Page 2 - Annual Report 2020

CHAIRMAN’S WELCOME
ROBERT H. N. OBRIEN
Chairman of the Board
Vice President, Relationship Manager,
People’s United Bank
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Kevin C. George
Vice Chairman of the Board
Senior Counsel at Holland &
Knight, LLP
Lester McKoy
Secretary of the Board
Assistant Police Chief, Retired
City of Hartford, Connecticut
Philip L. Swan
Treasurer of the Board
Chief Economist,
IBM Retired
Rhonda Leone
Vice President and
Construction Lending
Manager Union Savings Bank
Ronald D. Corwin
Management Consultant
former Executive Vice
President NatWest Bancorp
Peter J. Helmes
President of Helmes
Consulting, an Architectural
& Engineering Firm
Ellen P. Tower
Consultant, formerly Vice
President,Community
Relations, Citibank
Charles C. Judd
Vice President of Operations,
Retired, Southern New
England Tel. Company
1
Dear Friends of New Neighborhoods,
While sympathizing with how sad a year 2020 was for many of our friends and
neighbors, we commend our staff for their continuing efforts to serve our tenants and
provide quality affordable housing throughout one of the most challenging years any of
us have ever faced. In addition, our staff also put in great effort to recognize and thank
those men and women who put their own lives on the line during the pandemic, our
first responders and hospital’s local emergency room workers.
New Neighborhoods continues to be ready for anything. Having been through more
emergencies than we could have anticipated during the pandemic, we are turning our
attention towards growing our business and providing services to more Connecticut
residents. Of course, we have always served our tenants as they remain foremost in our
thoughts and actions.
Thank you to New Neighborhoods’ stakeholders, including but not limited to the staff,
tenants, funders, lenders, and advisors. We look forward to sharing more successes
together for years to come.
Thank you,
Robert H. N. O’Brien
Chair of the Board of Directors
SERVICING OUR TENANTS
Tenant Advocacy/COVID-19 Response
Due to the pandemic, we were forced to suspend most of our traditional programs such
as the food pantry, senior picnic, college tour program and nearly every other regular
activity that involved a lot of interaction. However, we did not sit idle as our tenants
needed more support than ever before. Therefore, we adjusted our activities to address
our tenants’ concerns of keeping them safe, healthy, and secure in their own homes.
Here are some COVID-19 related services we provided this year:
Safety Care Packages
New Neighborhoods was able to acquire goods and supplies to distribute to our
tenants at a time they were most in need. New Neighborhoods brought in truckloads
of supplies that were shipped from as far away as Texas to access those items that were
in short supply locally. With the assistance of Congressman Himes and Stamford Mayor
Martin, we distributed over 1,000 care packages to residents and staff that contained
necessary safety items that were difficult to obtain at the beginning of COVID-19 as well
as food items that would help many in a time of uncertainty
Face Masks
New Neighborhoods acquired and distributed over 20,000 face masks to our tenants,
neighbors, and sister non-profit affordable housing organizations over the past year. We
ordered products directly from China allowing us to have inventory when supplies here
in the United States were just not available.