Central Community Redevelopment Agency 2009 Board Meeting Schedule

(Click the image to enlarge it).

CCRA State of the District Address: January 15, 2009

The Central Community Redevelopment Agency cordially invites you to its first annual State of the District address on January 15, 2009.

Tax Prep Volunteers Needed

The Central Community Redevelopment Agency is seeking volunteers for the FREE | Tax program.

You can help in any of the following ways:

Tax Assistance Counselor

• Become certified through self-study or classroom training, and by passing the IRS exam;

• Provide free tax assistance by preparing tax forms or answering tax questions;

• Help families and individuals one-on-one at tax sites throughout Manatee County

Greeter/Screener

• Assist at sites with intake; make sure taxpayer has all appropriate documentation

• Assist in friendly “traffic control”

The trainings will take place in late December / early January.

Over 150 people were served last year at the CCRA site alone, and many more were served throughout Manatee County. This is a wonderful opportunity to help working families make the most of their tax returns by making sure they receive all of the tax credits they're eligible for, without having to pay high tax prep fees.

Please call 359-5929 to find out more about becoming a volunteer.

Mark Your Calendars: Free Tax Prep Begins Again in February 2009

The Central Community Redevelopment Agency (CCRA) will be serving as a site for Free Income Tax Preparation this year.

Don't go out early and get your taxes done and pay a big part of your return with fees or Refund Anticipation loan costs--wait, and get them done for free, beginning the first week in February at one of the sites listed below! The Earned Income Tax Credit, the Child Tax Credit, and the Education Credit may be available to your family if you earned under a certain amount this past year, and we don't want you to lose the benefit of these credits by paying fees you don't have to pay.

Dial 2-1-1 for an up-to-date schedule, or call the CCRA at (941) 744-2362 for more info about the types of returns that are within the scope of the program.

Norma Lloyd Park Groundbreaking Scheduled for December 3, 2008

The Groundbreaking Ceremony for Norma Lloyd Park has been scheduled for December 3, 2008 at 5:00 PM.

The Ceremony will take place at 922 24th Street East, Bradenton, FL 34208.

Please contact the Central Community Redevelopment Agency at (941) 744-2362 with questions, comments, or RSVPs.

November 2008 Community Calendar

The November 2008 Community Calendar is available, thanks to the efforts of the CEDC, Inc VISTA Volunteer. Please click the calendar image to view it full sized.

If you have any additions to the calendar, you can contact Bridgette at the CCRA at 744-2362.

CCRA Kaboom! Playground Build Day a Success

On September 11, 2008, close to 250 people came out to Norma Lloyd Park to help build a playground. The equipment was provided by Kaboom! and the Home Depot Foundation. Local Home Depot Stores provided well over 100 volunteers for the build.

The Central Community Redevelopment Agency (CCRA) would like to thank Kaboom!, Home Depot, the City of Bradenton, Manatee County, and all of the many other community groups and individuals that worked to put this playground together and create an amazing playspace for the children of our community.

October 2008 Community Calendar

Thank you to the CEDC, Inc VISTA Volunteer Bridgette for compiling the October Community Calendar.

If you would like to have your event added, please call (941) 744-2362 and tell us about your event.

(Click the image for a full-size calendar.)

September 2008 Community Calendar

September has many exciting events taking place at the CCRA! Please note the Entrepreneurial Boot Camp, which starts on September 9th (see the post below to download the registration form), as well as the info on the new September 11th Build Day for the Kaboom! Playground project at Norma Lloyd Park.

Contact CEDC, Inc VISTA Volunteer Bridgette for more information about the community calendar, or the CCRA at (941) 744-2362 for more info about the Entrepreneurial Boot Camp or Build Day.

CCRA Kaboom! Playground Build Day Rescheduled

The CCRA Kaboom! Playground Build Day has been rescheduled to September 11, 2008, due to the uncertainty of Hurricane/Tropical Storm Fay.

