Ever held a Housing Choice Voucher? Come to the Section 8: Town Hall!
Join us Thursday, November 17th — 12-2pm at the Temple Building in Durham
Author Archive | Jonathan Young
CEF Advocacy Choir – UNC Pit Performance
Vote YES for the Affordable Housing Bond! Thanks to UNC for letting us share the word!
#makeroomorange housingorange.org
Want to join the choir? Call Yvette at 919-200-0233 or email us at ch@communityef.org
CEF Advocacy Choir – Strowd Roses 15th-Anniversary
Vote YES for the Affordable Housing Bond! Thanks to Strowd Roses for letting us share the word!
#makeroomorange housingorange.org
Want to join the choir? Call Yvette at 919-200-0233 or email us at ch@communityef.org
Featured OC Hub Program: Document Services
Darcia is not a typical Advocate. Once a week she volunteers her time through CEF’s Orange Community Hub to help Members establish or reestablish identification and documentation. This work of obtaining photos IDs, birth certificates, and social security cards can become very complex, and requires the time of someone like Darcia who can offer her dedication and deep understanding of all different factors at play!
What is the role of documentation?
Documentation is the bedrock or the foundation of life’s needs in our society. It is fundamental to securing housing and employment. It is not a barrier to—as much as it is essential.
How has this work affected your views on poverty?
I always thought of myself as someone who thinks about others, but this work makes me feel the weight and enormity of it all, how overwhelming it must be. We as individuals often live in our own space with our own worries, and then you have people with such different—more vital concerns
What have you learned about the systems that provide and sometimes complicate the process of securing identification?
I have found that people really do want to be helpful for the most part, but there are a lot of rules. Sometimes it can be very challenging when people are not moving forward with the process or it is simply taking forever. One birth certificate was weeks overdue. I called many times and they consistently told me they were processing it, but a week later there would be no progress. The Member stopped coming as a result, so I’m not sure what happened with that case.
How did you get involved?
I was previously involved with Love Chapel Hill, an action-orientated, church-based organization whose mission is to help the homeless within our community. And then I think I met Jon or Maggie(CEF’s Co-founders) at Starbucks and they told me about CEF.
Ultimately, I saw the need. I had friends who were already coming to me asking if I could help them procure documentation for others. I approached Maggie or Jon and said “what if I came in for a few hours a week and helped members with this sort of thing,” and that is exactly what ended up happening!
What is the hardest case you have worked on?
Often times I am asked to establish ID for individuals who need to keep their whereabouts confidential. My concern has been that an individual trying to get an ID would end up on the public record, and risk them being found. Usually, I tell the individuals that this is a risk that cannot be taken in their situation and that the best course of action is to talk to the attorney general or someone in the state department.
What has been your most inspirational case?
I once had a member that was so persistent in asking me, ‘when am I gonna get it, when am I gonna get it’ because he urgently needed it for a job application. He was so persistent that when I saw him on Columbia Street, he came up to me to tell me he still had not received his ID. At that very moment, I put my stuff down and called up vital records right then and there. He got his ID not long after.
CEF at the 2016 Asset Learning Conference in DC
Highlights of our lessons learned, big ideas, and big takeaways!
CEF’s Program Coordinator and Operations Coordinator, Maggie West and Jon Young, rode the Megabus up to DC last month to attend the Assets Learning Conference, hosted by our friends and partners at CFED. Here’s a peek at what got us excited and where we’re taking those ideas next!
Ideas for Better Safe Safe Savings Accounts
- The Five Friday Month: A simple but catalytic idea from JPMorgan & Chase Institute on Income Volatility! During a month with five Fridays, many households have more expendable income than they do in a typical month. How can we leverage that in CEF’s matched savings programs to encourage increased savings during that time in the calendar?
- Gamifying Savings: Simple immediate incentives like congratulatory and animated texts can go a long way to reinforcing positive savings behaviors. Gamification of savings is a hot topic too, with exciting work by Commonwealth. Let’s implement these simple incentives!
- Multi-Generational Saving: So many spaces lifted the importance of whole-family, multi-generational supports, and so many spaces talked about the promise of Children’s Savings Accounts, which got us thinking. What if we could collaborate with fellow providers locally to be able to connect members to Children’s Savings Accounts
- Kickstarting Savings: We were inspired by CFPB and Earn.org’s exploration of saving account structures that incentivize deposits in the initial opening months. What if we explored adding in savings account structures that encourage initial deposits towards a ‘starter’ or monthly goal. Habits of savings could be kickstarted by a goal CEF members can reach in a short amount of time (1-3 months).
