African Development Center

ADC BOOSTS HOMESTRETCH TRAINING IN GREATER MINNESOTA

160 Families Prepare for the American Dream

African families in Greater Minnesota are being ushered into the opportunity circle, having received pre-purchase homeownership education (Homestretch) in their own cities. So far, five (5) Greater Minnesota cities (St. Cloud, Rochester, Marshall, Owatonna, and Mankato) have produced 160 homestretch graduates, a third of whom have registered for the next step in the home-buying process. Thirty (30) families are undergoing individualized pre-purchase “one-on-one” counseling. Nine (9) families have already been identified through the counseling process to be ready for mortgage financing.

ADC prides itself on unprecedented success with an EHMI pilot that puts home buying – and, thus, long-term financial stability – within reach for an underserved population. Funded in part by the Greater Minnesota Housing Fund and with technical support from the Minnesota Home Ownership Center, the Greater Minnesota pilot was enhanced by intensive community outreach and organizing processes. These processes were significant to helping these historically neglected or underserved families receive basic knowledge and skills about homeownership. Families who would not have otherwise acquired such leverage are empowered to make effective choices toward attaining and sustaining their “American Dream”.

The ADC believes that homeownership is a wealth-building process that creates stronger, more stable families and neighborhoods. The ADC is hopeful that a better Minnesota will evolve to embrace all races, cultures, and religions, and be tolerant to diversity. “Emerging Markets” will cease to be a mere term that has been carved to signify service to communities of color, but a reality that accepts and embraces the special needs and circumstances of the members of those communities. Currently, the standards or requirements put in place to serve emerging markets communities seem less empowering than actually anticipated.

St. Cloud, Stearns County
ADC’s first homestretch training in Greater Minnesota was held in St. Cloud on March 29, 2008, following massive outreach to the community by our local network – SASSO and Somali Elders Council, and with Central Minnesota Housing Partnership participating as a mainstream partner. Thirty-three (33) families completed eight (8) hours of training and were duly certified. They too are in line to find their place in the community of homeowners. In June and November 2008, 35 others completed the training, bringing the total of families trained in Homestretch to 68 in St. Cloud alone. Thirty-two (32) families have registered for pre-purchase counseling, nine (9) have begun, and three (3) have been found to be mortgage ready.

Rochester, Olmsted County
Rochester tops the record of number of families attending and completing Homestretch on a single day: 71 families showed up on the morning of May 31, 2008 at a hall prepared for only 25! The ADC was left with no other option but to seek relief at a local chartered school run by a Somali resident. The new location, though unanticipated, accommodated the full number of participants. ADC is still overwhelmed by the surge of families eager to learn the paths to homeownership. Twenty-one (21) families have begun one-on-one counseling since August 2008 – six have been found to be mortgage ready. The Somali Community Resettlement, ADC’s local partner, was effective with the outreach process that delivered the participants. Rochester is best known as the home of the Mayo Clinic, and is also home to one of IBM’s largest facilities.

Marshall, Lyon County
Marshall is perhaps the least populated of the five cities in which ADC conducted Homestretch. On the morning of December 14, 2008, fourteen (14) families graciously turned out to attend the first Homestretch class in their city. As in the other cities, the Marshal participants were excited about the culturally sensitive, value-added financial literacy curriculum, which highlighted the typical challenges they face: a) unfamiliarity with the process, b) lack of savings for a down payment, c) preference to invest in a business before buying a home, and d) lack of culturally appropriate financing tools. Pre-purchase counseling is expected to commence on March 16-20, 2009, with the hope that a few families will head toward homeownership, thus helping to close the gap. Iftiin is the local group that helped with the organizing within Marshall.

Mankato, Blue Earth County
Owatonna, Steel County
The homestretch training in Mankato combined participants from Mankato and Owatonna. Seven (7) families completed the training; three (3) from Owatonna and four (4) from Mankato. Mankato is the ADC’s secondary city – ADC’s Mankato satellite office is housed in the prestigious Technology Plus Building in Mankato. The workshop was held at Technology Plus, a top-of-the-line facility that once hosted a Quick Plus training of local partners in Greater Minnesota in October 2008.

Having undergone such rigorous training and counseling process, the ADC hopes that these families will be determined to avoid predatory lending, effectively manage their incomes and budget well. Overall, they will understand foreclosure and therefore do their best to avoid it. However, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.