The Bauer Economic Development Program
The BEDP is a coordinated effort between the Bauer College of Business, The Local Initiative Support Corporation and State Farm with the objective to provide graduate students real world experience in community development ultimately inspiring them to future leadership in the field.
Internships with Community Development Corporations are made possible by State Farm funding and 9 interns have been placed with CDC's since inception of the program in 2003.
The aim of the BEDP is to involve student organizations in viable projects as identified by the BEDP interns and CDC's. This will allow student organizations to contribute to the community through the organizations unique skill set.
Accomplishments:
Tejano Center for Community Concerns:
4 month internship ending August 31, 2005
Intern Achievements and Contributions:
- Project Development and Management
- Assisted in creating and tracking project budget for housing development
- Assisted in updating the overall business plan
- Completed grant applications
- Enhanced capability in the Available Lots database
- Land Acquisition & Construction
- Assisted in negotiating land purchases with potential sellers
- Assisted with drafting and submitting earnest money contracts (contracts to purchase) for targeted lots
- Assisted in research and coordinating documents for property acquisition closings
- Assisted in acquiring appropriate permits prior to construction
- Special Projects
- Developed at-a-glance sheets for the service area census tracts which present data in a concise format that “tells a story.” These will be used in future proposals. The intern completed two service area census tract at-a-glance sheets.
- Located and assisted in contracting to purchase 5 retail lots for new homes. The total value of these lots is $39,000.
Avenue CDC:
3 month internship ending August 31, 2005
Intern Achievements and Contributions
- Project Development and Management
- Refined the land acquisition process
- Land Acquisition and Construction
- Assisted in the search for potential properties
- Assisted in negotiating land purchases with potential sellers
- Special Projects
- Assisted in the purchase of 2 properties under the Avenue CDC tax credit project outside the CDC target area.
- Involved in a volunteer day landscaping one of the houses built by Avenue CDC.
Row House CDC:
7 month internship ending August 31, 2005
Intern Achievements and Contributions
- Special projects
- Development of an area demographic survey from the beginning to the end.
- Previous Internship Accomplishments:
- Provided in-depth pursuit of foreclosure properties by increase communication, marketing and interaction with community neighborhoods
- Negotiated the purchase of 5 homes and assisted with the purchase of 5 properties
- Assisted a couple hundred families with homebuyer education, counseling and loan approval
- Revised the business plan and strategy for property acquisition
- Developed a marketing strategy and identity of a newly formed CDC
- Evaluated financial readiness for audit of a CDC
- Created housing development plan and priority list for land acquisition
- Compiled sponsorship packages for development projects
- Managed residential properties and residents
- Created procedural manuals for property acquisition
- The economic impact of these interns' influence on the CDC's communities has been approximated as follows:
- Tejano Center for Community Concerns Intern in 2004 had a direct impact on increasing the number of single family homes sold to new homebuyers by 60%. These additional 12 homes correlate to a 1.02M impact for the Tejano Centers neighborhood economy.
- Avenue CDC interns in 2004 directly impacted the purchase of 5 lots, assisted with the purchase of 5 lots and left 4 pending. This correlates to $435K direct impact on the Avenue neighborhood economy, and $783K indirect impact.
- Row House CDC began in February 2003. In 2004 the Row House intern prepared grant proposal packages that led raised $600K Row House development. The intern also built a CDC website, created a marketing brochure, and assisted with acquiring property worth 6M.