Community Service Programs
Rising Tide - Freedom First's Community Service Initiative
Our Mission
We contribute our time, talents and resources to build better communities one house at a time, one street at a time and one neighborhood at a time in the Greater Rochester Area from urban to suburban to rural communities. We seek to transform the perception that each real estate investor is a greedy, non-responsive slumlord demonstrating that we are truly invested in community building via the projects that we undertake.
Our Team
Our committees and members are engaged in community outreach enriching partnerships with neighborhood associations, civic organizations and municipal entities to collaborate on projects that build and enrich communities.
Projects Successes
- Holiday Baskets – We partnered with a local charity, Epilepsy/Pralid, to provide 18 families with food baskets for Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. Members contributed cash, donated dry goods, turkeys and hams. Our REIA provided funding from our general funds.
- Serving the Homeless – We support the Open Door Mission, Rochester’s City Mission and Soup Kitchen, serving the homeless in our community. Monthly we prepare and serve meals for 60-80 homeless members of our community.
Projects in Development
- Community Education – providing training in partnership with community groups, public libraries and faith-based communities to include:
- Improving one’s credit to prepare for home funding
- Purchasing your first home using a Rent-to-Own strategy.
- Homecare fundamentals – understanding what you need to do to maintain your home. Aimed but not limited to first time home buyers.
- Rehabbing to Local Codes.
- Collaborating with Clean Sweep, a City of Rochester springtime street cleanup all-day Saturday initiative to clean our city streets and neighborhoods.
- Collaborating with Flower City Habitat of Rochester to provide helping hands building new homes in our urban neighborhoods and to encourage our membership’s rehabbing homes around the Habitat communities.
Collaborating with PathStone Corporation and the Housing Council of PathStone to support their community efforts helping tenants and landlords maintain viable housing relationships.