Southside Community Development & Housing Corporation (SCDHC) first opened its doors in the Old South District of Richmond, Virginia, in 1989 as a nonprofit community development corporation. We began with an earnest desire to revitalize the Old South District, which was once a thriving, urban community in the heart of Richmond. Over the years, the Old South District declined and gained a reputation as one of Richmond’s most poverty-stricken and crime-ridden communities.
In an effort to rebuild the Old South District, SCDHC first focused its efforts on providing affordable housing for its low-income residents. In addition to reaching out to low-income residents, we also sought to attract moderate-income families who were 50% to 80% of HUD’s median income. We envisioned restoring the Old South District by creating a diverse, mixed-income community of families.
We were excited to see our vision slowly come to pass as we began to build and sell our first development of attractive, affordable homes in the Old South District. As part of our holistic approach to community revitalization, we offered credit counseling and free homebuyer education seminars to improve financial literacy and to help residents make a successful transition to homeownership. SCDHC later broadened its vision and ventured into the arena of multifamily development and management by acquiring several apartment complexes and developing a senior living facility in the Old South District. With the help of grant funding and partners who believed in our vision, SCDHC successfully catalyzed the transformation of the Old South District of Richmond, Virginia, from a community of blighted neighborhoods, into a functioning, self-sufficient, mixed-income community of families with hope.
Over the years, we expanded our mission to incorporate our desire to reach beyond the scope of the Old South District of Richmond. We began to extend our services to communities throughout the Richmond area, as well as the Commonwealth of Virginia. As a growing, multifaceted organization, we eventually decided that we would no longer pursue the development and management of multifamily housing as part of our mission. We believe our decision to streamline our services enables us to improve overall efficiency and to focus our development resources toward our original mission of creating affordable, single family homes for those seeking to realize the American dream of homeownership. SCDHC also hopes to concentrate more of its resources toward providing energy-efficient, single family homes, which are more expensive to construct. In response to our nation’s current economic downturn, we believe it is important to direct more of our resources toward homeownership education and counseling services with an emphasis on foreclosure prevention.
Today we have a strong commitment to our mission which is “to transform economically distressed neighborhoods into viable thriving and sustainable communities by providing quality affordable homes and homeownership counseling services.” In essence, we are revitalizing neighborhoods and giving hope to residents in communities by providing services in four key areas:
- Housing development
- Homeownership education and counseling services
- Down payment and closing cost subsidies
- Home repairs
Board of Directors
George F. Cooke, Chairman
Henry “Hank” C. Coleman Jr., Vice Chairman
Stephen Parson, Jr., Treasurer
Lionel H. Jordan Sr., Secretary
Reginald Henderson
Phyllis Keel
Sheila G. Payne
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