Archive | General

Mayor’s Landlord Roundtable 2018

By on 8/1/18 in CEF Advocacy, Durham, General, Highlight, Housing, Program Story

“Nothing we’re doing in Durham right now is more important than this.”
– Steve Schewel, Mayor of City of Durham, NC Government

These were the closing words at the third annual Mayor’s Landlord Roundtable, which took place on Monday at Trinity Avenue Presbyterian Church. The Roundtable is an annual event dedicated to engaging private housing providers towards the goal of ending homelessness by creating access to affordable housing. Over 115 property owners and managers, tenants, community organizations, and housing advocates came together to share experiences, brainstorm solutions, and explore the opportunities and complexities of Durham’s private rental market.

We are so grateful and thankful for the host of collaborators who volunteered their time at the 2018 Mayor’s Landlord Roundtable! A special shoutout to the 13 table facilitators, Alliance Behavioral Healthcare for providing refreshments, childcare and photography volunteers, hands-on support from Housing for New Hope staff, and Trinity Ave Presbyterian Church for hosting the event. A huge shoutout to all of our speakers who opened up the conversation, including Mayor Steve Schewel, Anthony Scott and Denita Johnson ( Durham Housing Authority ), Terry Allebaugh ( North Carolina Coalition to End Homelessness), Ryan Fehrman ( Families Moving Forward). Big ups also to Megan Noor and Gino Nuzzolillo for their phenomenal event coordination!

The Roundtable took place as part of the Unlocking Doors Initiative, a community collaborative coordinated by CEF. To learn more about this Initiative:

Check out Unlockingdoorsdurham.org
0

Financial Independence Day 2018

By on 6/24/18 in Chapel Hill, Durham, Events, General, Highlight
RSVP Here

Celebrate Community and Financial Independence

You are invited to CEF’s annual Financial Independence Day, Saturday, July 7th from 5:00pm to 7:00pm at Umstead Park in Chapel Hill! It’s a community cookout with fun activities to acknowledge and celebrate the fight for freedom from financial burden. We’d love for you to come and be a part of the:

  • Community Cookout: Chilli, Pasta Salad, Hot-dogs, Veggie Dogs!
  • Raffle with Prizes
  • Beautiful Crafts
  • A Showcase of talent! (poetry, song, dance, or anything else)
  • Expressing what financial independence means to you!

RSVP here: https://goo.gl/forms/oyBKbBNBXSJbXizI2

Photographs from Last Year’s Party!

2

Featured in “Make a Difference” Magazine

By on 6/13/18 in General, Highlight, In the News, Member Advocate Story, Story

CEF is featured in the Spring 2018 edition of the Triangle Community Foundation’s “Make a Difference” Magazine!

Read the Full Story

Started as an undergraduate organization at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), CEF very quickly grew into an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit to meet increased demands. [CEF has] built numerous community relationships, engaging in broad-based partnerships due to the cross-sectoral nature of the work. What makes CEF unique is their relationship-based support in delivering financial services that achieve equity.

In order to sustain transitions out of homelessness, CEF combines financial services and holistic, one-on-one coaching. Advocates at CEF do not just sit down and explain how to read a credit report. Instead, advocates and volunteers collaborate with the same people for years, working together to see the long-range progression from severe and acute instability to financial stability. The relationship-based nature of the work is evident in the community credibility CEF has built. “Almost 50% of our new members hear about CEF from word of mouth. The work we do is so intimate, it’s really helpful to have that immediate credibility.”

0

Maggie-We-Love-You Party

By on 6/5/18 in Advocate Story, Events, General, Highlight

“I just want you to hold on for a minute and live in the fullness of what it is to be a part of community—an endless and abundant family, with unbounded opportunities for connection. And to feel the way that each of our hearts is so connected, and that each of us is just so ready, to be loved and to love. That feeling is what I take away from my time at CEF and it’s the greatest gift of my life.”

