Texas group profiled in local newspaper for protecting homeownership through tough times

NeighborWorks America is honoring our many creative member organizations this year by featuring in our blog those that are celebrating milestone anniversaries. We were pleased to discover that we didn't have to write a testimonial for NeighborWorks Waco, because the WacoTrib did it for us. Read for yourself...

Robert Jackson expected good things from NeighborWorks Waco.

Jackson was the treasurer of the newly formed Brooks Avenue Neighborhood Association in 1993, when the group decided to contribute $10,000 to help jump start the new housing organization, believing it could help more residents buy homes in the Greater Waco area.

But he didn’t expect that he would wind up being one of those residents who would need the nonprofit group’s help to buy his first home.

Read the full article. 

Homebuyer Education Critical, Especially in Rural Communities

This blog is reposted from CFED's website. Erica Bradley works with the NeighborWorks America Rural Initiative.

For years, community development professionals were advocates for financial education. Not many lenders, and certainly not customers, took financial education seriously, until the housing bubble burst in 2008. In rural markets, homebuyers typically do not have the same access to services, like homebuyer education. For many rural organizations, expanding their services to include online financial education courses has allowed them to reach more customers.

Tammy Hyman, homeownership program administrator at PathStone, always knew how important homeownership counseling is. PathStone, she said, had offered it since the late ‘90’s. “If they would have done (homeownership counseling) back then, we wouldn’t be having these issues now,” she said of the lenders.

PathStone, which is headquartered in Rochester, serves New York, Vermont, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, Ohio, Indiana and parts of Puerto Rico. Many of the markets they serve are rural, and homeownership counseling is offered in Indiana, New York and Pennsylvania.

Hyman said clients have the option of taking an in-person training, which consists of an eight-hour course, or they can take an online course from eHome America. eHome America is a certified provider of online homebuyer education.

For the in-person class, the requirement is an eight- to ten-hour day. Hyman said she tries to include guest speakers, such as real estate agents or lenders. The course is held every other month or sometimes quarterly, depending on the demand for it. Hyman estimates there are 8-18 students in each class.
If the client chooses to take the online course, Hyman said, a staff person schedules a one-on-one call to discuss the course material and answer any questions the client has. Hyman said the benefit to the eHome course is it allows people to take the course at a convenient time for them.
Like PathStone, Neighborhood Housing Services (NHS) of Richland County also offers an in-person homebuyer education course as well as the eHome course. NHS of Richland County covers several counties in Southwest Wisconsin, including an area where homebuyer education was not offered.

Linda Smith, NHS of Richland County homeownership center coordinator, said they offer in-person courses, and they attempted to offer distance learning classes. The distance courses were broadcast from the main Richland Center site to remote sites, typically high school classrooms, in neighboring counties. Smith said because broadcasting the course was too staff-intensive, and there were technology problems, the remote course was cancelled. They are now using eHome America for their customers who cannot attend the course in Richland Center, which has gotten a great response. “eHome, because we are rural, is a good fit. It fits the needs for many of our households, especially the younger households who cannot attend classes at night or on the weekends,” she said.

Like PathStone, NHS requires customers who have taken the eHome course to have a phone conference with a staff person.

Gary Throckmorton, eHome senior executive vice president, said eHome’s model is a network of local agencies. “We want the customer to be connected to a local agency. Follow-up is key,” he said. eHome has had steady growth, he said, and approximately 250 agencies are registered with over 36,000 clients served since 2009. Throckmorton expects growth to continue, especially since online education has become more accepted. eHome is currently offered in English and Spanish, but Throckmorton said adding additional languages would be considered if there was a demand.

eHome America was started in May 2009 by Community Ventures Corporation (CVC), a Kentucky-based non-profit. It is endorsed by NeighborWorks America.

Equity Express: Uniting Financial Management and Environmental Responsibility

By Karuna Mehta,
NeighborWorks America,
Green Strategies program fellow

Just in time for Energy Awareness month, we are sharing a blog about our new Equity Express class. The initiative responds to two major crises of our time – economic and ecological – by increasing the wealth of asset-poor households through consumer choices that are both financially smart and promote sustainable living.

As a young professional with a limited budget, saving money is always at the back of my mind.  While I’ve tried to abide by the same “save, save, and save some more” mentality as my parents, in today’s world it’s easier said than done. Many of NeighborWorks homeownership and financial fitness counselors encounter similar experiences counseling low- and middle-income clients who are hoping to buy homes or simply get out of debt. For most of us, it doesn’t seem possible to save money by committing to living a more sustainable, healthy lifestyle. 

