VALDOSTA — Two Lowndes County residents held “Welcome Home” ribbon-cutting ceremonies celebrating the completion of renovation on their homes accomplished in part by assistance from the Community Home Investment Program (CHIP) and the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG).

Other residents were celebrated as first-time homebuyers, made possible in part by the state Family Self-Sufficiency Program.

Since 1998, the city of Valdosta has completed 83 projects with down-payment assistance as part of CHIP, eight projects for reconstruction assistance and three projects for rehabilitation assistance with CHIP and CDBG funding.

Georgia Department of Community Affairs Commissioner Mike Beatty visited Valdosta to be a part of the tour of newly-constructed homes and to recognize the selection of the city of Valdosta and the city of Remerton as part of the Signature Community Program. More than 100 communities applied for the program, which was initiated in July 2005. Valdosta and Remerton applied as a joint-initiative program and were selected based on criteria of comprehensive planning, downtown revitalization, economic development, environmental management, infrastructure development, leadership programs, quality growth, safe and affordable housing, and service and volunteerism. To date, only 17 communities in the state have been awarded participation in the program.

“We ought to reward communities for stepping up to the plate and doing good things,” Beatty said.

“The state is supporting the future of this community while recognizing the progress that’s been made thus far,” Valdosta Mayor Pro Tem Willie T. Head Jr. said. “All of this could not have been possible without the partnership with the city of Remerton.”

Beatty presented Head and Remerton Mayor Cornelius Holsendolph with a $25,000 check, half of the Signature Community Program’s $50,000 grant. The remainder of the grant money will be delivered as the program continues, Beatty stated.

As Signature Communities, Valdosta and Remerton signed the grant agreement and a memorandum of understanding Thursday, outlining the partnership and initiatives that will be undertaken as part of the program, which will focus on preservation and improving overall community wellness.

The cities plan to conduct brownfield and greyfield assessments, make physical improvements to the Azalea City Trail and Withlacoochee River Greenway Connection and develop a bicycle pedestrian master plan.

“We are excited and pleased with our selection as a Signature Community,” Holsendolph was quoted as saying in a press release submitted before the presentation. “We are proud that our selection was based not only on what our community has accomplished, but also on our community’s great potential.”

“Georgia communities are DCA’s number one customer. Communities applying for the Signature Community Program are providing a good quality of life for their citizens. This program supports DCA’s efforts to provide the resources in a targeted manner that helps the selected communities take their efforts to the next level,” Beatty added.

DCA also administers the Family Self-Sufficiency (FSS) Program. The FSS works with current rental assistance (Section 8) clients who may qualify for homeownership. The FSS program typically takes five years to complete and requires participation in financial education and related seminars.

Valdosta resident Kelisa Brown, a mother of four and a former Section 8 client, began participation in the FSS program in 2000. She completed the program in 2007 and closed on her home in March. Brown’s home was on the tour of homes DCA and city officials went on throughout the day. Brown was able to share her personal story of how the FSS program encouraged her to seek homeownership to officials on the tour, which made stops at six homes in the area.

The FSS Program allows families to develop and maintain an escrow account at DCA, which becomes their own upon program completion. Several families have made the transition from receiving rental assistance into the new role of homeowner, according to a press release submitted by DCA.

Herbert and Ethel Spencer and Felicia Black and her daughter were two families who held ribbon cuttings for their newly renovated homes during the tour. The Spencers are a couple in their 60s who received reconstruction assistance to build them a new home on East Force Street. Both CDBG Entitlement funding and CHIP funds were used in the project. Eight families in the Madison Heights project, which was a stop on the tour, also received CHIP down-payment assistance for second mortgages. Their first mortgages were with Habitat for Humanity.