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Our 2017 Summer Interns

By on 7/26/17 in Advocate Story, General, Highlight, Story

The CEF summer internship allows those seeking a transformative summer work experience an opportunity to work full-time in one of the CEF locations. Our full-time interns are a main source of fuel during the summer, powering our offices while many Advocates are away. Interns spend about half their time meeting with Members and the other half working on various projects, everything from resource building to communications!

Hover over the images below to read about them and their work!

Durham

Gabi Stewart

Continuing Education Specialist Intern

Gabi is a rising senior at Duke majoring in classical languages. She is leading efforts to create and strengthen relationships with local organizations who provide education continuation services. She is also developing resources on Connect (our internal database) that will provide Members a streamlined interface for accessing resources! In her spare time, she enjoys writing and playing music. She is also training for a half-marathon!
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Varun Prasad

Resource and Financial Coaching Specialist Intern

Varun is a rising sophomore at Duke majoring in statistics and economics. This summer, Varun is working to build resources by receiving Member feedback to constantly improve our services. He is also working on building up our pathways and refreshing information to place people into housing. In his spare time he enjoys exploring new places and watching his favorite TV shows.

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Nijah McKinney

Communications Intern

Nijah is a rising senior at NCCU and a mass communications major.  She is serving as the site coordinator for communications in the Durham office, gathering content and utilizing CEF social media and online platforms to expand CEF’s online outreach. She is also creating a Member Success Board to get more members to share their experiences and journey with CEF. In her spare time, Nijah loves to sing, write music, and read! “I am a creator who just loves to create!”
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Christiana Oshotse

Healthcare Resource Specialist

Christiana is a rising junior at Duke studying public policy and chemistry. She is working to create and improve upon Member Goals that address the healthcare needs of Members. She is working to survey members to determine their most pressing healthcare needs. She is also creating and improving upon resource documents that serve as information guides for Members and Advocates regarding affording health care and dealing with medical debt. She loves to read, journal, spend time with God, and have fun with family and friends

Vishnu Gottiparthy

Pairings Project Specialist Intern – Duke Engage

Vishnu is a rising junior studying electrical and computer engineering and computer science. He conducts research on similarly-structured local organizations to better understand how they effectively build relationships between their staff/volunteers and community members. In his spare time, he enjoys dancing and reading.

Grace Mok

Housing Advocacy Specialist Intern – Duke Engage

Grace is a rising junior studying economics. She worked closely with Janet on organizing the Mayor’s Landlord Roundtable. She assisted in crafting the content/tone of the event and coordinating circulation of the event invitation. She enjoys spending time with her slow-cooker, her recently acquired soulmate.

And a special thank you to Sam, our Office Beautification Assistant, and Beini, our Outreach Specialist and Duke Engage Intern

Chapel Hill

Kaelan Forbes

Employment Specialist Intern

Kaelan is a rising junior at UNC studying economics and entrepreneurship. This summer, she is working to strengthen the partnership with Inmates to Entrepreneurs, an organization that supports former inmates by giving them the resources and tools to start their own businesses. Kaelan also manages our updated list of job opportunities in Chapel Hill. In her spare time, Kaelan enjoys running and cooking with fellow interns

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Tamar Chukrun

Housing Specialist Intern

Tamar is a recent Carolina graduate with a degree in nutrition from the school of public health. She works to keep an updated list of available units in the Carrboro and Chapel Hill areas. She is also conducting research on subsidized housing complexes in the area in order to embed a subsidized housing goal on Connect and works closely with Members transitioning into housing. In her spare time, Tamar enjoys going to the gym, baking, and reading.

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Hannah Factor

Impact Specialist Intern

Hannah is a rising junior at UNC studying economics and public policy. She serves as the communications site coordinator in Chapel Hill in addition to assisting with content in both the Durham and Chapel Hill locations. She is developing a portfolio of Member and Advocate story/profiles through interviews, audio recordings and data visualization. She is also leading efforts to pilot an online CEF storytelling platform. In her spare time, she enjoys hiking mountains, yoga and cooking breakfast.

