Re: Lease Renewal — “Dear Nathaniel, It’s been a pleasure having you as a tenant and we would like to thank you for choosing to renew your lease.”
Author Archive | Jonathan Young
Saving Creates Change
2015 was a huge year for CEF’s matched savings program, assisting Members to save towards their personal goals of moving out of the shelter, building an emergency fund, purchasing personal transportation, and much, much more.
This year, after almost two years of research, design, Member feedback, coordination with experts in the field, and finally, some serious database programming, we published the new and improved CEF Safe Savings Account design. Safe Savings Accounts are goal-oriented accounts. Members have limited access to withdrawals of their savings until they reach their goals with CEF, and once they achieve their goal CEF matches their accomplishments at 10 percent!
We launched the program in 2010, and since then Members have saved over $500,000 towards their personal savings goals (amazing!). While many Members have made incredible progress towards
their goals, we set out to improve the overall number and portion of Members who achieve 100% of their goals. Moreover, we set out with a new objective to intentionally build opportunities for Members to create positive, long-term savings habits.
To bring these goals into reality, we partnered with locally based and nationally acclaimed expert on the topic — the Center for Advanced Hindsight at Duke University. The Center for Advanced Hindsight grounded their recommendations to CEF in behavioral economics research.
In partnership with the Center for Advanced Hindsight, we made significant improvements to the design of our program to better assist CEF Members in setting and achieving savings goals. By combining their technical assistance with in-depth feedback from current CEF Members, we made exciting changes to CEF Safe Savings Accounts, including:
- A personal budget-building system that helps Members create detailed, actionable savings plans
- Automated text message and email reminders for scheduled deposits
- An emphasis on setting iterative savings goals, each attainable within six months
- New incentives to encourage more frequent and consistent deposits
And all of these improvements were made in a beautifully redesigned online portal that is easy-to-use and streamlined — making the process of setting and attaining savings goals as painless as possible!
Based on the Center for Advanced Hindsight’s nationally recognized research, these changes will assist CEF Members in achieving the savings goals they set out to reach. For a preview of great things to come, check out the chart below to see the continuing increase in the number of active savings accounts managed by CEF and the total amount CEF Members saved in their accounts annually, which has doubled in just two years!
As we are always learning and charting new territory with our unique financial services, we are excited to continue our partnership with the Center for Advanced Hindsight in 2016 as they conduct a formal research trial. Stay tuned!
Annual Report 2015
Download here: 2015 Annual Report
We are overjoyed to share our 2015 Annual Report with you! Inside you’ll find amazing stories of Member success, exciting program updates, and a review of 2015 by the numbers. Thank you to all the Members, Advocates, partners, and supporters who continue to help build and sustain the CEF community!
CEF Member : Malcolm
Malcolm is the kind of person who when he decides to do something, he doesn’t do it halfway, but takes a courageous plunge and surpasses even his own hopes or expectations. To pursue his dreams as a musician, he left his position after eight years as a sanitation worker in Rocky Mount, cashing out his retirement to buy a van and a load of instruments and start traveling. Months later, he found himself touring all across the globe with different groups as an incredibly accomplished drummer — traveling to England, Australia, Amsterdam, Johannesburg, and Israel, to name a few. (Check out Malcolm’s awesome music! Listen to Majestic Lions on iTunes).
In 2013 Malcolm felt that he was in danger of relapsing after 12 years of sobriety, so he preemptively entered a six-month recovery program at Urban Ministries of Durham (UMD), where he joined CEF.
“Once in the program, I had lost my job and was homeless now. CEF came at the right time, just when I was worrying about how am I going to get a job online, who am I going to go to?” Malcolm connected with CEF during our office hours at UMD.
“And you know, I didn’t know how to use a computer at all, and within six months after being with CEF, I actually got a job in environmental services at Merck, and at Merck you can’t use pencil, pen and paper — everything is through computers. ”
That was two years ago, and Malcolm has now moved from temporary employment to a permanent position in a different eld. “I love that job… Without CEF I would have never been able to fill out the application, would not have made it. I keep pinching myself, say man, I’m doing alright, I’m loving it, life is good, trying to do the right things for the right reasons, and good things are really happening.”
