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Thank You!

By Maggie West on 11/29/16 in Member Story, Story

I keep a journal of moments, just jotting down at the end of the day a moment to remember – usually one that sits on my heart, whether in joy or grief. All kinds of moments make it into my journal, because all kinds of moments make up our daily lives at CEF. To say thank you for your commitment to CEF, I’ll share a few of these moments with you…

There are moments at CEF that break my soul wide open, like when Alicia shares the anxiety and sadness weighing on her. She got behind on bills while on medical leave and her power is turned off so she and her family of 6 cannot live there – including for her son’s graduation.

There are moments that humble, like when Robert asks for help getting a sleeping bag, not for himself, but for one of the 8 other homeless individuals he is now helping to shelter in his camp in the woods.

There are moments that motivate, like when Carl finally finds a full-time job. He came to our office every day for months to submit applications with advocates, and at last an employer doesn’t judge him for his misdemeanor conviction 25 years ago.

There are moments that awe, like when Paige becomes a first-time homeowner after saving out of every single paycheck. She worked with advocates and reached her goal right on schedule!

There are moments that simultaneously embolden and despair, like when Greg is turned down by yet another landlord unwilling to take a chance on him so he can move off these streets. His past continually occludes his future.

And then there are moments that bring tears silently streaming, like when I overhear a conversation between three CEF members in our lobby talking about how they all pray for CEF and all the people here every single day.

We never know the moments that matter. But we do know this matters to our Members: CEF Advocates are not only there for a moment, but for the long haul.

Will you take a moment and give to CEF? It matters.

With gratitude,

Maggie West

Co-Director

This Year at CEF By the Numbers:

1,033 Members, 239 Advocates

$197,852 Saved Towards Goals in
185 CEF Savings Accounts

155 Members Gained Employment

105 Members Gained Housing

Featured OC Hub Program: Document Services

By Jonathan Young on 10/27/16 in Chapel Hill, General, OC Hub, Program Story

Darcia is not a typical Advocate. Once a week she volunteers her time through CEF’s Orange Community Hub to help Members establish or reestablish identification and documentation. This work of obtaining photos IDs, birth certificates, and social security cards can become very complex, and requires the time of someone like Darcia who can offer her dedication and deep understanding of all different factors at play!

What is the role of documentation?

Documentation is the bedrock or the foundation of life’s needs in our society. It is fundamental to securing housing and employment. It is not a barrier to—as much as it is essential.

How has this work affected your views on poverty?

I always thought of myself as someone who thinks about others, but this work makes me feel the weight and enormity of it all, how overwhelming it must be. We as individuals often live in our own space with our own worries, and then you have people with such different—more vital concerns

What have you learned about the systems that provide and sometimes complicate the process of securing identification?

I have found that people really do want to be helpful for the most part, but there are a lot of rules. Sometimes it can be very challenging when people are not moving forward with the process or it is simply taking forever. One birth certificate was weeks overdue. I called many times and they consistently told me they were processing it, but a week later there would be no progress. The Member stopped coming as a result, so I’m not sure what happened with that case.

How did you get involved?

I was previously involved with Love Chapel Hill, an action-orientated, church-based organization whose mission is to help the homeless within our community. And then I think I met Jon or Maggie(CEF’s Co-founders) at Starbucks and they told me about CEF.

Ultimately, I saw the need. I had friends who were already coming to me asking if I could help them procure documentation for others. I approached Maggie or Jon and said “what if I came in for a few hours a week and helped members with this sort of thing,” and that is exactly what ended up happening!

What is the hardest case you have worked on?

Often times I am asked to establish ID for individuals who need to keep their whereabouts confidential. My concern has been that an individual trying to get an ID would end up on the public record, and risk them being found. Usually, I tell the individuals that this is a risk that cannot be taken in their situation and that the best course of action is to talk to the attorney general or someone in the state department.

What has been your most inspirational case?