Joyce Yao

Finance Specialist Intern– APPLES Service-Learning

Joyce is a rising sophomore at UNC. Her projects include transitioning the Renter’s IDA program from its pilot to a wider implementation in Chapel Hill. She is working as part of CEF’s savings team to assist in the coordination of CEF’s partnership with the Common Cents Lab at Duke. She is also working to better integrate “savings moments” into the trainings that CEF offers to Advocates. Joyce enjoys cooking, reading, and now quilting thanks to David and the CEF Quilting Circle.

Justin Willford

Special Projects Coordinator

Justin is a rising junior at UNC studying statistics and mathematics. He works as an assistant to the co-director on donation analysis and fundraising. He also researches available grants, maintains our donation database, and updates our Major Gifts team on donor prospects. In his spare time, he enjoys stand up comedy, listening to music and exploring the triangle.

Keely Kriho

Member Intro Specialist

Keely is a rising junior at UNC studying health policy and management. She assists in the coordination of our Member intake process and facilitates Talking Sidewalks, a weekly discussion-based group in the Chapel Hill Office. She enjoys running, talking about health policy and eating burritos.

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Unlocking Doors Video

By on 7/14/17 in CEF Advocacy, Durham, Events, Highlight, Member Story, Program Story, Research + Publications, Story, Videos

Produced by CEF for the Unlocking Doors Initiative and the 2017 Mayor’s Landlord Roundtable.

The Unlocking Doors Initiative is a partnership between landlords, non-profits, the City and the Durham Housing Authority. With visionary new leadership at the DHA and a groundswell of community support, we are at a crucial juncture in Durham. Mayor Bill Bell has issued a challenge for us to lease up individuals and families, including veterans, to permanently end their homelessness. Landlords and non-profits, will you consider joining us as a Key Partner?

Learn more at unlockingdoorsdurham.org

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Earl

By on 7/13/17 in Chapel Hill, General, Highlight, Member Advocate Story, Member Story, Savings, Story

Growing up and Getting Started

No Matter What. That is what the bracelet on Earl’s wrist reads.  Earl has been sober for 15 months and counting but his memories are fresh from when that was not the case. Earl has been meeting with his Advocate Steven in the Chapel Hill office, pursuing savings and securing employment alongside a 12-step recovery program.

Born in Charleston, South Carolina, Earl grew up in a large family. “My mother and father had 12 kids, my father was a hardworking man… I’ve seen a lot of things in a young stage that’ve helped me become the person I am today…There was a lot of love,” shares Earl, but “I grew up in an unstable home.” Earl recalls how certain things shaped his relationship with finances. “Where I’m from it wasn’t just about savings, it was about trying to survive… my father never had a bank account, never wrote checks so my mother didn’t either.

When Earl first came to CEF in March of 2016, he was skeptical. “You know, I wasn’t sure about what, you know, I could get from CEF. But I found a lot of students from UNC—they really care about the community. They volunteer their work. I know that when people volunteer their work, they’re here for a purpose… I remember my first day at orientation, it started right then and there. There was so much that they offered me to do. They put the guidelines for what I can and can’t do but it was up to me as an individual to follow those guidelines. It was like being in school, if you don’t do the assignment, what’s the good of being in class. “

Finding Work and Financial Stability

At CEF, his consistent Advocate meetings manifested into a successful job search where Earl secured full-time employment at the Carolina Ale House. “The job search it was an experience, most of the jobs I had were daily paid labor. I understood I didn’t want that type of job anymore”.  Although the restaurant recently closed, he feels more prepared now for the job search than he did before. “We’re not finished yet. We’re looking for a job. But now I know how to approach it. He’s (Steven’s) already setting the guidelines for me, he’s already helping me prepare for tomorrow… That’s what I learned from CEF. Preparing myself for the future.”

Earl also spends his meetings with Steven working on finances, which includes disputing debts and created payment and budget plans. By making consistent savings deposits, Earl has saved just shy of $4,000. “I came by Tuesday and put $500 in my savings because I know it’s the right thing to do. I love the idea, I really do, of having a savings account.” Earl also opened a bank account at Coastal Federal Credit Union to build even more savings and have access to a checking account! “Now, I go to a bank and they know my name. ‘Hey Earl, how you doing Earl?’  Even when I’m not there to cash a check I still go in there, talk my banker, talk about ball, talk about how my life is going.” Earl told us that his banker even offered to be a reference for prospective employers, “she sees something in me that I didn’t see when I first started to open my bank account.”