— Maggie West, CEF Co-Founder & Co-Director 2009-2018

It was hard to find a dry eye at the “Maggie-We-Love-You” Party! On Saturday, June 2nd, CEFers gathered to celebrate almost 10 years of deep dedication and vision that Maggie has shared with the CEF community as Co-Founder and Co-Director.

The day was filled with so many mystical moments, imbued with meaning and drenched in love. Here are just some of our favorites:

  • A Community Yard Swap organized by Maggie’s family! Many of us brought treasures to share, and walked away with a bag or basket full of treasures that was new to us.  🎁
  • We co-created community art projects to chronicle beautiful time shared together—one a gift for Maggie, and one for display in our Chapel Hill office. We also put together a scrapbook with notes of appreciation and blessing for Maggie.  🎨
  • The Advocacy Choir sang one of Maggie’s favorites (Lift Every Voice and Sing), and wrote a special new song (based upon Boyz II Men’s “End of the Road”) to share our special blessing with Maggie!  🎶
  • The helpers of an anonymous Elf delivered to Maggie a gift from 30+ friends, family, and co-workers: a plane ticket to Peru! There, we hope that Maggie can get some well-deserved R&R, share time with her community there, and continue discerning the next steps in her journey!  ✈
  • We shared good food, including all kinds of offerings brought by guests, as well as some CEF party staples (like Maggie’s coleslaw recipe)!  🌭
  • In honor of the creative savings initiatives that Maggie has ideated at CEF, a real-life pig named Sugar made a celebrity appearance! 🐷
  • Maggie invited us to join hands, to be present with the fullness of CEF as a community. (See the video above!) 🧀❤

There is no greater way we can say thank you to Maggie for all that she has done at CEF, other than to lean into her invitation to “live in the fullness [of] what it is to be a part of community—an endless and abundant family, with unbounded opportunities for connection.” Thank you and we love you, Maggie! 

 

Special thanks to the Jackson Center, Bread & Butter, and to the countless people that showed and contributed to make this celebration so unforgettably special!

0

2018 Co-Director Search Profile

By on 5/31/18 in General, Highlight, In the News

CEF is hiring for a new Co-Director to join our team, working alongside Co-Directors Janet Xiao and Jon Young as Maggie West steps down from her position on the team. Learn more about this leadership transition process at CEF here.

2018 Co-Director Search Profile

Co-Director Position Responsibilities

Note from the Hiring Committee: As we continue to work to refine CEF’s leadership structure, we have updated this position description to clarify roles and responsibilities, and to offer a more competitive range of compensation. 

This position’s primary responsibilities are to steward CEF’s resource development and support the Chapel Hill team. The position is one of three Co-Directors who work both cooperatively and independently to steward the organization as a whole, and in the Chapel Hill and Durham offices. Each of the Co-Directors leads specific areas of work, and as a team are responsible for fundraising, financial management, organizational development, internal operations, and communications for the organization. Additionally, the Co-Directors serve as connectors with the broader community. Read more about our Co-Director leadership model and organizational structure here.

Lead development and fundraising activities with a relational approach

  • Steward strong relationships with funders, donors, governmental partners, and other allies (see CEF’s 2017 revenues/expenses breakdowns).
  • Create and lead achievement of annual and multi-year development plans in close collaboration with Co-Directors.
  • Draft and submit grant applications, letters of inquiry, proposals, and reports in coordination with Co-Directors and staff.
  • Coordinate team efforts towards and engage actively in individual donor development, including ongoing communication and gift acknowledgments.
  • Identify and cultivate new funder prospects and maintain CEF’s donor database.
  • Manage CEF staff, volunteers, and board members engaged in development, including supervision of part-time development contractor.

