MLK Day is over, but volunteering brings rewards all year

By Natalie Kessler, NeighborWorks VISTA Leader

Martin Luther King Jr. famously once said, “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is ‘What are you doing for others?’ ’’ That sentiment, which so aptly reflects the focus of his life, is at the heart of Martin Luther King Jr. Day  -- the only federal holiday designed to encourage Americans to commit to a day of service. But volunteerism is a contribution – and a joy – that can and should be practiced throughout the year.  

Take me, for example. As a participant in the AmeriCorps VISTA program, when individuals ask what I do for a living, I could respond in a number of ways. I could say I help a diverse group of people accomplish tasks around the country. I could respond with a long-winded description of how I provide administrative support, resources and other assistance to individuals who are striving to make their communities a better place. My actual answer? “I volunteer.”

The inspiration for AmeriCorps VISTA dates back 50 years, when President John F. Kennedy first spoke about his vision for a national service program in 1963. Two years later, Lyndon B. Johnson made that dream a reality as part of the “War on Poverty.”  The VISTA program initially had only 20 members. Johnson said to them, “Your pay will be low; the conditions of your labor often will be difficult. But you will have the satisfaction of leading a great national effort and you will have the ultimate reward, which comes to those who serve their fellow man.”

VISTA member Emily Pohlman (second from left) from 
Neighborhood Housing Services in Boise, ID, volunteered 
with employees from a local credit union to sort and 
distribute warm clothes for children.

President Johnson was right. The pay is low (just a stipend for living expenses) and my tasks are challenging… but the results are incredibly rewarding and I’m getting great experience. I lead, assist and provide resources for approximately 95 NeighborWorks VISTA volunteers across the United States. These VISTA volunteers serve local communities by creating course curricula for financial education and home-buying classes, coordinate other volunteers to complete home repairs in low-income communities, write grants for neighborhood-beautification projects, run fundraising and youth literacy programs, etc.

However, you don’t have to be a volunteer full-time. There are many opportunities to contribute in “small batches.”

Why consider giving up even a little of your free time?

Direct service is satisfying.
Volunteering feels good! I volunteered on MLK Day because I wanted to be more involved in my new home city, Washington, DC. Yes, my VISTA position is classified as volunteer, but it is also my job. As such, it doesn’t generate quite the type of satisfaction that flows from direct service. Plus, it’s fun to I get out into in my community and interacting with others.

VISTA members (three on the left) work with 
NeighborWorks Blackstone River Valley in 
Woonsocket, RI, to  paint a shed. 

You help causes you care about.
If you’re like me, you follow favorite local nonprofits on social media. Volunteering  offers the perfect opportunity to experience their work firsthand.

Nonprofit organizations rely on you!
Many nonprofit organizations rely heavily on the work of volunteers. They couldn’t fulfill their mission without the contribution of your time.

It’s a great way to meet like-minded people.
Volunteering is a natural way to make new friends, and I’ve even heard of some people finding their “soul mate” that way. You can also learn new skills and broaden your knowledge.

A  report from the Corporation for National and Community Service found that one in four adults volunteered through an organization in 2012. Altogether, 64.5 million Americans volunteered nearly 7.9 billion hours. Why not join them? You can volunteer as much or as little as you like – whether it be a couple of hours a year, a month or every week. If you don’t have a favorite local nonprofit already, you can search for a service opportunity through any one of these three websites:

• AllForGood.org
• VolunteerMatch.org
• Idealist.org

What are your favorite ways to volunteer? Do you have tips for fitting it into your schedule?

Lease-to-purchase program provides pathway to homeownership

By Pam Bailey, blogger for NeighborWorks America

Kalamazoo, MI, was hard hit by the housing crisis. Traditionally a first-mortgage lender, with 600 loans in its portfolio, Kalamazoo Neighborhood Housing Services could no longer offer that assistance as banks pulled back. Meanwhile, as unemployment also soared, foreclosures swept the city and even now, four years later, home values are stagnating and lack of investment is destabilizing the neighborhoods.

“We needed a strategy to provide a bridge to homeownership, while also stabilizing the community by avoiding the abandoned buildings and absentee landlords experienced elsewhere,” says Matt Lager, executive director of NHS, which recently celebrated 20 years of membership in the NeighborWorks network. “So we developed a lease-to-purchase program.  The formula is simple: We acquire and rehab a vacant or foreclosed property on a target block, lease to clients who are just shy of mortgage-ready and prepare them to become homeowners. The result: We now have a pipeline of families who will transition to homeowners within 12 to 18 months.”

One of the families now leasing a home, with plans
to purchase. 

In the first two years of the program, Lager’s organization acquired 11 houses outright, thanks to a combination of land donations, grants and capital from NeighborWorks America. Five more acquisitions are planned for the coming year. Demand has been high, with 20 “bidders” for every home available. In return for the affordable lease and down payment assistance when the time comes, renters agree to participate in monthly financial-management coaching sessions. If they don’t follow through, or decide not to purchase within two years, they lose their “option fee,” equivalent of one month’s rent. (If participants comply with the action plan they develop with their coach, the purchase deadline can be extended.)

