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In an attempt
to fight the blight and deterioration that had plagued Hunts Point community
of the Bronx, the group known as SEBCO (South East Bronx Community
Organization) was formed in the fall of 1968 under the visionary leadership of
Father Louis R. Gigante. SEBCO was formally incorporated in 1978. Thirteen
organizations, among them churches, business institutions and local civic
associations banded together in an effort to redevelop one of the worst
neighborhoods in the United States. Assisted by the “Model Cities Program”,
SEBCO worked with urban planners and elected officials to develop schools,
recreational facilities and to redevelop the local infrastructure, as a prelude to
the redevelopment of the neighborhood housing stock. By 1974, only five of the
original thirteen organizations remained active, and the future of the South
East Bronx was uncertain.
In 1975, however, the future of SEBCO and its neighborhood changed dramatically.
After lengthy negotiations, the federal government approved subsidized
rehabilitation of 360 housing units in 9 buildings (SEBCO I and II) under the
United States Department of Housing and Urban development’s (“HUD”) Section 8
program. In 1977, HUD approved another subsidized rehabilitation of
an additional 200 housing units in 5 buildings (SEBCO III). SEBCO’s mission to both
provide affordable housing and to improve the quality of life for the residents
of Hunts’s Point was beginning to bear fruit.
Since its inception, SEBCO has sponsored and/or developed numerous projects for
affordable housing. SEBCO is responsible for the development and construction of
over 3,000 new or rehabilitated housing units in approximately 450 buildings, a
number of which have ancillary ground floor retail and/or community spaces. The
housing SEBCO provides are for the elderly and handicapped, formerly homeless,
low and moderate-income individuals and families. These numerous developments
include projects completed with The Enterprise Foundation (“Enterprise”) and
the Local Initiatives Support Corp. (“LISC”), which total eighty-one residential
units and one commercial unit scattered throughout ten buildings in the South
Bronx (Enterprise Rounds, V, VI and VII).
SEBCO has grown from a small group of community activists into a sizeable and
sophisticated development company with over 300 employees. From modest origins
SEBCO has contributed mightily to the City of New York by providing jobs,
commerce, business and housing for its low and moderate income residents. SEBCO
is rightfully proud of its record, its accomplishments and its successes in
carrying out its mission; providing decent, safe and affordable housing to low
and moderate and formerly homeless individuals and families. SEBCO stands ready
to continue its efforts and mission to better the City of New York in the future
and into the twenty-first century. |