Times Union: Partnership makes healthy homes a priority
The mayors of Albany, Schenectady and Troy recently teamed up to create the first regional Green & Healthy Homes Initiative partnership in the country.
A coalition between the cities, local health and municipal departments and nonprofit service providers, the partnership will deliver housing intervention programs to Capital Region residents living in energy-inefficient, unhealthy and unsafe homes.
Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan, Schenectady Mayor Gary McCarthy and Troy Mayor Patrick Madden, along with county officials and nonprofit leaders, participated in a compact signing ceremony last month at the Capital Region Chamber of Commerce.
"If you can get a Green & Healthy Homes Initiative designation for your city, it helps you score higher on the big grants out there, because you're essentially showing in tangible ways that you care about your community," said John Eberle, president and CEO of the Community Foundation for the Greater Capital Region, who gave a welcome address at the ceremony. "We don't quite have the designation yet, but we're working together to braid and coordinate funding and resources to help local residents.”
For information about the nonprofit Green & Healthy Homes Initiative, go to http://www.greenandhealthy homes.org.
