August 3, 2009 (FinancialWire) — Tohatchi Area Opportunity Services, Inc.  has received a $280,000 Affordable Housing Program  grant from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas (FHLB Dallas) through First Community Bank in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

TAOS will use the grant to rehabilitate and renovate homes of disabled and/or elderly individuals primarily within rural or remote areas of the Navajo Reservation in northwestern New Mexico, such as Huerfano, Ramah, and Iyanbito.

“Without the AHP funds from FHLB Dallas we couldn’t do the program,” said Patrick Keptner, chief executive officer of TAOS. “If it wasn’t for the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas our program never would have been able to continue. There’s just no way we could do it.”

First Community Bank vice president Eric Begay says TAOS has a proven track record and a commitment to the communities it serves. Begay has seen first-hand how TAOS has changed lives.

“The Navajo Nation has 60 to 70 percent poverty, and many of the clients Tohatchi assists with home renovations wouldn’t be able to afford it on their own,” Begay said. “There’s the potential for these folks to live in a nicer, remodeled house, to feel more of a sense of home. At the same time, Tohatchi is teaching a construction trade to many of their clients that participate in the home renovation program.”

TAOS is an affiliate of YouthBuild USA, which endorses the recruitment of high school dropouts, special needs students, and youth who have been adjudicated through the court system to learn the construction trade.

The grant is the fourth AHP grant TAOS has sponsored for similar projects on the Navajo Reservation. Under previous AHP awards, the group has completed renovations to 100 homes. There has been no shortage of people in need. The group has a waiting list for its services.

“We can go in there and replace their windows, replace their doors, repair their roofs,” Keptner said. “We concentrate on people with disabilities. A lot of them don’t have handicap accessible homes. It makes it really hard to function in a house that is not up to par; then it becomes a health issue.”

FHLB Dallas returns 10 percent of its profits each year to the communities served by its member institutions in the form of AHP grants issued through its members. So far in 2009, FHLB Dallas has awarded $5.4 million in AHP grants to 25 affordable housing projects through its five-state District.

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