I once had a member that was so persistent in asking me, ‘when am I gonna get it, when am I gonna get it’ because he urgently needed it for a job application. He was so persistent that when I saw him on Columbia Street, he came up to me to tell me he still had not received his ID. At that very moment, I put my stuff down and called up vital records right then and there. He got his ID not long after.

New Staff Welcome: Diiv Sternman

By Jonathan Young on 9/20/16 in Advocate Story, Staff Story

Diiv Sternman joined Chapel Hill team as Member Services Coordinator in May of 2016. And we are so happy to have them!

What made you interested in CEF?

I was at a point in my career where I had done direct service for 12 years—and it does take its toll. I was reaching a point where I thought I needed to find a way of still doing this work while putting to use all of the things I’ve learned—all of the wisdom that clients and co-workers have shared with me over the years—and find how to put that to good use in the community.

So, I noticed CEF—it was on the list—but there weren’t jobs open. I was watching you all and referred a couple of people from the shelter that I was working at. When I read the job description, I thought, “This is not only an organization that I really believe in, but it’s a way of doing the work that fits what I need.” I feel like I have a lot I can share with student volunteer and a lot of experience with the populations that we’re serving. I now also have a chance to get back to big picture—having a vision and being able to impact structural changes. Continue Reading →

Member Story: Richard

By Jonathan Young on 9/18/16 in Member Story, Story

Richard is a devoted father with a calm, steady spirit. Talking about his son, you can hear the pride welling up with every sentence. He describes his son’s leadership in the school band, musical talents, amazing adaptability to all kinds of situations, and just how much of a people person he is – as well as their mutual love of the outdoors.

Richard began staying home with his son after a back surgery five years ago, saying “With my back problems and the surgery I had 5 years ago, that turned out to be the best job for me. My now ex-wife, she brought home the money, she had a good career in IT, so it allowed me to be with my son, which was wonderful, except that I needed an income as well being on my own now.” At the time of his surgery, Richard and his family were living in Colorado. When they returned to NC and after he and his wife divorced, Richard started working towards being able to re-enter the workforce after several years focused on time at home with his son.

He heard about CEF from a friend, and first attended one of our community cookouts. From there, Richard joined our weekly Saturday morning Opportunity Class led by Mike Wood. “For a lot of the folks in the class, it was great getting together once a week and being in touch with each other. You know how each other is sort of doing, and talk about jobs, talk about what kind of success everyone has had with interviews, all kinds of housing opportunities.”

Since graduating from the class, Richard shares, “My whole world has changed now. I spend 60 hours a week and sometimes 70 hours a week working, with one day off and 12-hour days. I just remember [Opportunity Class] kind of getting me up out of the rut.”

Richard landed a job in his field, as a Service Representative for a car dealership! To get ready, Richard worked with Mike and several volunteers. His Advocate, Claire, helped him to update his resume and polish it for specific opportunities. He started meeting regularly with Dick, a volunteer who helps CEF members prepare for job interviews. “Dick counseled with me for about an hour at a time working on my resume and interviewing, and either he mentioned or I mentioned, saying I’d like to have an opportunity to maybe do some volunteer work.” Dick connected Richard with CEF’s volunteer coordinator, who set Richard up to start volunteering at our front desk.

Funny enough, Richard says that it was the experience of volunteering at our front desk that made him feel ready to go back to work. It was a big adjustment at first with a lot to learn. “Going from being that at-home dad to volunteering at CEF was the bigger step because I didn’t have any background in that, I felt good about being able to do it. Once I had done that for those 3 weeks, it felt like only a small step up to go start my job.” Comparing his time at CEF to his full-time job, he shares, “I was answering the phone, talking with people that needed our help, scheduling them in the system, and then having them then come in and meeting with the advocate. It’s not so different from what I’m doing now… It was easy to transition from CEF working the front desk to service advisor.”

Looking back on his whole experience and when he describes CEF to others, the best part to him is that “It’s a community that people can feel a sense of security with at CEF. People they can trust, people they recognize.” We have been lucky to have Richard as a part of the CEF community, as a member in Opportunity Classes, as a volunteer, and now as an Alumni Member. Congratulations, Richard!

