CEF is seeking an Advocate Program Coordinator! In this position, you will coordinate the activities of 60-80 volunteer Advocates and 4+ volunteer leadership teams for CEF’s Durham County programs and services. You’ll serve as a key leader for CEF’s overall programming in Durham County also collaborate with CEF’s Chapel Hill office to shape volunteer training and programming with a counterpart program coordinator.
Click Here to learn more about the position and to apply!
Presented at the 2017 TEDxUNC event at Memorial Hall: CEF’s Co-Founders / Co-Directors sharing the transformative story of a group of college students and shelter residents who built a community organization and financial tools that support sustained transitions out of homelessness. The CEF Advocacy Choir sings to close out the talk, with an original song about the joy of finding a home after experiencing homelessness.
photographs by TEDxUNC
Join us Sunday, April 2nd from 1-2pm at UNC Memorial Hall to hear Co-founders and Co-Directors Maggie West, Jon Young, and Janet Xiao share the story of how a student group transformed into a non-profit and a community that strives together towards better solutions and supports for individuals experiencing and at-risk of homelessness. The CEF Advocacy Choir and will be unveiling a new celebration song, that captures the joy of moving from homelessness into housing.
TEDxUNC is an all afternoon event from 12-6pm, with speakers of all kinds speaking about topics related to the idea of home. CEF’s presentation will be at the end of the 2nd section called “Boroughs” that is happening from 1-2pm. Please come at 1 pm if you can to catch our talk!
You don’t need tickets to attend – it’s open to the public at Memorial Hall. Hope to see you there!
Members and Advocates, join in a special part of the talk by singing with the CEF Advocacy Choir. Contact us at (919) 200-0233 or reach out to Yvette at yvettem@communityef.org to join in!
Seven Duke employees, including Strahm, bought homes last year with help from the Homebuyers Club. Thirty other employees received Homebuyers Club certificates because they completed at least eight hours of homebuyer education classes. The certificates can qualify the employees for additional financial help from the club’s community partners such as Habitat for Humanity, which builds affordable homes for low-income families; Reinvestment Partners, which provides housing counseling; the Community Empowerment Fund, which offers savings opportunities and financial education; and SunTrust Bank. These partners, along with Duke staff, help employees on the path to improving their credit, saving money, and connecting with lenders and realtors.
Yvette sings a challenge to the OC Commissioners—repping CEF & this community’s need for affordable homes #makeroomorange
If you were looking forward to our TED Talk at UNC, and are can’t wait to hear more about CEF—Co-founder and Co-director Maggie West was featured this month on WCHL’s non-profit spotlight! If you’ve ever wondered how and why CEF got started and what keeps all of us motivated to ‘show up’ each and every day click above to listen in!
CEF From the Start
01:00 – How did CEF start as a student organization?
01:36 – How micro-loans turned into an opportunity to saving!
02:40 – Why some people can’t or don’t have bank accounts
03:15 – Match Savings Accounts = over 700K Saved!
03:55 – From student org into a Non-Profit!
Relationships: Members and Advocates
04:40 – How is CEF’s work really about relationships?
05:20 – How do Members choose their own goals?
06:23 – Are our volunteer Advocates trained to be experts?
06:50 – How we train 200+ volunteer Advocates?
07:20- What do we train Advocate to be able to do what they do?
Nate’s Story about Saving and Housing
09:00 – Maggie shares a story about Nate, a member working with a member to save and find housing in Chapel Hill
10:00 – Nate saves and finds a $325 studio apartment!
11:00 – What happened next after Nate moved in?
11:11 – Why the landlord didn’t immediately screen Nate out?
12:40 – “We don’t rent to homeless people”
13:40 – Why Safe Savings Account works for Nate.
Students Learning ‘A Real Big Lesson’
14:00 – What do students learn by working with members?
14:40 – What do systemic barriers look like on the ground?
15:10 – What are future doctors are learning by being an Advocate?
16:55 – What else gets students prepared for this work?
17:23 – “I don’t know how to do that but I think we can figure that out together”
17:45 – Advocates are connectors!
Getting involved: Now and the Future!
18:30 – What does Maggie see herself doing in the future?
19:08 – What can a someone do to help CEF’s work?
19:20- How does CEF stay so flexible/adaptable?
19:38 – How can you reach CEF and volunteer?
“CEF helped me find my place in the world. I’ve had the good fortune to leave CEF twice, first when I graduated from UNC and now as I leave the professional staff. Both times I’ve left with a truer understanding of the world, a deeper sense of my own passions and abilities, and a clearer vision for making the biggest impact I possibly can. CEF has exposed, challenged, and stretched me in ways that I cannot imagine happening anywhere else, so I give CEF a lot of credit. I’ll add that I would not have gotten into grad school were it not for CEF Opportunity Class!” — Matt Kauffmann
‘Twas 2 days before Christmas, in his new home.
Mr. Carew worried he’d lose much that he owned.
His clothes, his books—furniture and more,
Were all with a storage company, closing its doors,
He worried then panicked, this problem was vast—
He’d lose all his possessions if he couldn’t get it out fast!
We called Temple Baptist and UNC APPLES,
And reached out to friends from Duke Chapel,
A big team assembled to load the U-Haul!
