Grant helps overcome barriers to Habitat home ownership

APPLETON, Wis. – Prospective homeowners who fall short of qualifying for a home though the Greater Fox Cities Area Habitat for Humanity have an advocate to help them reach their goals, thanks to support from the Basic Needs Giving Partnership of the Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region.

A grant of $83,520 over two years will fund a coordinator position for “Almost Home,” a program being run cooperatively by Habitat and Goodwill of North Central Wisconsin to offer financial, employment and training advice to would-be homeowners. It was one of four Basic Needs grants, totaling $383,520, approved recently.

In almost a year of operating as a pilot project – also funded by a Basic Needs grant – Almost Home has assisted 48 individuals or families who either couldn’t qualify for a Habitat home or were in danger of defaulting on their mortgage with Habitat.

“We are continuing to chip away at the reasons people are not qualifying for home ownership,” Bob Pedersen, Goodwill NCW president and CEO, said.

Almost Home Program Coordinator Jessica Patenaude, an employee of Goodwill, described the case of a widower caring for two children who was unemployed and had difficulty making

the payments on their Habitat home. She was able to place him in a part-time job at Goodwill working only during school hours. Patenaude said the single dad is gaining experience working in retail and improving his resume.

John Weyenberg, executive director of Fox Cities Habitat, said the typical client for the program has a little too much debt or not enough income to qualify to buy a home, even at Habitat’s

reduced costs. Others are current Habitat clients who may have lost income or lost employment

entirely in the recession. Thanks to the Basic Needs grant, he said, Patenaude will continue to connect clients with the appropriate community resources to get past their debt, employment or job training problems.

Partnering with Goodwill made resources for employment, training and financial counseling through Goodwill’s Financial Information and Service Center (FISC) more readily available.

“Goodwill and Habitat have been partnering for more than a decade,” Pedersen said, “and there’s just a ton of great synergies from that relationship.”

“This has worked better than we ever anticipated,” Weyenberg said of Almost Home.

The Basic Needs Giving Partnership – primarily supported by the U.S. Oil Open annual golf outing through the U.S. Oil Open Fund for Basic Needs within the Community Foundation and by the J. J. Keller Foundation – assists established charitable organizations with successful programs that address root causes of poverty.

“These grants represent contributions from hundreds of donors who believe in the U.S. Oil Open Fund for Basic Needs. We’re grateful to be able to support these and so many other organizations in the region that are involved in the fight against poverty,” said Sarah Schmidt, director of the U.S. Oil Open. 

Other nonprofit programs receiving Basic Needs grants were:

·         CAP Services (working with Delta Dental and St. Michael Hospital in Waupaca) – $240,000 over three years to support an expansion of the Ministry Dental Center’s services for low-income families into Waupaca County.

·         Harbor House – $15,000 in general operating support for the Appleton-based domestic abuse shelter and programs.

·         Housing Partnership of the Fox Cities – $45,000 over three years for general operating support for the affordable housing provider.

The mission of the Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region is to strengthen our community for current and future generations by helping people make a difference in the lives of others. Since its founding in 1986, donors to the Community Foundation have enabled it to award more than $125 million in grants to charitable organizations from hundreds of charitable funds under its administration. The Foundation is among the largest certified community foundations in Wisconsin. Affiliated community foundations are located in Chilton, Clintonville, Shawano and Waupaca. Go to www.cffoxvalley.org to learn more.

# # #