Steward CEF’s operations, programs & community in Orange County

  • Coach, supervise, and support the staff team in CEF’s Chapel Hill office.
  • Develop and maintain impactful and collaborative working relationships with partners and stakeholders.
  • Hold long-term vision for the Chapel Hill office’s programs and growth in the context of emergent local needs and opportunities.
  • Work regularly with Members as an Advocate (expected of all CEF staff).
  • Actively lead community-driven advocacy for local systems change.

Facilitate creative organizational vision & growth strategy

  • Guide annual budget development and support ongoing financial management needs of the organization.
  • Support program design to improve CEF’s outcomes, impact, and methodologies.
  • Support staff development and hiring processes.
  • Support the activities and ongoing development of the Board of Directors.

Position Qualifications

  • Previous experience in non-profit leadership, including demonstrated success in fundraising and managing budgets of a similar size
  • Demonstrated commitment to racial equity, social justice, and trauma-informed care
  • Experience with or commitment to a team-based organizational culture and shared leadership practices
  • Exceptional organizational abilities and attention to detail, with attentive follow-through on simultaneous projects

An ideal candidate will have:

  • A commitment to shared leadership, embodying CEF’s values and guiding principles.
  • Affirming, empowering, and listening-based leadership style, with a strong sense of self-direction and accountability to the community
  • Compelling, authentic, and clear verbal and written communication
  • Experience and comfort working with people across abilities and neurological differences, and from diverse racial, socioeconomic, educational, cultural, religious, gender, and ethnic backgrounds and identities
  • Facility with technology, including a willingness to learn new technologies

Salary and Benefits

Compensation is commensurate with experience and education, with a starting annual range of $40,000-$47,000, and an additional $3,330 annually as a health care stipend that allows staff to choose their own insurance plan. A detailed description of Employee Benefits can be viewed here.

To Apply

CEF is an equal opportunity employer, and strongly encourages applications from people of color, persons with disabilities, women, and LGBTQ applicants.

Please send a resume and cover letter to hiring@communityef.org to apply. Your cover letter should be 1-2 pages and speak to your interest in working with CEF, and your experience and skills in community-based leadership and fundraising. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, and the position is open until filled. Please contact hiring@communityef.org with any questions. 

Email: hiring@communityef.org

Know someone who might love to do this job and work with CEF?
Send them a link to: communityef.org/codirector-search

Email this to a friend!

About Community Empowerment Fund

CEF works with people experiencing homelessness or financial insecurity in Durham and Orange Counties to gain employment, secure housing, and build financial well-being. CEF trains volunteer “Advocates,” many of whom are undergraduate students, to work one-on-one with “Members” with a holistic approach that meets people where they are. We are passionate about sustaining transitions out of homelessness, and combine flexible relationship-based support with innovative matched savings accounts to help Members achieve long-term dreams. Since launching our savings program in 2010, Members have saved over $900,000 to secure stable housing, build emergency funds, purchase vehicles, and even buy their own homes. Our unique, evidence-based model has gained national attention.

CEF is committed to a team-based organizational structure, in which responsibilities and decision-making are shared among staff. We are a growing organization, with 13 staff, 244 volunteer Advocates, and over 1,000 Members. CEF’s FY2018 operating budget is approximately $500,000, with highly diversified financial resources, and a relationship-based fundraising model consistent with our organizational mission. Learn more at www.communityef.org

Learn About CEF's Guiding Principles

These guiding principles were collectively discerned by a group of members, advocates, staff and board members in the Spring of 2015. They are a statement of our values as an organization and serve as a compass to guide us in our work.

CEF’S Guiding Principles

People-Centered Relationships: We appreciate and value our differences and are committed to working through relationships built on mutual respect and trust. In doing so, we foster a non-judgmental, welcoming and safe environment focused on relationships that empower individuals.

Active Reflection and Co-Learning: We cultivate an environment where advocates, members, and staff learn from each other. We create organizational space to critically reflect on our work.

Participatory Ownership: We — members, advocates, staff, and board — share ownership of CEF and achieve our organization’s goals through collaborative decision-making.