“And over the years, I never stopped dealing with CEF after that. I knew I had found a good outlet, I knew I had found a good thing — somebody, someplace, people that care about you, they care to help you in so many ways.
“It’s hard for me to even explain — where can you and people who actually take the time out to help you put your life together? You know, this is my health program, this is my finance program, this is just amazing man.”
And Malcolm isn’t done with CEF yet! Malcolm has been a star saver in CEF’s saving program. “I saved for the laptop, I saved to get stuff to move [into my apartment], and now I’m saving for vacation.” Whether to take a trip home to the Virgin Islands or to go to a family reunion in Indianapolis, “either way, I’m going to make that goal, I’m going to reach it.” We are sure of it, because as we know from experience, when Malcolm sets his mind to it, he totally succeeds!
Follow Maggie to our New Chapel Hill Office!
We’re excited about this move for a couple of reasons:
1. Twice the Size! It’s way bigger than our current space, almost double the size. This allows us to co-locate and share the space with partner organizations. We are currently looking for organizations interested in sharing this great location.
2. Five-Year Lease! This will also be, at last, a longer term home for the CEF family in Chapel Hill. We’ve signed a five-year lease and are very much looking forward to settling into this space.
How You Can Help:
1. Volunteer Your Time!
If you’re able to help us pack or move boxes, we need help!
Click to Here to Sign-up
2. Donate!
With this big move, we need your support now more than ever, and we still need to raise at least $1,000 to reach our all-or-nothing challenge grant! Donate before May 31st and your gift is doubled by the Stewards Fund!
Click to Donate
[Learn more about our Stewards Fund and Double Your Donation!]
Member Story: Pee-Wee
Wow. It is hard to describe how much this one little sentence means. For Nathaniel, or “Pee-Wee” as he has been known by friends and family since birth, this letter from his landlord represents the rst time throughout over a decade of homelessness that he has called a place home for a whole year — much less two!
Pee-Wee is 72 years old, has lived in Chapel Hill his whole life, and was a skilled brick mason for decades — building dozens of the buildings we see to this day. After su ering a stroke in 1995, he lost his ability to walk and speak temporarily, and his acute motor control — leaving him unable to practice his trade. Through rehabilitation he regained the strength to walk and the ability to speak, but the loss of acute control was permanent and he retired due to this disability. After losing steady income, he could not a ord a home in Orange County and was homeless on and o for over a decade — sleeping in the woods for much of this period, and staying at the shelter for the nal two years.
He worked diligently with CEF while in the shelter to save his retirement income, and was able to build up a nest egg of $3,000 towards his move. Because of this preparation, when he and his Advocate nally
— after months of searching — found an a ordable studio apartment posted online, he was able to jump on the opportunity. He paid the security deposit and signed the lease the exact same day, bought furni- ture, and was all moved in by the end of the week!
Since his move-in, Pee-Wee has continued to budget and save with CEF, using his CEF savings
account to make sure he always sets aside enough of his xed income for rent and utilities. “I’ll put it like this: My feet was in the dirt. Now my feet is not in the dirt. I’m on my way up, and the good Lord willing I’m going to keep going up. My sister I hadn’t seen in about 3 or 4 years, she said, ‘I’m so proud of you! You doing good, you doing good.’”
His two sisters, from whom he was previously estranged, surprised him on his birthday this year and rented a great big room at Golden Corral, with 25 members of his family and friends. “And next thing I knew, all these people I knew… I was eating steak and a piece of chicken. I had to put it down, because I was so much in joy, I hadn’t been with them in years. I didn’t want to cry in front of all of them, but I got tears in my eyes.”
“You know what they used to call me? The mayor of Franklin Street.” To this day, judges, business owners, and all kinds of folks greet Pee-Wee every day, whether he’s having co ee at Sutton’s or sweeping up outside one of the businesses. They are greeted in turn with his ready full-toothed smile and snarky sense of humor. Looking around his apartment, you can see this community of support represented in every beloved object, as he calls by name each person who was so excited to see him in housing. The co ee-pot given by a lawyer, the throw rug given collectively by the police department, the microwave given by a UNC employee… this is a true home.