We still need volunteers to assist in building this playground on September 11, 2008, so please contact us at (941) 744-2362 or rebekah@bradentonccra.com to volunteer!

August Community Calendar

The CEDC, Inc VISTA Volunteer has been compling a community calendar since June 2008 to help spread the word about events in the central east Bradenton community.

If you have any events you would like to add to the calendar, or if you'd like to make sure you get a copy of the calendar, call (941) 744-2984 or (941) 744-2362.

(The calendar is below--click to enlarge it).

CCRA Entrepreneurial Boot Camp: Begins September 9, 2008

Each year, the CCRA partners with the Manatee Chamber of Commerce to host the Entrepreneurial Boot Camp Academy. The Boot Camp starts on September 9th this year.

Discounted registration is available to individuals in the CCRA district, or to those who register before August 15.

Contact the Central Community Redevelopment Agency at (941) 744-2362 for more information.

You're Invited to Build Day for the CCRA Kaboom! Playground Grant

Please contact the CCRA at (941) 744-2362 for more information on volunteering to help with the playground build.

Central Community Redevelopment Agency Moves to Four Day Work Week

The City of Bradenton Central Community Redevelopment Agency (CCRA) is changing to a four-day, ten-hour day work week, in order to coincide with the City of Bradenton's move to a four-day work week.

This change is effective July 28, 2008.

The CCRA's hours will be 7:30AM-6:30PM, Monday through Thursday.

For any information on these revised hours, or the programs and projects of the Central CRA, please contact the agency at (941) 744-2362.

CCRA Receives Kaboom! Playground Grant

Central Community Redevelopment Agency and City of Bradenton received a Kaboom! Grant for playground equipment at Norma Lloyd Park. Children and parents participated in the Design Day on July 8, 2008 to decide what the playground would look like. Articles about Design Day from The Bradenton Herald and The Herald Tribune are below.

If you're interested in helping on the Build Day on August 21, 2008, please call the Central Community Redevelopment Agency at (941) 744-2362.

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Manatee children have say in Norma Lloyd Park playground design

By GRACE GAGLIANO
Posted on Wednesday, July 09, 2008

Alexis Henri, 14, wants three slides at Norma Lloyd Park's playground so she can race her friends.

Natalia Barron, 13, wants a tunnel at the playground for hide-n-seek.

Emoni Carley, 11, says a swing set is a must at any playground.

The wish list for Norma Lloyd Park went on and on Tuesday as about 60 children participated in a playground design day at the 13th Avenue Community Center.

The design process started with children drawing their dream playgrounds and ended with local officials and community leaders selecting some of the playground essentials based of the children's sketches.

The Manatee Mustangs cheerleader and her friends created a playground that included three slides, a rock-climbing wall, a merry-go round, monkey bars and spiral stairs.

Shatoya Davis, 17, said she wanted three slides to avoided long lines at the playground.
"So you don't have to wait for one person at a time," Shatoya said. "And for racing."

That's when Alexis chimed in that she's ready for a slide race.

"I would win," she said.

Alexis and her friend Ladaris Curry, 12, said designing the playground gave them a sense of ownership in the project.

"It's good to design something for us," Ladaris said.

The playground designs impressed city and county officials who are working with the Central Community Redevelopment Agency to bring the $10 million Norma Lloyd Park development project to life.

"These kids are very creative," said city councilwoman Marianne Barnebey. "It will be terrific to see what we can get with this."

Cheri Coryea, project manager for Norma Lloyd Park, said a public-private partnership will be key to its success.

The almost 25-acre park sits between Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue and 13th Avenue East, just west of 25th Street East .

"It's a balance of timing and funding and progress," Coryea said.

The park will include recreation fields, a fitness trail, a splash park, an amphitheater, an expansion of Just for Girls and the relocation of the 13th Avenue Community Center.

Allison Hewitt, executive director of the Central Economic Development Center, was pleased to see so many children turn out for the community design day.