Rev. Mofield and MK gave the rallying calls.
From storage to truck, from truck to apartment,
The volunteers emptied the whole storage compartment.
And then, in a twinkling, it was finished and done —
Many hands made light work, and they even had fun!
What wonderful folks, arms strong and hearts true,
Came out to move in dear Mr. Carew.
‘Twas a holiday miracle and a grand ballyhoo!
From the bottom of our hearts, we truly thank you!
**A special shoutout also to Snehan and Jake, the two Advocates who supported Mr. Carew in his housing search!
“I’ve been cutting hair for about 30 years now, since I was 19 years old.” Mark is skilled in his trade and has been working consistently, but nonetheless found himself facing homelessness after he had to move out of his previous apartment and without enough savings. Mark shares, “I didn’t have any way to save my money because I couldn’t open a bank account… because when you have an account and you close it out and you still owe money to the bank, it’s pretty hard to get an account.”
Mark did not have a bank account for over seven years. Self-employed as a barber, saving without an account was incredibly difficult. Now, with his CEF matched savings account, Mark faithfully makes deposits every week. Mark shares, “I’ve been there in the shelter now for about 4 months and I’ve managed to save my money. And I’m looking for a place now and my money is right, so I’m shooting for January to start the new year right in my own place.”
Mark not only built savings to move out of the shelter immediately, but also built a real habit of savings. “I make my deposits every Wednesday. On my job we pay booth rent. We pay booth rent on Fridays, and I come here on Wednesdays and I make my deposit, usually $200-$260, and I try to hold on to at least $150 to pay my booth rent on Friday. So once I pay my booth rent on Friday then I can start saving Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday to make my deposit on Wednesday.” Perhaps the best part about this habit is that Mark also always squeezes in time to go fishing – one of his absolute favorite pastimes – right around his Wednesday meeting with his Advocate.
He is a huge proponent of the CEF savings accounts. “Where else can you save money, and they give you 10% of your savings after you meet your goal, and the only requirement for the goal is to educate yourself on how to be independent and take care of your bills and stuff of that nature. It’s phenomenal.”
Mark not only surpassed all of his savings goals so far, but also improved his credit and achieved a broad range of goals. His Advocate Kevin reflects on learning from Mark’s astounding progress, sharing, “We’re doing the financial coaching sessions together, and he actually was the first member that I’ve worked with about checking credit. And I realized that I should really know more about my own credit if I’m going to be working with him on his. I started checking my credit at the same time and we have been able to talk each month when it comes out and it changes and working on improving it together, and the same with saving as well. It’s been cool to be able to apply the financial coaching together with my own life, and really kind of share what we learn as we are doing it together.
Mark has a dream of completing his Associate Degree in counseling, and already has 49 credit hours towards this goal. “I’m just trying to finish that for my mother. She’s passed but she liked the idea of me getting an education… It would be something really special for me to have an Associate’s after coming from my past.” He and Kevin took the first steps towards this career goal by exploring transferring credits to a local college and by saving successfully for a laptop computer, which enables him to upgrade his computer skills as he prepares to go back to college.
While Mark prepares to move into his own place soon and to take the next steps in his career, Kevin and the whole CEF team are glad to be at his side. After all his work, Mark says that CEF has “given me the confidence to know that I can save money… And the services they’ve provided have been helpful, not just to get housing but also… to not find myself in this situation again.”
Quotes from Advocates and Members at the final SOWO 490 – Tools for Financial Coaching class at UNC.
“There is this sort of magic and common-ground found when people start to talk about the people they love.”
“I had a stumble in my life, but I’m back now, I’m all the way back. I just thank God that there is a CEF as a whole, and for getting me to open up about my life because I’m normally guarded, even with the positive stuff. Basically, this is thanksgiving after Thanksgiving. I’m in a good place now.”
“I’ve been thinking a lot about how… no decision you make or thing you do is going to guarantee you any outcome.”
“This is my baby, the attributes that she has, all the suggestions… she does a lot of homework for me, but I do work with her. I look forward to our weekly meetings, she knows what I’m going to talk about next week. I like her analytical mind and frame of thought, she looks at me as an individual and I look forward to seeing her prosper!”
“I was reminded that everyone has a story and everyone has been through different experiences and learned through them.”
“No two people are alike — we all have challenges we have obstacles we have strengths — and I think all of us would agree that we would not know where we would be without CEF — true, we all fall down, but we have someone who can assist us. We are all grateful and thankful.”
“Young people have in their mind, that things can happen; but you need to have a plan B, C, D, E… go all the way to Z, because anything can happen.”
“No matter what level of what it may be, it’s how you come back from it that matters”
“We take everything for granted that it’s going to be the same way the next day, but you could have a stroke while you’re sleeping and everything will change for you. But learn to be yourself and to love yourself. I used to work hard and have 3 jobs working all the time, but then a little simple thing like riding a bus took my job away. And then I got sick and I had to juggle it, do you want the medicine, or your food, or the lights? But I’m a proud individual today because I love myself, even though I’m not able to talk 100% the way I want to, I’m able to stand in the middle in the storm because I made it!”
