FWAC Board members working at our annual spaghetti dinner.
The First Ward Action Council dates from 1980 when a group of residents founded the non-profit organization because of concerns about deteriorating conditions in Binghamton’s First Ward.
With the support of another non-profit, the group secured funding, set up an office on Clinton Street and hired staff to advocate for improvements in a neighborhood they felt was being forgotten by public officials.
From that humble beginning, the organization has grown substantially, and its role has expanded to developing and providing housing and housing services. It has developed housing and provided housing assistance to homeowners throughout Broome County and in Choconut, Pa.
Over the years, the organization has renovated hundreds of buildings obtaining funding for its own projects and by assisting homeowners to get grants and hire contractors to upgrade their own homes with the council supervising construction work.
The organization has been certified by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development as a Community Housing Development Organization (CHDO) for Broome County and Susquehanna County in Pennsylvania.
Enterprise Community Partners of Columbia, Maryland has been an important supporter of council projects matching them with investors and providing the council with technical support enabling it to put “ideas into action.”
The NYS Homes and Community Renewal Neighborhood Preservation Program has provided First Ward Action Council with administrative funding and technical support since 1982 constituting an irreplaceable commitment to our neighborhoods.