"This is much more than we thought," Hewitt said. "The whole drive behind Norma Lloyd Park, and what the city, county and CCRA are trying to achieve, is the community involvement."

Grace Gagliano, Bradenton city reporter, can be reached at 748-0411, ext. 2620.

Experience the sights and sounds of this story online.

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These architects draw with crayons
Imagine what you'd like in a playground. That's what these children did.

By KRIS TURNER
Published Wednesday, July 9, 2008 at 4:30 a.m.

BRADENTON Children at the 13th Avenue Community Center used crayons and their imaginations to draft plans for their new playground Tuesday.The children became the architects of their dream play area by first selecting the right colored crayon or marker from boxes on folding tables. They worked under the supervision of Ann Gaudard, a project manager for the nonprofit playground-building group Kaboom.The community center will move from U.S. 41 and 13th Avenue West to Norma Lloyd Park at 13th Avenue East and 24th Street. Norma Lloyd Park will be revamped when the playground is built Aug. 21."You guys design the park, take ownership of it," Gaudard told the children.There were no limits to what the children could create.Christian McKay, 8, envisioned an amusement park. Water slides and rides that allow someone to soar through the air were her recommendation. "It would be awesome," she said, smiling.The current playground is cramped and sparse. A swing set, slide and small basketball court are a few of the only areas where children can play."That park doesn't have any shade," Christian said, noting that the new one will be better.The $50,000 project is funded by a grant from The Home Depot Foundation and the Central Community Redevelopment Agency, said Jeana Winterbottom, grants administrator for Bradenton. The new playground has been in the works since January, and it is satisfying to see it come together, she said."We've done a lot of conference calling and negotiating," Winterbottom said. "This is a wonderful experience. To see it actually happen, you see your community is affected."The drawings the group of about 60 children made will serve as the blueprint for what Kaboom will submit to a design firm, which will then create three possible plans for the playground. The design will be selected in the next few weeks.The project shows the youngest members of the community that they can have an impact at any age, city councilwoman Marianne Barnebey said."It tells them they are important to the community and they have valid ideas," she said."It's something concrete that they can believe in."A bigger playground with monkey bars, swings and a merry-go-round would be nice, Oznia Davis, 9, said.The old playground has swings and a slide, but Oznia does not find it too exciting."It'll probably be more fun," she said of the new playground.

Manatee County Small Business Lending Fair: April 25, 2008

The Central Community Redevelopment Agency, the Central Economic Development Center, Inc, the Palmetto Community Redevelopment Agency, Manatee County, the Small Business Development Center at MCC, and the Economic Development Council of the Manatee Chamber of Commerce, will be sponsoring a Manatee County Small Business Lending Fair.

This event is scheduled for April 25, 2008 from Noon to 2 PM at the Manatee Convention Center in the Longboat Key Room. The Financing Fair is designed to introduce local business owners looking to borrow between $25,000 and $1 million dollars to local banks in an informal environment.

For more information on the Manatee County Small Business Lending Fair, please contact the Central Economic Development Center, Inc at (941) 744-2984.

Central Community Redevelopment Agency Offers Free Tax Preparation

For the second year in a row, the City of Bradenton Central Community Redevelopment Agency (along with the Central Economic Development Center, Inc) will be providing free income tax preparation in conjunction with the AARP Tax Aide Program.

This year, the CCRA will be partnering with the Tropicana Federal Credit Union to offer individuals rapid refunds through refund anticipation loans that will allow taxpayers to access their returns for a very small percentage of the refund.

Individuals who e-file will receive their returns in 8-12 days, and the return will be 100% free. Those choosing to pursue refund anticipation loans can receive their refund the next day, while paying approximately $7-$14 in RAL fees.

Tax preparation hours are 5-8 PM, Wednesday evenings, February 6, 2008-April 9, 2008.

The CCRA office facility is located at 302 Manatee Avenue E, Suite 307, Bradenton, FL 34208.

Please contact the CCRA at (941) 744-2362 for more information.