Archive | CEF Advocacy Choir

The CEF Freedom Liberation Ensemble

By Gabrielle Prince on 8/7/24 in CEF Advocacy, CEF Advocacy Choir, Events, General, Highlight, Housing

Join us August 27th! Everyone’s different voices are uniting for one cause: freedom and liberation. The CEF Freedom Liberation Ensemble is coming back stronger than ever, ready to advocate for fixed-income, low-income, and no-income populations.

By bringing the community together to sing justice-oriented versions of popular songs, we will be demanding that people in power hear the voice of the community.

This first rehearsal, open to all, includes CEF’s iconic version of “I Smile” arranged by founder Yvette Matthews.

10 Million Dollar Bond Passed!

By Jonathan Young on 11/10/18 in CEF Advocacy, CEF Advocacy Choir, Chapel Hill

The Chapel Hill 10 million dollar housing bond passed with 72 percent of residents voting in favor of the referendum! Thanks to the incredible efforts of Chapel Hill residents and the collaboration of the Orange County Affordable Housing Coalition that includes partners from Habitat for Humanity, Community Home Trust, IFC, DHIC, Inc., Empowerment, Inc., Justice United, The Jackson Center, Self-Help , UNC Partnerships in Aging Program, and the Weaver Community Housing Association!

CEF helped bring Advocates and Members together to vote at the Souls to the Polls Rally, designed the Bond Media Kit with help from the coalition, and got the word out with the CEF Advocacy Choir singing at events and church services around town!

Read details about the bond passing at: https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article221033365.html

Learn More about the bond at: https://www.chapelhillaffordablehousing.org/bondinfo/

$1,000,000 Dollars Saved!

By Jonathan Young on 10/31/18 in Awards, CEF Advocacy Choir, Events, General, Highlight, Savings, Videos

🐖One giant pig. One million dollars saved.💰

Thank you so much to everyone who came out to the Piggy Bank Bash to celebrate CEF Members’ amazing accomplishment last night. We’re proud to be part of such an amazingly supportive community and extremely thankful for all of the warmth and encouragement shared and received last night. We’re also filled with gratitude at the generosity of Grub, who generously hosted and fed us all for free, and all of our West End neighbors and friends, who pitched in with raffle prizes ( Pauli Murray Project, The Cookery, and Steel String ) and supplying a sound system (the Durham Co-op Market 🎤).

Partners from Families Moving Forward, Self-Help, Inter-Faith Council for Social Service, Vimala’s Curryblossom Café also came out and shared their support in full force! If you want to continue partying it up with CEF this year, we hope to see you at Steel String on Wed, November 14 at CEF’s Night Out at Steel String

Annual Report 2017 : We Are Interwoven

By Jonathan Young on 10/3/18 in Advocate Story, Annual Report Story, Annual Reports, CEF Advocacy, CEF Advocacy Choir, Chapel Hill, Durham, Employment, Highlight, Housing, Member Advocate Story, Member Story, OC Hub, Partner Story, Program Story, Research + Publications, Savings

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“When you are with CEF, you are a part of the thread that makes us all one community.” Chinita is a CEF graduate, and her poetic statement during a CEF celebration perfectly describes the palpable connectivity in this community.

Whether we’re weaving together programs and resources to form a holistic network of support, or connecting our Members and Advocates together in people-centered relationships, CEF is steadily crafting a beautiful, interconnected, and interwoven community.”

CEF Advocacy Choir Performs at UNC Memorial Hall

By Jonathan Young on 4/17/18 in CEF Advocacy, CEF Advocacy Choir, Chapel Hill, Events, Highlight, Videos

The CEF Advocacy Choir had the amazing experience of performing at Memorial Hall to close out the first half of a show by the UNC Loreleis this past weekend! Yvette Mathews is a part of CEF’s Staff team in Orange County, and the director of the Advocacy Choir. She has re-written the lyrics to many popular tunes to sing about issues faced by CEF Members – especially about affordable housing.

If you missed this performance, come check out he CEF Advocacy Choir at the CEF Art Show on April 21st or the Chapel Hill Spring Graduation Party on April 28th!

Sing with Us!

Call Yvette at 919-200-0233 or reach out via email at yvettem@communityef.org to get involved and be notified about upcoming rehearsals and performances!

CEF’s TED Talk: Homeless, and Outsaving Half of the United States

By Jonathan Young 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

Yvette’s Challenge to the OC Commisioners

By Jonathan Young on 2/12/17 in CEF Advocacy, CEF Advocacy Choir, Chapel Hill, Highlight, In the News, Research + Publications, Videos

Yvette sings a challenge to the OC Commissioners—repping CEF & this community’s need for affordable homes #makeroomorange

Anonymous Gift to CEF Advocacy Choir

By Jonathan Young on 12/20/16 in CEF Advocacy Choir, General, Highlight

Thank you (whoever you are 🤗) for supporting CEF Members and the Advocacy Choir in their efforts to increase affordable housing in Orange County! #makeroomorange

CEF Receives GSK Impact Award!

By Jonathan Young on 11/21/16 in CEF Advocacy, CEF Advocacy Choir, Highlight, Videos

The Triangle Community Foundation and GSK honored CEF and 9 other amazing Triangle nonprofits at the GSK Impact Awards last week! The CEF Advocacy Choir performed “Smile” to open the ceremonies and CEF Staff Member, Yvette Matthews, received the award on behalf of all of CEF.

The award comes with $40,000 to deepen CEF’s work in Orange and Durham Counties, working together with communities to transform financial and housing opportunities! CEF was recognized for our innovative work in “making homes and neighborhoods safer, connecting families to support services, and preparing people of all ages for successful careers – all important factors to improve health outcomes in underserved neighborhoods.”