Models for Collaboration that improve the financial well-being of lower-resource households:
Financial Empowerment through Municipalities
- Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund — emphasizes that financial empowerment services should be provided as a public service by municipalities. Financial counselors one-on-one supports available writ-large, and the city contracts with nonprofit organizations to implement the program. Evaluation results coming shortly, but all signs point to fantastic outcomes!
- Credit Building through Rent Reporting:
- AHC, Inc. of Greater Baltimore has integrated financial coaching, incentivized savings, incentivized automatic bill-pay, and rent reporting for their tenants
- Partner with Public Utility companies to offer credit and cash-flow coaching!
- In the LIFT-UP Model utility companies worked closely with financial empowerment centers to refer customers who were behind on their water bill specifically in order to avoid late fees, reconnect fees, or other fees. Evaluation showed a reduction in overall debt and an increase in on-time payments from participants.
CEF’s Maggie West presented on a panel for “From Crisis to Financial Stability” at the conference!
Financial apps are “in,” and CEF has some cool tools to add to the mix!
- Lots of apps (#fintech) are being rolled out to make financial coaching and saving more accessible to providers and consumers alike. In the context of the larger, nationally scaled world of apps, CEF’s ability to create technological solutions that are hyper-relevant to our local community (like OCconnect.info) is rare and valuable.
Invaluable research and analysis about :
- According to a Federal Reserve Survey, about 46 percent of Americans said they did not have enough money to cover a $400 emergency expense. Our Safe Savings Accounts and Renter’s Savings Accounts have even more relevance than we could have guessed! Almost half of households in the country could benefit from this targeted and structured opportunity to save towards both short-term and longer-term goals.
- 60% of US households receive their income not on a monthly schedule (e.g. weekly or bi-weekly) while 60% of household expenses are billed on a monthly basis. This fundamental mismatch exacerbates household financial insecurity. This mismatch leads to opportunity in our financial coaching in terms of how we support members in cash-flow budgeting. For example, if members receive their income bi-monthly, bi-monthly payments of bills might make more sense for their cash flow.
- The Ever-Growing Gap details the need for transformative policy change in order to truly end the racial wealth divide, showing that if we continue at similar rates to date, “Black families would not reach wealth parity with White households until the year 2241.” 228 years! Read the report to learn more about CFED’s policy recommendations.
So many ideas, sessions, and conversations inspired us to deeper reflection and thoughtful action…. far too many to name here! Moreover, the opportunity to connect with groups from all over the country who share our commitment to improving financial well-being through creative and responsive strategies was reinvigorating and exciting!
New Staff Welcome: Diiv Sternman
Diiv Sternman joined Chapel Hill team as Member Services Coordinator in May of 2016. And we are so happy to have them!
What made you interested in CEF?
I was at a point in my career where I had done direct service for 12 years—and it does take its toll. I was reaching a point where I thought I needed to find a way of still doing this work while putting to use all of the things I’ve learned—all of the wisdom that clients and co-workers have shared with me over the years—and find how to put that to good use in the community.
So, I noticed CEF—it was on the list—but there weren’t jobs open. I was watching you all and referred a couple of people from the shelter that I was working at. When I read the job description, I thought, “This is not only an organization that I really believe in, but it’s a way of doing the work that fits what I need.” I feel like I have a lot I can share with student volunteer and a lot of experience with the populations that we’re serving. I now also have a chance to get back to big picture—having a vision and being able to impact structural changes. Continue Reading →
OC HUB: Premium Offices Available!
CEF is offering community nonprofits, premium downtown offices!
Join The
Starting at $350/month — 5 Offices Available!
Discounted rates when leasing multiple offices!
- Includes:
- Utilities, high-speed Wi-Fi and janitorial services
- Furnished offices available at no extra cost
- Shared conference room
- Non-Profit Partners!
- Opportunities for program collaboration
- Shared resources and collective impact
- Where: Ground floor of 208 N. Columbia Street, Chapel Hill
- Contact: maggiew@communityef.org | 919-200-0233
- More about the OC Hub at: www.communityef.org/oc-hub
Member Story: Richard
Richard is a devoted father with a calm, steady spirit. Talking about his son, you can hear the pride welling up with every sentence. He describes his son’s leadership in the school band, musical talents, amazing adaptability to all kinds of situations, and just how much of a people person he is – as well as their mutual love of the outdoors.
