The Housing Quandary on Nantucket

Alleviating Nantucket's Housing Crunch

IQP team works with island group to create incentives for affordable housing

September 6, 2016

Many of us have a certain image of Nantucket (as it has been beatifically portrayed in many a movie and the affable 90s sitcom “Wings”): Independently wealthy; a haven for seekers of a simpler life; quaint artisan shops, yachts and fishing boats bobbing just off its shores.

While there’s no doubt the small island just 30 miles off of Cape Cod is stunningly beautiful, thrumming with tourism, and a desirable attraction for the well-to-do, it isn’t without its socio-economic issues.

In fact, because housing prices on Nantucket are six times the median on the nearby mainland, about half the people who call it their full-time home struggle to afford housing.

“It’s a major problem for the island,” says Dominic Golding, associate teaching professor and director of the Nantucket Project Center. “There’s a major shortage of housing, and the housing that is available is extremely expensive.”

But with some help from WPI, it’s a challenge the island is (at least a little bit) more equipped to tackle.

Based on extensive research by an IQP team, Housing Nantucket, an island nonprofit, has been able to secure certification as a Community Development Corporation (CDC). That ultimately opens it up to receive support from the state Community Investment Tax Credit (CITC) program; it is now able to offer $150,000 in state tax credits to financial backers, provided it can fundraise at least $300,000 a year.

Essentially, as Golding explained, it’s a “carrot” to potential donors.

Any money raised through the CITC program will go directly toward building and maintaining affordable rental units on the island.

Housing Nantucket, which has been around since 1994, serves year-round residents who earn between 50 and 150 percent of the Area Median Income. According to the agency, homeownership is “prohibitive” to about 90 percent of year-round residents.

As Golding explained, it has a significant impact on the island’s economy: Although 10,000 to 12,000 people live there throughout the year, that swells to about 60,000 in the summer with the influx of tourists and part-time residents. That increase equals more available jobs--but few affordable (or available) places for workers to live.

“Every person I talked to during my trip to Nantucket agreed that housing has been, and still is, a very important topic that needs to be addressed and soon,” says Nhi Phan ’17, a biomedical engineering major who worked on the project. “I'm looking forward to seeing how Housing Nantucket is going to push forward in the coming years and how this project has helped them do so.”

Over a 14-week period last year, Phan and two fellow students spent time on and off the island researching its housing situation as part of their IQP. That process involved learning about the CDC certification process, querying locals and community leaders, and interviewing other Massachusetts CDCs about their roles in their own communities, their outreach efforts, and their operations. The project culminated with an assessment of Housing Nantucket’s services and community involvement, along with an outline on how to apply for CITCs, as well as proposed recommendations to help secure CDC status.

“What surprised me most was learning that housing is truly prohibitive to the majority of Nantucket residents,” says Elizabeth Beasley ’17, an actuarial mathematics major who also worked on the project. “Housing prices on Nantucket are extremely high, as one might expect, but there isn’t a range of low cost alternatives. So the work that Housing Nantucket does to provide affordable housing options is vitally important.”

Ultimately, the project was beneficial not just for the residents, but for her and her fellow students--specifically by illustrating how great an impact an IQP can have on a community.

“I'm glad that I had this opportunity to learn not only how to coordinate as a team, but also to contribute to something much bigger than just one term project,” she says, noting the exposure to real-word problems that can be tackled with theory, practice and “great team work. I'll carry these lessons with me as I start my career, and remember that the work I do will impact not just a community, but real people.”

- By Taryn Plumb

Original story link. 

Sept/Oct Artscope: Tim Rollins and K.O.S. Come Home

Unbound in Portland

The Kids are Jammin’

by Taryn Plumb

When Tim Rollins arrived in the Bronx as a 26-year-old in the early ‘80s, it was, as he describes, “on fire” — literally, of course, due to the conflagrations that consumed the borough for an entire decade, but also culturally. It was an electric, inspiring and frightening backdrop for what would ultimately become his life’s work.

After growing up in rural Maine and attending the University of Maine in Augusta, he was recruited to “the toughest ghetto in America,” as he described it, to develop a curriculum fusing art, reading and writing for “at risk” youth.

What eventually resulted was the group “Kids of Survival” (K.O.S.), which over time morphed into a traveling workshop that has produced art for prestigious museums and exhibits all over the world. This fall, Tim Rollins and K.O.S. are bringing their unique and inspiring perspective, process and story to the Portland Museum of Art (PMA) in two special ways.

The first: “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” — a 13’ x 34’ work acquired by the PMA that will find a permanent home in the museum’s Selma Wolf Black Great Hall — will ultimately serve as a welcome for all visitors as they enter. The second: “Unbound: Tim Rollins and K.O.S.,” a special exhibition composed of works inspired by classic literature, poetry and music.

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A Rite of STEM Passage

Mentoring Excellence
Posted on July 15, 2016 in "Summer"

Award winning Camp Reach embarks on 20th year

Think of it as a rite of STEM passage.

Every summer, Camp Reach welcomes a select group of rising seventh grade girls to campus for a comprehensive program focusing on discovery and hands-on engineering.

This year, the award-winning program is celebrating a milestone anniversary—20 years exposing young women to the myriad possibilities available to them in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines.

“I learned that I could go out and become an engineer,” says Lizzy Fitch ’16, of Princeton, a former camper who now serves as program coordinator. “Camp Reach sparked my interest in the STEM fields and is what eventually helped me decide to attend WPI. It gave me the confidence to become a woman in STEM.”

Each year, 30 girls entering the 7th grade are chosen to attend Camp Reach, a two-week, selective residential program comprising of hands-on design activities and academic workshops. The camp will be held this year from July 24 to August 5.

With its proven track record, the program has earned significant distinctions; most notably, in 2011, President Barack Obama named it one of 17 recipients of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring.

It continues its mission this year with an immersive program. As Fitch explained, the biggest element over the 14 days is an in-depth design project. Girls are split into three teams of 10, each group also comprising of a middle school teacher and teaching assistants. They are then given a problem to solve by a sponsoring local nonprofit—in the past, those have included Friendly House/Interfaith Hospitality Network and Regional Environmental Council (REC), among others.

After workshopping, brainstorming, designing, and tinkering, they then present their findings to the sponsors in a closing ceremony.

Fitch, who earned her BS in management engineering this year and is studying for her MS, recalls the particular gratification in that design project when she was a camper. “I thought it was great that we got to give back to the different nonprofit Worcester organizations while still learning about the engineering design process,” she says.

She was 12 when she participated in Camp Reach; she initially heard about it through her sixth grade math teacher and, as she puts it, “I immediately knew I had to apply.”

Meanwhile, Camp Reach also includes afternoon workshops focusing on different engineering principles day-to-day, Fitch says. And in the evenings? It’s time for a little bit of fun; the girls get to design their own dream shoes and newspaper dresses, à la “Project Runway.”

One of the most important elements, Fitch says, is that the young campers are exposed to influential females to look up to—most notably teaching assistants, or camp staff members who are in the 11th and 12th grades. “A large part of Camp Reach is providing the 30 campers with as many female role models as possible,” she explains.

Ultimately, she says, “I hope that the campers will gain confidence to pursue STEM-related careers in the future. I want them to understand that they can become engineers and scientists if they want to, and that they should be proud to be interested in science, technology, engineering, and math.”

– BY TARYN PLUMB

Original story link.