Denver Black Arts Festival Returns To City Park
The Denver Black Arts Festival will celebrate its 20th anniversary at its original home – Denver’s City Park. The five-day festival, scheduled from July 12 to16, will feature arts activities in various parts of the city, including downtown Denver for the first three days. The final two days, July 15 and 16, will be reserved for City Park West. The theme for the festival is "A Score for Change." Approval from the Denver Parks and Recreation Department set the stage for the return of the festival to City Park for the first time in 10 years.
The centerpiece event during the festival, the Boogaloo Parade, will kick off the events at City Park on Saturday, July 15. The festival celebrates the spirit of African American arts, culture and traditions through various disciplines: music, dance, theater and visual arts.
For more information, call Perry Ayers at 303-860-0040 or visit www.denbaf.org.
                       
Dahlia Square Owner Acquires One Of Two Remaining Parcels
The Denver Urban Renewal Authority (DURA) has announced that Parkhill Community, Inc. (PCI), the not-for-profit affiliate of Brownfield Partners, has purchased property located adjacent to the former Dahlia Square Shopping Center in northeast Park Hill. The former gas station site is located on the southeast corner of 35th and Dahlia. Terms of the sale were not disclosed.  PCI currently owns the Dahlia Square property and is clearing, remediating and cleaning up the site for future redevelopment  
The property is being included in the plans of Alliance Development Partners, which was selected as Dahlia Square’s preferred developer by the DURA Board of Commissioners on Feb.16.  Alliance will purchase the Dahlia Square property from PCI once the environmental cleanup and remediation are completed in late 2006.
Alliance plans to redevelop the site with approximately 90 single-family attached for-sale homes, 40 senior-housing apartments, 55 affordable-income apartments, a child-care facility and Denver Health’s new Park Hill clinic, which is currently located in temporary facilities at 38th and Grape.
Vertical development is expected to commence when the final cleanup has been completed.
For more information, call Tracy Huggins at 303-534-3872 or visit  tracy.huggins@ci.denver.co.us.

Disaster Loans Approved
Six months after Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma devastated the Gulf Coast and Florida, the U.S. Small Business Administration has approved $5.4 billion in low-interest loans to the victims.
The SBA has approved more than 76,200 disaster loans to homeowners, renters and businesses in the disaster area. The total includes more than 60,000 disaster loans for homeowners and renters for $4 billion, and more than 15,400 loans to businesses for $1.36 billion.

In the SBA's guaranteed working capital and real estate/fixed asset loan programs, the agency has delivered $400 million in loans to small businesses in the declared disaster areas. Together, these programs mean the SBA has approved a total of $1.76 billion in loans to businesses in the declared disaster areas.
Applicants can check the status of their SBA disaster loan applications by calling 1-800-659-2955 or e-mailing SBA at disastercustomerservice@sba.gov.

Fema Directs New Deadlines And
Procedures For Rental Assistance
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) notified state officials of updated information regarding new deadlines and procedures for rental assistance to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita evacuees in Colorado. These changes impact lease agreements.
Rental assistance available through FEMA’s special, one-time Public Assistance housing program, administered by the State of Colorado and in partnership with Catholic Charities ended March 31. As of March 1, all leases arranged by the state through Catholic Charities were transitioned over to Corporate Lodging Consultants (CLC).
FEMA has contracted with CLC to work with landlords. Landlords must register with CLC for the Landlord Direct Payment Plan.  Landlords who have not registered will not be paid for evacuee stays beginning April 1.
To receive rent payment due April 1, and after, landlords must register for the Landlord Direct Payment Plan.
Evacuees already registered with FEMA should have been contacted by FEMA about their status. Those evacuees not registered or determined not eligible to receive rental assistance should contact FEMA at 1-866-621-3362
To apply for assistance or check current status, call FEMA at 1-800-621-3362 or visit www.fema.gov/register.shtm.