To date, the program has a high success rate: Four of the participants will become homeowners in the first half of 2014; only two have opted out due to what Lager calls the programs initial “learning curve.”

Lessons learned

“One of the lessons we learned in implementing this program is to select and then rehab houses that would attract future homeowners,” explains Lager. “People need to fall in love with a house to stay motivated.”

The other lesson Lager’s team would pass on to others who might want to offer a similar program is that it requires deep relationships with leasers.

“Although the financial-management sessions are focused on budgets, repairing their credit, etc., you can’t help but get involved in all of the other issues that dictate whether these families can be successful at homeownership,” says Lager, adding that the NHS financial-capability coaches have backgrounds in social work. “That means dealing with unemployment, for instance, and similar challenges.”

Foreclosures may have gone down, but the financial struggles of the approximately 21,000 people living in the six neighborhoods served by NHS continue, and the “lease-purchase” program will help provide a pathway to homeownership.

Connecticut group trains renters and landlords to ‘bridge the divide’

Helping residents of its diverse community achieve homeownership is a core mission of Neighborhood Housing Services of New Britain (CT). In fact, the organization – which celebrated its 35^th anniversary this year – was chosen to participate in NeighborWorks America’s pilot program when it first started training housing counselors in 1982.

But homeownership isn’t feasible or the desired option for some people, and as Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies reported this month, there is a growing shortage of affordable rental units. According to the report, the share of renters paying more than a third of their incomes for housing, traditionally considered the minimum threshold of affordability, rose to 50 percent in 2010. Much of the increase was among renters facing severe burdens (paying more than half of their incomes for housing) – a group now representing nearly 27 percent of tenants. 

That reality can be seen in central Connecticut as well. The area, which has a large population of Hispanic and Polish immigrants (giving the neighborhood around the organization’s office the nickname, “Little Poland”), has lost a lot of manufacturing operations over the years and now relies on service businesses for its livelihood. Unemployment is nearly 12 percent.  

The mission of Neighborhood Housing Services of New Britain is to help fill the gap in the supply of affordable housing – in part, through developing rental units, of which it now manages 25. The goal, says Executive Director Maureen Voghel, is to add 10 plus units annually for the next three years, along with two to four single-family homes. 

However, renting poses unique challenges – for both tenants and landlords. And while counseling is offered by many organizations for new homeowners, such training rarely is provided to people on both sides of the renting “equation.” NHS of New Britain is taking the lead by offering preparation classes for both existing and prospective renters and landlords.

“Sometimes, renters become landlords themselves,” observes Evelyn Branch, supervisor of Homeownership and Foreclosure programs for NHS. “It can make sense, once they are ready to purchase, to buy a multi-family unit – like a duplex – and rent out the extra space for some income. But becoming a landlord isn’t easy.”

Participants in the NHS-NB training class for landlords
hear from a police officer.

In the last year, the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority began requiring landlords to receive education on their responsibilities, and with the closest alternative site a less-frequent program in Hartford, the NHS class attracts a regular attendance of about a dozen for each monthly, three-hour session.

The “Landlord 101” workshop, says Branch, covers everything from making the decision to purchase a rental unit and become a landlord, to how to screen tenants, maintain the property, manage their finances and – if necessary – evict residents in accordance with the appropriate protocols. Recently, the curriculum was supplemented to include the importance of green maintenance practices to keep costs low for everyone.

In October, NHS began offering a similar class, but for tenants. In the tenant class, participants discuss how to effectively communicate concerns to their landlords, ways they can bring down energy costs and their rights during eviction. In the future, NHS hopes to forge a partnership with other community-based organizations to provide legal services through pro bono attorneys to both tenants and landlords.

“It’s a two-way street,” explains Branch. “Both have rights, and both have responsibilities. But no one prepares them for that. Our goal is to help them build a good, professional relationship, based on open communication. ”

‘Aging in place’ transformed from dream to reality in Ohio

As with other communities across the country, the Rust Belt town of Springfield, OH, is aging. With high unemployment and the resulting exodus of young people, the population of the small town in southwestern Ohio is increasingly in need of affordable housing tailored to the needs of older individuals who want to stay in their communities, but need a little help to do so.

“Springfield is very segregated in terms of income,” explains Tina Koumoutsos, executive director of Neighborhood Housing Partnership (NHP) of Greater Springfield, which celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2013. “Most of the new development is on the north side, where the more affluent residents live. People in the southern neighborhoods don’t have as many options.”

NHP-GS is doing its part to change that, however. In 2011, it partnered with the City of Springfield to leverage funds from the second round of HUD’s Neighborhood Stabilization Program, created to assist communities whose viability is at risk in the wake of the wave of foreclosures. This funding, says Koumoutsos, was a “blessing. We had no debt to service, and could use the project instead to generate a revenue stream to invest back in our work.”

One year later, NHP offered 12 two-bedroom duplexes for rent, specifically for individuals age 55 or older who are making 50 percent of the area median income or less. In addition to reasonable rents, affordability is assured through green building practices that keep energy costs low.