Richard began staying home with his son after a back surgery five years ago, saying “With my back problems and the surgery I had 5 years ago, that turned out to be the best job for me. My now ex-wife, she brought home the money, she had a good career in IT, so it allowed me to be with my son, which was wonderful, except that I needed an income as well being on my own now.” At the time of his surgery, Richard and his family were living in Colorado. When they returned to NC and after he and his wife divorced, Richard started working towards being able to re-enter the workforce after several years focused on time at home with his son.
He heard about CEF from a friend, and first attended one of our community cookouts. From there, Richard joined our weekly Saturday morning Opportunity Class led by Mike Wood. “For a lot of the folks in the class, it was great getting together once a week and being in touch with each other. You know how each other is sort of doing, and talk about jobs, talk about what kind of success everyone has had with interviews, all kinds of housing opportunities.”
Since graduating from the class, Richard shares, “My whole world has changed now. I spend 60 hours a week and sometimes 70 hours a week working, with one day off and 12-hour days. I just remember [Opportunity Class] kind of getting me up out of the rut.”
Richard landed a job in his field, as a Service Representative for a car dealership! To get ready, Richard worked with Mike and several volunteers. His Advocate, Claire, helped him to update his resume and polish it for specific opportunities. He started meeting regularly with Dick, a volunteer who helps CEF members prepare for job interviews. “Dick counseled with me for about an hour at a time working on my resume and interviewing, and either he mentioned or I mentioned, saying I’d like to have an opportunity to maybe do some volunteer work.” Dick connected Richard with CEF’s volunteer coordinator, who set Richard up to start volunteering at our front desk.
Funny enough, Richard says that it was the experience of volunteering at our front desk that made him feel ready to go back to work. It was a big adjustment at first with a lot to learn. “Going from being that at-home dad to volunteering at CEF was the bigger step because I didn’t have any background in that, I felt good about being able to do it. Once I had done that for those 3 weeks, it felt like only a small step up to go start my job.” Comparing his time at CEF to his full-time job, he shares, “I was answering the phone, talking with people that needed our help, scheduling them in the system, and then having them then come in and meeting with the advocate. It’s not so different from what I’m doing now… It was easy to transition from CEF working the front desk to service advisor.”
Looking back on his whole experience and when he describes CEF to others, the best part to him is that “It’s a community that people can feel a sense of security with at CEF. People they can trust, people they recognize.” We have been lucky to have Richard as a part of the CEF community, as a member in Opportunity Classes, as a volunteer, and now as an Alumni Member. Congratulations, Richard!
CEF Advocacy Choir’s 1st Performance!
On Sept 15th, at the Justice United Public Assembly at St. Thomas Moore, Yvette Mathews led a choir of 22 Members and Advocates in song, singing soulfully for the cause of affordable housing in Orange County and in support of the 5 million dollar bond that is being voted on in Nov. We hope this is the first of many performances at public meetings and before faith congregations to come in the future! housingorange.org #makeroomorange
CEF’s 1-on-1 Financial Coaching
The “Understand Your Credit History” FC Session — Most 1-on-1 sessions start with goal-setting/familiarization input boxes.
By Andrew Franklin:
I’ve heard it said that the exchange of knowledge is among the most intimate of human interactions. In my time at CEF, I’ve seen this exchange happen over and over again. Members share wisdom and experience with Advocates. Advocates share CEF’s resources and body of knowledge with Members as they walk together to achieve Members’ goals. This relationship-based model of learning and sharing is at the core of CEF’s mission and identity.
It was clear, when we recognized the need for a more intentional delivery of existing resources and knowledge through a Financial Coaching program, that we should start with a 1-on-1 approach.
We rolled out the first phase of our 1-on-1 program in January: sessions designed to be interactive and to optimize Member choice. Each session takes about an hour and involves learning financial capability skills and putting them into practice in order to write resumes and cover letters, pull credit reports and dispute errors, and build budgets and savings plans.There is a menu of 18 sessions in the first phase, which creates a great deal of flexibility and choice for Members. Additionally, we’ll be rolling out the second phase of Financial Coaching (FC) sessions this fall/winter, which will add a robust 25-30 sessions to the menu.
8 of the first phase of 18 Financial Coaching sessions!
We look forward to continuing to build and improve this program, and are excited to watch it grow in CEF’s soil. We will continue to listen to Members and Advocates to brainstorm new additions and fixes to old sessions. As always, this is a community effort. We look forward to the relationships that will be built as knowledge is exchanged through the 1-on-1 Financial Coaching program!
Members are encouraged to complete 8 FC session at a time. They can add as many or as few as are relevant to their goals. However, Members who would like to qualify for a Safe Savings Account 10% match must complete 8, 1-on-1 sessions or Community Coaching (aka. Opportunity Class), in addition to meeting their Savings Goal.