Financial Independence: We work together towards sustainable financial security for our community.

Community in Power: We contextualize our efforts within systems of power and through member and advocate experiences. We are committed to social justice and pursue local community-level change.

Welcoming Connectors: We are committed to cultivating an open network of people and organizations to holistically serve members’ goals.

Quality and Accountability: CEF strives to be an interconnected and transparent organization that gives and receives feedback for mutual accountability, to ensure quality in all that it does.

0

Introducing the CEF Housing Justice Fellowship!

By on 5/8/18 in CEF Advocacy, General, Highlight, Housing, Program Story

We are launching a new one-year fellowship program focused on local housing access and advocacy! Beginning in July 2018, two Housing Justice Fellows (each with four years of Advocate and volunteer leadership experience at CEF) will begin working in our offices to launch new initiatives that directly meet the felt needs and opportunities in our Durham and Orange County communities.

What is the vision for each Housing Justice Fellow?

Liz Brown, 2018 Durham Fellow

In Durham

to develop CEF Members’ capabilities to lead in local affordable housing and anti-poverty advocacy

  • Supporting Member engagement in policy-making and advocacy to build political power in decision-making
  • Deepening relationships with local advocacy partners
  • Developing creative pathways for Member ownership and leadership within CEF
  • Cultivating leadership within CEF to sustain this work for coming years

This fellowship will drive participation of Members in local policy and systems leadership, whose personal stories and wisdom have a transformative impact on policy-making and political dialogue.

Leah Whitehead, 2018 Chapel Hill Fellow

In Chapel Hill

to develop and pilot an initiative with partners to collaboratively increase housing opportunities

  • Recruiting and growing relationships with landlord partners
  • Working together with Members, Advocates, and collaborative programs to successfully secure stable housing for Members
  • Engaging in housing advocacy & Member organizing initiatives in Orange County
  • Crafting infrastructure and securing support to sustain this work for coming years

This fellowship will act as a force multiplier, collaborating with staff from 5+ housing programs across Orange County to jointly support sustained landlord relationships and successfully house program participants.

Who are the inaugural Housing Justice Fellows?

The two Fellowship positions have been crafted both with the felt needs of our two communities at heart, and the distinct gifts of two of our graduating Advocates in mind. Liz Brown and Leah Whitehead both have four years of experience as volunteer leaders with CEF, and will be able to hit the ground running on these catalytic initiatives.

Why Housing Justice?

Housing is one of the most complex pieces of the puzzle in the array of services that CEF helps Members to navigate. Rental housing costs have risen dramatically in Orange and Durham Counties over recent years, causing large-scale displacement of lower-income households and increased challenges in housing placement for individuals transitioning out of homelessness. In Orange County, 90% of renter households who earn less than $35,000 are cost-burdened, ie. spending an unaffordable proportion (more than 30%) of their income on housing. In Durham, for every 100 extremely low-income renter households, only 38 rental units are affordable to them. We know that systemic change is necessary and that we must take a long-view approach to opening up opportunities for CEF Members.

CEF has been an active leader in local systems advocacy and service coordination to address the mounting housing crisis, including everything from pursuing cultural organizing through our locally-famous Advocacy Choir, to anchoring a public-private city-wide initiative to increase housing opportunities for voucher-holders. CEF is strategically situated to effect community-level change alongside our direct efforts for change with individual Members. We have collaboratively built momentum and partnerships in affordable housing advocacy over recent years, and have an opportunity to lean into deeper, impactful responses to community needs through the work of these two Fellows.

0

CEF Art Show 2018 – Bagpipes Quilting and More

By on 4/24/18 in Chapel Hill, Events, General, Highlight

Last weekend the Community Empowerment Fund hosted an art showcase that highlighted a variety of artistic talents from the CEF family! From unique sculptures to detailed watercolor paintings; songs from the CEF Advocacy choir to mesmerizing spoken word, there was something for everyone.