“We designed these units with ‘smart growth’ in mind,” says Koumoutsos, who was the city’s housing coordinator before she became the founding director of NHP. “That means people and their special needs were our focus, not cars.”

For example, the new development was positioned to be “walkable,” with a YMCA, government offices and a performing arts center within easy reach. The property manager of the complex owns another, larger senior-service project and provides case-manager services to both developments, including recreational activities and transportation when needed.

Front porches (without steps, so people with disabilities
can easily access them) are main features of the new
walkable community for seniors.

In the units themselves, garages are positioned to the back of the homes, shifting the focus to front-yard porches where residents are encouraged to socialize with each other. The University of Michigan’s Health and Retirement Study, which is following more than 7,000 individuals, concluded that living in a neighborhood where you have strong social ties has as much physical benefit as not smoking.

In addition, the development was built with a goal of “zero steps.” Koumoutsos explains that NHP wanted the residents to be able to safely age in place, as well as to welcome disabled friends and relatives. That means no stairs that could become wheelchair obstacles, as well as special touches such as walk-in showers in the bathrooms and accessible kitchen cabinets. At the same time, however, the NHP team worked hard to make the look inviting, rather than institutional, and the second bedroom in each unit offers plenty of space for visiting children and grandchildren.

“All of the units filled almost immediately, and we have a waiting list of about 100,” says Koumoutsos. “We are in discussions now with the city about building more, since we own the adjacent land.”

“Impact” is what Koumoutsos and her team strive for. A recent study documented that in the last five years, NHP of Greater Springfield has contributed $43 million to the local economy, supported 74 jobs and generated $51 million in first mortgages.

“We used to have to struggle to make the case that providing affordable housing has an overall impact on the community at large,” she says. “Now no one questions it.”

Written by Pam Bailey, communications writer for NeighborWorks America.

West Virginia group demonstrates big impact despite small staff, few resources

Imagine you lead a four-person organization that serves a city with a population of just more 7,000 people, 20 percent of whom are below the poverty line, and a lack of traditional funders like big banks. That’s the challenge John Elza, executive director of the HomeOwnership Center (HOC) of Elkins, WV, faces daily.

And then there is the additional dearth of communications channels. “Reaching customers is challenging. There’s not a lot of media and only one daily newspaper. Getting information out is hard,” Elza says. “A lot of folks don’t have a computer.”

However, the smallness in size and resources haven’t stopped HOC from working to achieve a big impact in the 15 years since its founding, despite the lingering impact of the Great Recession.

“Getting to 15 years after the recession was challenging,” Elza admits. “Production numbers were down, but are starting to come back.  We just ended Fiscal Year ‘13 with a 26 percent increase in production over the prior year.”

HOC grew out of the Randolph County Housing Authority, which Elza describes as the incubation unit for the group. “It decided to spin off a private nonprofit that could do different things.”

The organization became a licensed state mortgage broker and then a NeighborWorks charter organization in 2001. This transition was important for HOC.

“The Housing Authority couldn't go after private funding or foundations because it wasn't a 501c3,” Elza explains. “We wanted to become a licensed broker to be more effective. Initially, the focus was on pre-purchase counseling, since there were certain types of mortgages that didn't require a broker's license. When we received our broker's license, it opened the doors to assisting others.”

HOC assists a mostly rural population, providing education and counseling, financing and development primarily to low- and moderate-income households. “We serve an eight-county service area of 130,000 people,” Elza elaborates. “Randolph County is 146 square miles. We’re up in the mountains. Tourism is a big economic factor here. There’s not a lot of actual industry, and only one regional lender in the area. From a fundraising standpoint, that’s a challenge. We don’t have a big banking presence.”

HOC’s mission is to provide safe, affordable housing, focusing on sustainable homeownership, self-sufficiency, sound environments, healthy quality of life and communities that can sustain these values. To fulfill these goals, HOC provides homeownership education and counseling to more than 200 families each year, with more than 50 becoming home buyers. The organization has been so successful in stretching its resources to achieve its mission that its staff often works with individuals elsewhere in the state who want to offer similar services.

Elza recalls one particular family’s story that illustrates the impact that can be achieved, even on a small scale.

Heather Sackett-Scott, William Scott and their two
children in front of their new home.

Heather Sackett-Scott and William Scott have four children, including one with disabilities. They needed to find a home that was both affordable and accessible to a disabled child. HOC provided counseling and education for the family, helping them to become mortgage-ready. The organization then engaged several partners to provide affordable financing. Highland Community Builders provided a lot, CommunityWorks provided the first mortgage at a below-market rate and Woodlands Development Group constructed the accessible home and also provided partial subsidized financing. HOC processed the blended mortgage loan.

Sackett-Scott said afterward, "I’m just grateful that there are programs like this. And I’m pleased to know that there are people doing these things for other people. If it weren't for this program, my family wouldn't be able to get a house like this, a nice home. It just wouldn't happen."

Written by Lindsay Moore, senior media relations specialist for NeighborWorks America.