It’s About Relationships and Family

Earl is paired with Steven but that does not stop him from building connections with other CEF Advocates. “I gave a couple of advocates some names like ‘Sarah Salad,’ ‘Sarah Hotdog,’ ‘Chocolate Ice Cream’, you know, because that’s the kind of bond I built with them.”

Earl with CEF Advocates at the Financial Independence Day celebration

Earl only has words of praise for Steven. “It’s all about the relationship that I built with Steven has helped me focus on things in life that I know I am able to achieve…he always has great things to share with me. He always gives me that positive motivation.” More than anything, Earl believes the key to success is partnership. “I don’t want a handout. Just give me a hand… Show me, guide me, pull me along the way.  Just give me that, “you can do it.” That is the hand I need.”

So what exactly is Earl saving for? Family. “I have 3 sons, 3 grandsons and we have never all been together at one time…We’ve never been together. Every day I get a little older. We’ll get together and play a game of basketball…That’s one of the reasons I’m trying to save some money too. One day man, one father’s day man, there’ll be that love, that unity.”

Earl and his Advocate Steven in the Chapel Hill office

 

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Annual Report 2016 : Transformative Community

By on 6/19/17 in Advocate Story, Annual Reports, Chapel Hill, Durham, Highlight, Member Advocate Story, Member Story, Partner Story, Program Story, Research + Publications, Savings, Story
Download Here

“We share these stories, and are reminded just how profound it is to be a part CEF. We share them with gratitude for the whole wide CEF family—Members, Advocates, supporters, and friends. Thank you for reading, writing, and living this story with us!”

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David: Crafting Community

By on 6/14/17 in Chapel Hill, Highlight, Member Story, Program Story, Story

How one Member’s passion for quilting is spreading love and togetherness at CEF 

David believes that every quilt is an opportunity for connection. “Our society is losing that personal touch, and in that process of us making that quilt, if someone is bothered about something, we have the chance to talk about it.”  Originally from Sanford, North Carolina, David moved to Chapel Hill last summer to receive better medical care for his sickness and quickly found himself without a place to stay. “I’ve never experienced homelessness until now.”

David’s passion for quilting is life long. “I have been quilting for 30 years or more. When I was young I couldn’t play outside too much, I used to sew my mother’s clothes and when I got older I took an industrial sewing class.”

David was initially connected to CEF through the IFC men’s shelter.  “I wanted to see all I could about all the people around, and I found out about CEF the day during that time I was sick. He (his advocate Kevin) was just like a brother. What I did is a lot of the meetings, and during that time and I was going to Opportunity Class. I was just trying to get a feel for what things were going.” David also enjoys engaging in Talking Sidewalks and CEF’s Advocacy Choir, where he performed for the CEF TED Talk in Memorial Hall this past April. His weekly meetings with his Advocate Kevin, however, sometimes included searching for local quilting groups to join “I liked taking something you would throw away and making something beautiful.”

David with his Advocate Kevin at the 2017 CEF Graduation Celebration!
David passing out fabric from his trove of quilting supplies!

  In February of 2017, David, alongside Kevin, launched the first ever Quilting Circle in the Chapel Hill office. The Quilting Circle allows Members and Advocates to enjoy a community that socializes, relaxes and celebrates each other. “The thing about old-fashioned quilting is that it takes everyone together in the circle to make it. Quilting forces us to talk to each other about things and, in turn, we start to form a strong bond.” Each week, that is exactly what Members and Advocates do, gathering in the CEF office for a collaborative craft and safe space to support and celebrate one another. David, who is currently staying in the shelter, provides all the fabric and supplies himself. He has successfully gotten some supplies donated through the Scrap Exchange in Durham. His quilting projects vary from week to week as he brings new projects to keep people interested and learning. “I just take everything and look at the goodness of it because you can turn everything around and make it pretty, Cause you know, everybody has faults, everyone has needs, everyone is human so live and let live.”

