This Issue:
- Stories on Citizenship
- New Fellowship Dedicated to Housing & Advocacy
- Singing for Change – the CEF Advocacy Choir
- Convening Conversations — Mayor’s Landlord Roundtable
#39 — 4 Ways We’re Changing the Housing Conversation
Archive | General
Meet Liz and Leah: CEF Housing Justice Fellows
It’s been just over a month since Liz and Leah, CEF Housing Justice Fellows for 2018, started on-boarding at CEF and shaping vision into action! They’ve jumped in and are meeting with members from all over the community to carefully discern the best steps forward for their work. They were generous enough to share some reflections for their work this year in a Q&A!
Liz Brown, 2018 Durham Fellow
Leah Whitehead, 2018 Chapel Hill Fellow
What led you to this work?
I began working with CEF my freshmen year in an attempt to engage more intentionally with the Durham community, landing on CEF because of their relationship and systems-based approach towards anti-poverty work. I’ve never looked back! I was brought to the Housing Justice Fellowship role through various conversations with the Durham staff team regarding the enormous potential for change wrought by an organized Member base. The opportunity to deepen my relationship with CEF, grow in my organizing capabilities, and continue to do ‘the work’ is truly a dream come true.
I was first drawn to CEF because of their emphasis on relationships. CEF doesn’t generalize or oversimplify about how to show up for someone. CEF creates an opportunity for people to get to know each other and say, “hey, I see you, I hear you, and I got you.” This philosophy really resonated with me and I was drawn to this role because it felt like an opportunity to be a conduit for collaboration across sectors that could spread that same spirit of support. I mean, imagine a community where the primary message we are sending each other is “hey, I see you, I hear you, and I got you.” That’s what keeps me going when the coffee wears off!
How would you describe the work you will do in the CEF community through your role?
I’m working to support community, foster inclusion, and build power among and within the CEF Durham Member-base. In my role, I will act as a community organizer, convener, and advocate for the greater incorporation of CEF Member voices and experiences in CEF, Durham, and the systems that bind us. My goal can be summed up rather simply: create more Member-driven structures at CEF.
I’m piloting a Housing Locator position that will serve all of Orange County. We know that private landlords are key partners in housing justice; my job is to engage those landlords to understand the barriers they face in keeping units affordable and serving tenants who are regularly excluded from housing opportunities. Ultimately I will be a bridge between private, public and non-profit partners to come up with creative solutions that ensure affordable housing opportunities are accessible to those who need them and sustainable for the landlords and property managers who steward them.
What strengths, skills, and experience do you bring with you?
I bring with me 4 years of CEF experience! During my time as an undergraduate Advocate with CEF, I served as the Communications Coordinator and Advocate Engagement Co-Coordinator, working to incorporate Member stories into our internal communications and organize the Duke student body around economic justice and affordable housing. I also bring with me experience organizing with Durham CAN and the National Coalition for the Homeless in Washington, DC. I am a people person in the truest sense of the phrase, and I am ecstatic to bring my love of stories, the people that hold them, and the power they possess to the CEF team.
I’ve worn many hats at CEF since 2015, from Member Advocate Coordinator to Training Team member to Advocacy Choir participant! My degree in public policy gives me a socio-political and racial-equity lense to housing justice and a background in economics, both of which informed the last three years of direct experience liaising with landlords and working with Members on housing. Those experiences have been steeped in the importance of relationship-based support and driven by the greatest strength I could bring to this work, a wholehearted, deep-in-my-bones, core-of-my-soul kind of commitment to finding creative and collaborative ways to make this community a home for all people.
Where do you expect to find energy and renewal?
I expect to find my daily energy through the Durham staff team: Donna, JV, Jess, and Janet. I expect to seek inspiration from CEF Members fighting the fight day in and day out at both the individual and structural levels. I expect to find renewal in our victories, whether they come in the form of increased affordable housing stock or the precious moments when a Member stands up to power and is heard at last!
I expect to absorb energy and renewal from the resilience of each and every person who walks through CEF’s doors and from the interwoven community of folks who stand up for every person’s right to safe and affordable housing. But also the other day I literally “whoopee-ed!” because a landlord responded to my email, so it’s the small things too!
Where do you expect to find challenges and how do you hope to find the best way forward?
There is no hiding that this work can be challenging and emotionally taxing. I know there will be days when I am tired and beaten down, wanting to give up after a poorly-attended action or a run in with a persistent and seemingly immovable instance of injustice. These moments, I am sure, will not be uncommon, nor will they grow less painful to endure. The CEF ethos, however, in its dynamic understanding of trauma-informed care, healing centered engagement, and self-care offers a unique way forward. The guiding and life-giving question becomes not “What’s wrong?” but rather “What can be better?” With this framework at our backs, we move forward.
It is no doubt that the housing landscape in Orange County is challenging at best. I’m under no illusion that I will find the magic key to the affordable units that address the massive and growing needs of our neighbors and I’m aware of the unique challenges that come with working cross-sector in a system of scarce resources. I hope to find a way forward by seeking input from community partners to understand their needs and concerns, staying relationship-centered, and finding the areas where we can support each other in building a thriving community that serves all of our neighbors.
Anything else you’d like us to know?
I love CEF!!!! I’m so pumped for this year and all of its many challenges, hopes, dreams, moments of immense failure, moments of bitter success, laughs, stories, cries, shared meals, shared rides, actions, reactions, conversations, fights, and victories. I am so grateful for the Housing Justice Fellowship and hope it continues well beyond this year of exploration, growth, and hopeful progress. I’d love to hear from you at lizb@communityef.org!
I’m so grateful for this opportunity and to be a part of this important work! Not sure how or why you might have a stake in creating affordable housing opportunities in Orange County? Please reach out to me (leahw@communityef.org) ! This is a community-wide challenge and requires a community-wide solution! We got this!!
Mayor’s Landlord Roundtable 2018
“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:
Financial Independence Day 2018
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!
Featured in “Make a Difference” Magazine
CEF is featured in the Spring 2018 edition of the Triangle Community Foundation’s “Make a Difference” Magazine!
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.”
Maggie-We-Love-You Party
“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!
2018 Co-Director Search Profile
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.
Know someone who might love to do this job and work with CEF?
Send them a link to: communityef.org/codirector-search
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
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.
Introducing the CEF Housing Justice Fellowship!
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?
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.
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.
CEF Art Show 2018 – Bagpipes Quilting and More
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.
A Member’s Gift
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!
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.”
