NEW Communities - Canoga Park

The NEW Community in Canoga Park tackles two critical issues at once—housing and education in an innovative whole family learning environment.
The trail-blazing Los Angeles development features 119 units of affordable housing, a charter elementary school and a community center. Canoga Park is one of the poorest areas in the San Fernando Valley; the project was built on an abandoned five-acre site that was once a city-owned maintenance facility.

Opened in July 2005, Tierra del Sol features a mix of unit sizes, including three five-bedroom apartments to accommodate large families. The project is believed to be the first low-income housing tax credit development in the state, and perhaps the nation, with five-bedroom apartments. Tierra del Sol is targeted to families with incomes between 30 to 60 percent of the area median income.

The charter school was funded by LAUSD. NEW built the school, then sold it to the school district, which then leased it back to the nonprofit for $1 a year.

Dennis P. Zine Community Center
The 12,800-square-foot Dennis P. Zine Community Center opened in 2009. It features a Latino Tech Net computer room with free high-speed internet access, a multipurpose room, child care resource center, police sub-station and a conference room.

At the NEW FamilySource Center located in the Dennis P. Zine Community Center, residents of Tierra del Sol can participate in NEW’s educational programs including NEW Money,  NEW Health, NEW Safety, NEW Success, NEW Technology and NEW Para Prosperity. They can also take NEW homebuyer classes and access a wide range of additional services and referrals. After-school and summer academic support and enrichment is offered onsite though the NEW Learning Center. Many of these NEW programs are also made available to the local community.