Northfield Housing and Redevelopment Coordinator Janine Atchison said the Northfield Council’s Strategic Plan lined up with what they were already working on, plans to develop new housing and maintain existing stock. In terms of maintenance, because part of Northfield is in Dakota County, the City is eligible for Community Development Block Grant Dollars. She said they have a very active program right now for income-qualified families can get assistance with home repairs. The program, called “Home Matters”, allows
homeowners to have access to up to $10,000 in a forgivable loan for repairs. A very new program called, “Rental Rehab”, is also available for downtown specifically. Atchison said, “rather than an owner going in and rehabbing and raising rents”, they’re putting money toward the rehab and the owners make a commitment to keep the rent affordable for a period of time. Additionally, they offer First time home buyers down payment assistance up to $15,000. Contact her directly at 507-645-3047 or the HRA City website. CDBG funding comes from the Federal government and although it’s Dakota County, the dollars are available throughout the City of Northfield.
EMS trivia with Tex!
Northfield Hospital & Clinics EMS Director Brian “Tex” Edwards was in studio last week. After explaining how 911 works and how many people are really involved in the care of someone in an emergency, he shared some trivia! Did you know that they’ve responded to 2102 calls in Northfield so far this year (more since last week!), 7 runs to Minneapolis, 100 calls to Faribault. Roughly they’ve responded to 30 cities and townships. Edwards said they frequently respond to Farmington and Lakeville. They also respond to help Northfield when needed, providing “mutual aid”. Another surprising fact… the most likely time of day to get a call is noon…. the least likely is 4am. The most common injury is falls. Between their 4 ambulances, Edwards says, they’ll put on about 80,000 miles this year. To listen to his full interview go to kymn.net.
Give Cancer the Boot gives back!
When the Give Cancer the Boot campaign was started in 2014 by members of the Defeat of Jesse James Days, the goals they had in mind were to raise funds for local area cancer treatment centers, and to show their support to those in our community who are fighting, or who have fought cancer. And have they! Over the past four years, GCTB has donated a total of $18,500 to local area treatment centers. This year, through local sponsorships, partnering with Mainstream Boutique for ‘shop for a cause’, holding the 2nd Annual DJJD Cornhole Tournament, and receiving donations from a local group of volunteers who serve in the Entertainment Center, they presented checks of $1750 each to the Northfield Hospital Cancer Care & Infusion Center, and the second to the Northfield Breast Care Center. In addition, the Saturday night rodeo performance during DJJD celebration weekend has been deemed ‘Give Cancer the Boot Night’. This year, 500 pink bandanas were handed out to the first 500 rodeo attendees, in order to raise awareness of the campaign, and to fill the stands with pink in an effort to show support to those battling breast cancer, or those who have already fought their battle. The bandanas were sponsored CarTime Auto Center, and ReMax by Mary Jo Winter.