The first quilt is set to be put up in the office this summer. “This is my way of giving back for everything y’all have done for me. If it wasn’t for CEF in this moment, in this time, these people would not be able to come together and make something so beautiful.”

So what is David looking forward to? ”To be in my own place so I can keep on quilting. I am going to quilt and sew until the day I leave the earth.”

Sound amazing?  Come to Quilting Circle any Thursday at 6:00pm in the Chapel Hill office and see for yourself! No experience necessary.

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CEF First-Time Homebuyers!

By on 5/9/17 in Durham, Highlight, Member Story, Story
“I was able to pay off over $5,000 in credit card debt, raised my credit score almost 80 points, maintain a safety net savings account and purchase my first home! Thank you all for your support!”

CEF matched savings accounts now support Members in reaching goals all along the continuum from homelessness to homeownership. We launched a new program in 2016 to support first-time homebuyers with Reinvestment Partners and the Duke Homebuyers Club.

Paige was one of the first 5 CEF Members to successfully purchase their own home during the first year of this collaborative program!

Paige worked incredibly hard and with amazing focus to reach her goal in just ten months. She worked extra jobs in addition to her full-time job at Duke. She participated in CEF’s Financial Coaching, meeting regularly with Donna Carrington (CEF’s Housing Stabilization Specialist) and sharing, “Donna was a great motivator and kept me on track with my financial goals.” Paige was able to pay off debts and improve her credit score, which qualified her for an affordable mortgage. Meanwhile, she successfully saved for her down payment and closing costs, receiving a dollar-for-dollar match from CEF!

Paige is proud to be a homeowner. One of the best parts? Her mortgage payment is actually cheaper than her rent payments were, and she is building an asset for the long term.

CEF is supporting this pilot program for first-time homebuyers in Durham in collaboration with Reinvestment Partners, the Duke Homebuyers Club, and the Duke University Office of Durham & Regional Affairs. The Homebuyers Club partnership brings together incredible resources for the participants, including homebuyer education and credit assessment through Reinvestment Partners, and a wide array of community experts through Duke’s partnerships, including attorneys, appraisers, and credit unions.

Meanwhile, CEF provides our one-on-one financial coaching so that participants like Paige can take action steps in building credit, budgeting to reach their goals, and accessing resources. In just the first year of this pilot collaboration, we have seen amazing results.

Since the Homebuyers Savings program began, results from April 2016 – April 2017 include:

  • Pilot participants have built $16,864 in savings towards the purchase of their first homes.
  • 5 of the first 9 members have already bought their homes, with the remaining participants well on their way towards achieving their goal within the 18-month pilot period!
  • Members are saving on average $144 each per month
  • 67 one-on-one coaching sessions completed with members in 1 year
  • 85% of program participants are women
  • 100% of program participants are people of color
  • Thus far, mortgage payments for these homebuyers are less expensive than their monthly rent payments were previously.
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CEF’s TED Talk: Homeless, and Outsaving Half of the United States

By on 5/8/17 in Advocate Story, CEF Advocacy Choir, Events, Highlight, In the News, Member Story, Program Story, Research + Publications, Savings, Story, Videos

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

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When Gentrification Arrives At Your Door

By on 5/6/17 in Durham, Highlight, Story, Written By Members

John Miller and Advocate Audrey Boyles celebrate a successful moving day in 2012.

The following is a guest post by Durham resident and CEF Member, John Miller, who is an avid writer and advocate at www.blindtravel.net/ , where this post was originally published.

When Gentrification Arrives At Your Door

Or renovation. Rapid re-creation of a whole neighborhood. Call it what you want, the effects are the same.

We’ve all read the stories. Person, hard working, toward the lower end of the economic ladder, suddenly finds him or herself homeless. As we read this, we sit back and wonder to ourselves how this could have happened so quickly. Well I would venture to say that our current rental structure can contribute.

I have resided in my current large community here just northwest of downtown Durham for over four years. Each year, the costs have increased by about 20 to 30 dollars. Not too bad, right?

Except this year, they’re gonna hit me with the haymaker! They have been engaged in a steady process to re-design all of these older units to make them trendier, and probably more amenable to modern appliances. And let’s call it what it is, more expensive.