CEF’s 1-on-1 Financial Coaching

By Jonathan Young on 9/10/16 in General, Program Story

The “Understand Your Credit History” FC Session — Most 1-on-1 sessions start with goal-setting/familiarization input boxes.

By Andrew Franklin:

I’ve heard it said that the exchange of knowledge is among the most intimate of human interactions. In my time at CEF, I’ve seen this exchange happen over and over again. Members share wisdom and experience with Advocates. Advocates share CEF’s resources and body of knowledge with Members as they walk together to achieve Members’ goals. This relationship-based model of learning and sharing is at the core of CEF’s mission and identity.

It was clear, when we recognized the need for a more intentional delivery of existing resources and knowledge through a Financial Coaching program, that we should start with a 1-on-1 approach.

We rolled out the first phase of our 1-on-1 program in January: sessions designed to be interactive and to optimize Member choice. Each session takes about an hour and involves learning financial capability skills and putting them into practice in order to write resumes and cover letters, pull credit reports and dispute errors, and build budgets and savings plans.There is a menu of 18 sessions in the first phase, which creates a great deal of flexibility and choice for Members. Additionally, we’ll be rolling out the second phase of Financial Coaching (FC) sessions this fall/winter, which will add a robust 25-30 sessions to the menu.

8 of the first phase of 18 Financial Coaching sessions!

We look forward to continuing to build and improve this program, and are excited to watch it grow in CEF’s soil. We will continue to listen to Members and Advocates to brainstorm new additions and fixes to old sessions. As always, this is a community effort. We look forward to the relationships that will be built as knowledge is exchanged through the 1-on-1 Financial Coaching program!

Members are encouraged to complete 8 FC session at a time. They can add as many or as few as are relevant to their goals. However, Members who would like to qualify for a Safe Savings Account 10% match must complete 8, 1-on-1 sessions or Community Coaching (aka. Opportunity Class), in addition to meeting their Savings Goal.

Saving Creates Change

By Jonathan Young on 7/12/16 in Highlight, Program Story, Story

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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. behavioral-economics

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!

savings_graph 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!

CEF Member : Malcolm

By Jonathan Young on 6/12/16 in Highlight, Member Story, Story

malcolm-jby16-16

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.”

malcolm-jby16-copy

“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!

Member Story: Pee-Wee

By Jonathan Young on 5/12/16 in Highlight, Member Story, Story

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.”

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!’”

Saver Feature: Chapel Hill Member, Darryl

By Andrew Franklin on 2/29/16 in General, Member Story, Story

In January, CEF Members crossed the $500,000 mark, meaning that Savers have put away more than $500,000 in their Safe Savings Accounts since the program started in 2010. They’ve used those savings for rent, security deposits, utilities, transportation, food, and much much more.

We thought this would be a nice opportunity to check in with a CEF Saver about his goals and CEF experience. Chapel Hill Member Darryl enthusiastically agreed to talk! He’s from Jamaica, Queens, New York and has been a CEF Member since the fall of 2014.

Why do you save with CEF?

I save because if something comes up with my car, like tags or taxes… or if I’m going to take a trip, I know this money is over here.

It’s somewhat like an emergency fund. It’s some money that I have automatically taken out because I save better when it comes directly out of my check.

With my savings here, you get 10% [matched] up to $2,000. Even Matt (Darryl’s Advocate and Chapel Hill Advocate Program Coordinator) has got me putting money in my savings account also. So I’ve got some in my savings account, some in my Safe Savings Account here at CEF, and some in my safety deposit box. I’ve gotten in the habit of putting up money.

I’m getting ready to take a trip and that’s what I’m going to use the money from CEF for. I’m going to go home. I’m going to New York in April.

Would you recommend the Safe Savings Account to other people?

Yea! It’s helpful to have someone help you decide if it’s a good idea or not [to withdraw money]. If you get with an Advocate, especially once they get to know you, they know if you really need the money and if it’s really a good decision you’re making or if it’s not! They’re still going to give you your money, but they’re going to help you with it — they’ll help you make good choices about spending that money.

