforts of Newark's economic development
department's housing and real estate division, Newark will provide
planning and development support, including $1.4 million of gap
financing available from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development's Home Investment Partnership Program, to support the
development of new affordable housing opportunities for Newark's low-
and moderate-income residents. And, with successful advocacy from
Booker and his housing and real estate division, the project also
received critical financing and planning support from New Jersey's
Department of Community Affairs, the NJHMFA and the Federal Home Loan
Bank.

The Newark Genesis Apartments, a mix of one, two and three-bedroom units, is expected
to be ready for occupancy in November.

Giving back

Although Bon Jovi has worked on behalf of a number of charitable organizations,
the Special Olympics, the American Red Cross and Habitat for Humanity
among them, the plight of the homeless is at the heart of his
charitable efforts.

"There are so many great causes to
which one can choose to direct philanthropic efforts. But homeless
prevention and affordable housing opportunities just seemed to us to be
one that we could resolve," said Box.

"President Obama put forth a challenge for every American to answer the call
and ‘seize gladly' the opportunity to
make a difference, and this is one way we have chosen to give back."
said Bon Jovi, who named his charitable organization after the
Philadelphia Soul, the arena football team he has co-owned with partner
Craig A. Spencer since 2004. The Soul was conceived as a new model of
sports philanthropy that would utilize the entire Soul organization as
agents of good in the community, with charity as its cornerstone.

Everything the Soul does includes an element of giving and all members of the
organization, even the fans, are encouraged to do their part to break
the cycle of poverty and homelessness. "If I need members of the Soul
Organization to participate in a volunteer build opportunity, or if the
team asks them to visit a school or community group, they are right
there," said Box.

Birthing a charity

From the time the Souls were first announced as a team, to their first
home game played in January 2004, the organization raised around
$200,000 for various local charities, and Bon Jovi and Spencer
officially launched the Foundation two years later. Its first
undertaking was with Project HOME in Philadelphia, involving the
renovation of 15 historically significant row houses on a
rundown block in North Philadelphia for low-income, first-time homeowners.

"Watching and following the progress of those families in their quest to achieve
homeownership was very rewarding," said Bon Jovi. "It is the ongoing
hard work and commitment these families make to their neighborhood that
will return them to a vibrant community with hope and opportunity."

Since then, the Foundation has raised funds for projects that will provide
156 units of housing with services to individuals and families in
cities across the country.

"In today's economy, we would like to utilize Jon's stature in the community to bring attention to
the plight of the homeless and garner corporate support, like we have
done with Saturn, ICAP, Coty and many other corporate donors and
individuals," said Box.

The Foundation is wrapping up a
project in the Morningside community of Detroit and most recently
provided gap funding to construct two eight-unit apartment buildings
and a community center with HomeAid Atlanta, a nonprofit organization
working with the Greater Atlanta Home Builders Association. The
project, Phoenix Pass, will provide transitional housing to temporarily
homeless families. The first phase of construction will provide 48 beds
in the Conyers-Rockdale
County community.

"What we love about the HomeAid
model is that they serve as the liaison between the service provider,
in this case Rockdale Emergency Relief (RER), and the builders and
other members of the homebuilders industry they have recruited to
donate construction services and materials to the project. This story
has even greater potency when you consider today's economy. Still, we
have homebuilders stepping up to give back to those in greater need in
their community," said Box.

At Phoenix Pass, in addition
to fully furnished living space, RER will provide case management, a
mentorship program, life skills classes, employment assistance and
aftercare programs to help homeless families get back on their feet.

"Like Newark Genesis and all projects the Soul Foundation is involved with,
Phoenix Pass is a program that provides aid that is self- sustaining
and heavily laden with green building components," said Box.

Meanwhile, the entire Arena Football League fell victim to the economic downturn,
announcing late last year that it would suspend operations to spend the
2009 season revamping its economic model. But the Soul Foundation,
although bearing the same name as the team, is a separate entity,
structured as a 501(c)(3)
organization.

"We plan to continue leveraging our
resources and building partnerships that change the lives of people one
soul at a time," said Box.

Franck..........j'ai sauvegardé le pdf, mais j'ai pas le temps de lire l'article tout de suite, peut-être ce WE..........la photo de la couv elle a été prise en même temps que celle de la pub pour RSVP non ? Il a le même grain de peau lissé.........je suis méchante comme d'hab je sors bye bye