We started with a tour of MFA works at the Ackland Art Museum, led by Art&Life, with discussions “intended to explore the status quo and question why things are the way they are” before heading to the Campus Y for a truly special exhibition. Artists were able to showcase the creative extensions of themselves and to enrich the lives of those of us able to witness it.

It was a wonderful community-building event, and an extremely important chance to share a space and celebrate achievements. We can’t recreate the moments we shared on Saturday but we hope that these pictures shared on this post give you at least a little glimpse of the talent of our artists.

Thank you to everyone that came and to all the artists that shared their amazing work and talents.

0

A Member’s Gift

By on 4/16/18 in Events, General, Giving, Highlight, In the News, Member Story, Story

CEF Member, Steven Howser, is featured in the Daily Tar Heel for the gift he made to CEF during the 2017 CEF Piggy Bank Bash!

Read the Full Article
Donate to CEF

At a fundraiser for CEF last fall, Howser gave back to the organization in the form of a $500 dollar donation, the largest of the evening. He coordinated with several workers at CEF to print a big check to present to West as a surprise during the event to say thank you.

“All gifts to CEF matter, but gifts from members truly glow, they cause ripple effects throughout the organization, and seem to snowball and grow,” West said.

When Steven Howser first came to the Community Empowerment Fund (CEF) around four years ago, he was seeking work development assistance to help him qualify for a seven day bus pass at the shelter. After years of support and involvement with CEF, Howser has not only secured income and housing, but is also giving back.

“I wanted to give back to show people what a good organization they are, and the resources they have to help people in the community,” Howser said. “So the people in the community won’t be afraid to donate time and donations to them because they really help a lot of people.”

1

You’re Invited: CEF Durham Spring Party!

By on 4/3/18 in Events, General, Highlight

Who: All members of the CEF (extended) family — members, advocates, family, friends, supporters, fans, partners, and neighbors!

RSVP for Durham Party!

Thursday, April 12th from 5pm – 7:30pm
CEF Durham Office — 1206b w. Chapel Hil Street, Durham, NC 27701

We would love to see your beautiful faces and goofy smiles there. We’ll have music, a photo-booth, dancing and lots of food! Your support means a lot to all of our members – hope to see you soon!

1

Meet Krista: CEF Staff Interview

By on 3/2/18 in Advocate Story, General, Highlight, Staff Story, Story, Written By Advocates
Krista: CEF Durham's Neighborhood Engagement Specialist

What made you interested in working for CEF?

I really admire not only the heart that goes into all of CEF’s work, but also CEF’s dedication to constant self-improvement.  As an organization, CEF is always looking to do better and more conscientious work, and that’s something I really wanted to be a part of.

Why do you feel connecting with people is so important?

Connecting with people is what makes this work continue to feel worthwhile even when systems and structures feel like they’re defeating you.  It’s all too easy to feel hopeless after a while, but having solid relationships with members humanizes the daily and drives our work.

Tell us about yourself/background:  

I’m from South Carolina and came to Durham for college.  I studied French and International Studies in college and am enjoying living and working in Durham as a resident rather than a student.

What inspires you?

My coworkers! Working in the nonprofit sector has found me surrounded by dedicated, passionate, hardworking people who strive to make Durham a better and more accessible city.

What do you think will be your greatest challenge in this position?

Definitely balancing the number of different spheres my job occupies.  I have a bit of a jack-of-all trades job, so managing a variety of partnerships, often with very little overlap, is going to be an interesting logistical challenge.

What projects are you most excited about?

I’ve really enjoyed tackling the overhaul of how we present our laptop referral program.  It’s given me the ability to work through how we create our member goals and look at things through both the member and advocate perspective and to create something that will hopefully be with CEF for many years.

0
CEF: Community Empowerment Fund
Chapel Hill: 919-200-0233 Durham: 919-797-9233

cef