I get it. Located close to two medical facilities, Duke Hospital and the VA Medical Center, as well as that major university within easy walking distance, there is lots of money to be made in this area. And as guardians of the community (however all that internal stuff works), they have a responsibility to get that money flowing into their coffers if at all possible.

But what are those of us who are barely hanging on supposed to do? It’s a question I probably ask at least once a year, and every year it becomes demonstrably worse. Affordable housing is simply disappearing, and especially from places that need it the most for instance near said medical facilities and along transit lines. An example of this need? I have (had? well I think she’s still here somehow) a neighbor who moved into her apartment and lived there for 25 years so that she could have easy access to Duke Hospital in the event of somewhat regular heart emergencies. My guess is she has some kind of special dispensation that will allow her to remain there for as long as she pleases.

Certainly other than that though, I have noticed that this place has become a lot quieter. Most folks started packing up and moving out a good while ago, and my guess is it will be a while before the upper incomers start trickling in, once all of the reconstruction work has been completed.

As for me, this is not a tremendous deal. This is because I would have been moving on by January anyway, so that I can begin life as a married man. To transfer for the six or seven-month gap between now and then (I must depart by June 24th,) I have to pay these fine folks an additional $330 a month. That is a sixty (60!) percent increase, and would mean I would be living a lot closer to significant disaster due to any unexpected occurrence than I wish to experience. It seems silly though to relocate to some entirely unfamiliar venue for such a short period, and even if I decide to do that I am not sure where that would be as most of Durham, the Bull City’s prices have crept in that general direction. In any event, I have a couple of weeks to figure this out, on top of possible needs for other employment, grad school, and other general living interests. Chaotic, to say the least. But, it’ll all work out somehow because it has to. Wish me well.

Read the update to John’s apartment situation on his blog in his latest post: http://www.blindtravel.net/on-rites-of-passage-20-years-since-high-school-and-apartment-follow-up/

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Using Behavioral Economics to Explore the Transition to Housing

By on 4/22/17 in Events, Highlight, In the News, Program Story, Savings, Story

Thank you to the over 70 participants from partner agencies that attended the workshop CEF co-hosted with the Common Cents Lab focused on “Using Behavioral Economics to Explore the Transition to Housing.”

Together, we brainstormed about how behavioral economics might help nonprofits think creatively about building better programs and smarter solutions to support individuals moving out of homelessness. The incredible team at the Common Cents Lab shared an introduction to the principles of behavioral economics, and led the group through an interactive workshop to put those principles into action for better program design.

Behavioral economics is “the study of how people really make choices–not in a simplified economic model, but in the textured and rich reality of daily life, and draws on insight from both psychology and economics” (CFED).

CEF is working with the Common Cent Labs this year to apply these learnings to our partnerships with shelters to promote increased engagement with CEF’s matched savings accounts in a way that supports Members in achieving short-term savings goals and builds longer-term saving habits. Through our last joint project with the team, we implemented a new way for Members to track progress towards their savings goals through a punchcard and tested its efficacy through a randomized control trial. Every time Members in the trial group made a deposit, they received a punch, and received gold tokens and new levels of punchcards after each card was filled. An article is soon to be published by the research documenting the promising results of this study… Just for a preview: “Members who received the punchcard to track their deposits completed 30% more of their goal than members who were in the control condition” (Guzman and Tepper, full article to be published late spring 2017).

Indiana received the very first punch on a CEF Savings Card! This piggy- themed punch card developed with Common Cents Lab, tracks each deposit and captures progress towards her goals!

We are excited to continue learning throughout this year with the team at the Common Cents Lab! Since the workshop, partners have shared that they are still really thinking about how behavioral economic analysis such as “tunneling” or “friction costs” can be addressed in their own work. Building on the incredible momentum of bringing 70 of our partners into the room together to explore these concepts, we got feedback from participants on where to go from here in our collaborative learning, and will be exploring other topics in the months to come — such as “Manage Cash Flow after Housing Transitions,” and “Overcome Barriers to Banking.“

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CEF: Community Empowerment Fund
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