Do you have a favorite CEF memory?

Well Mike, the guy who teaches Opportunity Class, he’s a character. I mean Saturdays I love to go because I’m just around the guys. They bring new guys in. It’s Mike, he’s like a comedian. When he teaches the class, he makes it interesting! That’s every Saturday. I don’t have a favorite moment because every time I come here something’s going on.

What does financial independence mean to you?

I came here because I needed a couch and I was on a fixed income. And when I came here I had started working. The thing is with CEF, I learned from the class that I didn’t know anything about establishing my credit as far as getting a secured credit card when my credit wasn’t any good. When I came here my credit was poor, now it’s fair.

So it is a good thing that I did come here because they’re teaching me ways to handle things to better myself to be more financially independent. I bought a car since I’ve been here. Matt helped me get my car refinanced.

This place right here has helped me out tremendously and I’m grateful for CEF! I’m grateful for not just Matt. It’s the relationships that are established here, also. Matt knows me! He got me to where I don’t carry cash around like I used to; I don’t whip my card out every few minutes.

How did he help you do that? What do you attribute those new habits to?

It helps me save money! The first day I met with Matt, I said that I spend money all the time, you know going to Walmart and stuff. And he said, “don’t carry cash around and don’t just whip your card out. If you don’t need it, don’t get it.” He helps me out and he gives me good encouragement.

What do you want the CEF community to know about you?

I’m a recovering addict. So when I come here I’m around guys [who are experiencing addiction], and we help each other because it’s not about me trying to make them do something they don’t want to do. But, it’s encouraging when you’ve got somebody who came from where you came from. I speak about that in Opportunity Class. If it’s got anything to do with the discussion I can talk about how I used to be on drugs and alcohol real bad. And today I do better things with my money and I help other people in the process. That’s what we do, we help each other.

Meet CEF Member Eva

By Maggie West on 2/28/16 in General, Member Story, Story

Eva and Vivian in front of their new home!

“Can I tell you how CEF really helped? It was one place that I could go where all the things could be addressed which were really overwhelming. I could come to you and we could break it down and work on every piece of it that I needed to work on.”

We connected with Eva while she and her daughter were staying at the women and children’s shelter in Chapel Hill. “My daughter’s name is Vivian and she is six years old and she’s in first grade and she’s totally my main motivation. She’s what has pushed me to not give up, to keep going.”

Vivian is a bundle of delight, ready to tell you how she taught her herself to ride a bike. Eva worked hard to make sure Vivian had a sense of normalcy while the two were living at the shelter for seven months, arranging play-dates or visiting the children’s museum.

Eva partnered with her CEF advocates to connect to resources and find housing. Now with a cozy house for the two of them, Eva proclaims, “This is the first time that I have ever been in a real home that was my own, period. Either I was living with my parents or I was living with someone that I was dating, or I was paying someone $100 to stay on their couch when I was in college or I was taking out loans to stay in a dorm.” Eva graduated from UNC-Greensboro with a major in Dance, though laughing she says “I only dance in the living room now.”

Eva and Vivian’s move out of homelessness was a struggle. The affordable home they found took months to be repaired to code, leaving the two sleeping on friends’ couches for a month after their stay in the shelter. Of CEF she shares, “I just was generally overwhelmed, so it was nice to know that there was somebody out there who had my back.”

What does their new, stable home mean for Eva and Vivian? “This is the first time I’m going to have the chance to parent how I want to parent.” And Eva has the dreams of a devoted mother for her daughter’s life… “I want her to have self-worth, and I want her to be able to support herself fully, that’s important to me, to feel good about herself… I guess the things I really want for her are more like personal qualities. Whatever goals that she has I will support her, but what kind of human being she is, that is the most important for me.”

Eva has so much to be proud of. “I’m worlds away from where I was. Now I’m gaining independence, getting to be self-supporting.” Her CEF team will continue to have her back!

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