However, hope is not lost on being both "green" and financially savvy. This summer, homeownership and financial fitness counselors from all over Ohio came together to learn how living a healthy, sustainable lifestyle can also help you save some green. The two-day train-the-trainer workshop, hosted in partnership with the Center of Neighborhood Technology, is called “Equity Express” and describes opportunities to save money in nearly every facet of our lives while improving our health and lessening our environmental impact. The workshop introduces counselors to an alternative way of teaching financial education and provides them with resources and materials so they can incorporate sustainable ideas and green living into their own curricula.

Creative Commons image

Equity Express emphasizes the importance of monitoring six areas: budgeting, energy, transportation, food, communications and “green lifestyle,” which focuses on how much “stuff” we consume and buy and how we dispose of it. The materials taught in each workshop are tailored to analyze the trends and events that are occurring in that region—for example, counselors from Cleveland received “Cleveland-specific” information while those from Cincinnati learned about the health and environmental impact in their own metro area.

While some topics, like those revolving around consumption and budgeting, were already common in a number of the counselor’s own curricula, participants also learned about managing energy costs through reducing wasted energy. They began assessing where transportation alternatives such as walking and biking fit into their lives, and reassessed how their affinities for certain kinds of food would impact their health and bank accounts in the long run.

Using resources provided by Equity Express, many of the counselors discovered large potential savings for themselves. Class participants were shocked when they took a look at their own utility bills and calculated the nutritious values (or lack thereof) of their favorite foods. Some even called their children and spouses during break to share the information they'd just learned.

Class participants with their certificates of completion

The workshop also gave as an opportunity to take a look around the office of Neighborhood Development Services (NDS) in Ravenna, Ohio, where the workshop was held. The executive director and his staff have committed to greening their organization, including taking out unnecessary lighting, enforcing recycling and limiting the amount of waste they produce.  NDS board members and staff have iPads to limit the amount of paper they use and their commitment to environmental conservation is inspirational. Not only is the staff creating sustainable housing, but they are “walking the talk” when it comes to their own daily lives, creating a more durable, healthy and inspired workplace for themselves.
 
At the Equity Express workshop, counselors realized the first step in teaching about a low-cost, sustainable life was living by these principles ourselves. We set goals for kicking our addictions to things like fast food and cheap clothes and electronics. Some people vowed to cook a little more often and eat a little less meat, others re-examined the differences between wanting and needing a new smart phone or television. Still others discussed carpooling with their co-workers and pledged to think twice before buying new stuff.

Budgeting and managing expenses is crucial for those who seek financial counseling or help with homeownership, and resource efficiency is also critical to "going green." Sustainable living improves long term and short term health, creates a more durable living environment and helps people save money in the long run, making it an incredible tool for promoting money management as well as equity. Financial workshops such as Equity Express incorporate the importance of sustainable and socially responsible living empower clients and inspire local and global action through simple changes in one's daily routine.

$3 Million from Wells Fargo Housing Foundation Will Bolster NeighborWorks Housing Education and Counseling

A $3 million grant from the Wells Fargo Housing Foundation will support a range of NeighborWorks America training initiatives. It will strengthen the ability of nonprofit community development professionals to help thousands of consumers better understand homeownership and how to avoid foreclosure.

Wells Fargo’s grant to NeighborWorks America supports training and scholarships for homeownership educators and housing counselors delivered through NeighborWorks Training Institutes; local place-based training opportunities around the U.S., and increasingly through NeighborWorks led e-learning courses. The grant period runs from October 1, 2011 through March 31, 2013.

“This grant from Wells Fargo is important to our ability to provide the latest information and training to housing counselors and other community development professionals,” said Eileen Fitzgerald, CEO of NeighborWorks America. “Importantly, this grant from Wells Fargo underlines its commitment to narrowing the gap for access to quality homeownership education, training and counseling.”

“Financial challenges are building for housing counseling services at a time when consumer demand for their help is growing,” said Kimberly Jackson, executive director of the Wells Fargo Housing Foundation. “Wells Fargo believes homeownership education and counseling training and scholarships provided by NeighborWorks are critical to helping Americans as they face financial struggles that extend beyond their home payments and the country continues to work through the impacts of a challenging economy.”

Using various delivery methods to reach housing counseling practitioners, NeighborWorks America awards more than 12,000 training certificates each year in homeownership and community lending, and the demand for skilled professionals in homeownership education and counseling is not expected to decline.

Thank you to Wells Fargo for strengthening our training reach! Learn more here.