We are proud of Pee-Wee, too, and proud to have this honorary Mayor’s stamp of approval:
“If you want help, go to CEF. If you need anything go to CEF.”
“I’ll put it like this: My feet was in the dirt. Now my feet is not in the dirt. I’m on my way up, and the good Lord willing I’m going to keep going up. My sister I hadn’t seen in about three or four years, she said, ‘I’m so proud of you! You doing good, you doing good!’”
#26 – Unlocking Doors & Singing for Affordable Housing
Member Story: Sue and Howell
Spend as little as five minutes with Sue and her son Howell Brown III and be prepared to fall immediately and deeply in love. Little Howell, with a thick Appalachian accent and black cowboy hat covering his head, talks in that lively way that only a 12-year old boy can about the RC cars that he races at Northgate Mall and his service dog Bo. He is the epitome of exuberance. He is one of those rare people you feel blessed to meet, who breathes in the same air as the rest of us, but then manages to breathe out pure joy.
Sue and Little Howell came to Durham when Howell was diagnosed with a brain tumor. They left everything behind at their home in Asheville, and were sleeping in hospital waiting rooms at first. Howell shares, “When I got diagnosed, we had to leave right away – no messing around.” After relocating to Durham, Howell and Sue were very fortunately connected with the Ronald McDonald House to live while Howell received his first year of chemotherapy and treatment.
During this time of upheaval and crisis, Sue ran into financial troubles. Howell’s oncologist encouraged Sue to “put everything on hold” while taking care of Howell through his treatment, meaning that Sue has been unable to work consistently. To help with bills, she took out a payday loan, not knowing the neverending debt trap the loan would lead to. Since then, Sue has received numerous threatening collections calls – and paid back her loans with exorbitant interest – all the while navigating the complicated health system and making sure Howell was receiving all the care that he needed.
Sue has been an amazing advocate for her son throughout his treatment – seeking out resources within the hospital and within the community that could support her son’s well-being as well as their future as a family. She learned about CEF when attending a resource panel offered by another local organization, and jumped at the opportunity to work with CEF to get her finances back in order.
Sue and Howell truly joined CEF as a family. Sue and Howell worked with their advocates to strive through their financial crisis as Sue focused on her son’s healing and treatment. Of CEF, Sue shares, “They’re helping me find hope by getting my financial security back… Before, we were struggling so much, and now I feel like I am breathing again.”
With CEF, Sue has opened a new account at Self-Help Credit Union, allowing her a fresh start with banking, and she is also working towards a personal savings goal through CEF’s Safe Savings Account. She has also connected to many local resources, filed back taxes, and better understood her credit situation. Her Advocates also help to investigate when she suspects she is receiving phone calls and emails that are financial scams. With her tireless CEF Advocates, “I can reach my goals,” says Sue.
And Sue has made this progress and tackled these issues concurrently and alongside traveling back and forth to Florida for special treatments for Little Howell, countless appointments at Duke Hospital, and dealing with news that is sometimes good and sometimes not what they hoped to hear. What’s more, going above and beyond super-mom status, she has found ways to give Little Howell the opportunity to be the exuberant, joyous, full-of-life child that he is, approaching a glimmer of normalcy, by doing everything from racing RC cars to attending Duke football games through the Ronald McDonald House.
Sue and Little Howell have been a joy to work with in CEF, and we are delighted to share a little bit about their journey here. As they reflect on their time with CEF, Little Howell shares, “I just hope we can do something for them some day, they’ve really helped us out a lot.” We hope he knows that they already have.
Education + Housing
“The risk of having all the funding support education but not support housing means that you are going to be cutting certain children off from access to that education, and those are the children that are already facing greater challenges. Those are the children that need it most; those are the children that are already at risk for not developing the education they need to live a full and healthy life when they grow up.”
Jennifer De La Rosa
#24 — Imagining our Future
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