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Boston Area Office - Money Smart Model Sites
(Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont)
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| Contact: |
Tim DeLessio, Community Affairs Officer
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
15 Braintree Hill Office Park
Braintree, Massachusetts 02184
(781) 794-5632
(866) 728-9953 |
Willimantic-Danielson Partnership: ACCESS Agency, Inc. Model Site
The Willimantic-Danielson Partnership: ACCESS Agency, Inc. Model Site emerged as a result of a partnership between a non-profit community-based organization and two Department of Labor/Connecticut Works One-Stop Employment Centers. ACCESS is a non-profit community action program geared toward meeting the needs of low- and moderate income individuals residing in rural communities, with special emphasis on the delivery of its services to welfare recipients transitioning into the workplace. A broad range of programs such as life skills training, personal and group counseling, family skills, mentoring, job training, and post-placement services are offered to promote self-sufficiency. The Money Smart curriculum is used in conjunction with the financial education component within a number of the programs offered by ACCESS to its English- and Spanish-speaking clients. Financial self-sufficiency is an integral part of the service strategy for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program and Individual Development Accounts (IDA) program. ACCESS also provides voluntary tax preparation services and promotes Earned Income Tax Credits (EITC) claims among eligible Money Smart class participants.
TANF
provides employment focused workshops and intensive career development
and career counseling services designed to transition monolingual clients
into employment and self-sufficient lifestyles. The IDA program is
a matched savings plan whereby participants' savings are matched 1:1.
Funds can
be used toward the purchase of a value added economic asset such as
a home, post-secondary education or a small business. The IDA program
provides
the financial training and case management support necessary to help
ensure the success of those committed to achieving financial stability
for themselves
and their families. A full, ten module course is offered to the public
twice a year.
Partners
Trainers are provided by ACCESS to conduct Money Smart classes for job-training activities, TANF clients, IDA clients and participants in a myriad of other programs. ACCESS trainers use seven of the Money Smart modules to teach classes on a weekly basis over the course of a seven-week period. The Savings Institute of Willimantic provides low-cost bank accounts in support of the IDA program. For a listing of model site partners please select Financial Institutions or Other Partners.
Accomplishments
- More than 4,451low- and moderate income individuals have attended Money
Smart classes conducted at the offices of ACCESS Agency and
the two Connecticut Works One-Stop Employment Centers.
Pro-Home, Inc. Model Site
Pro-Home is located in Taunton, Massachusetts, a city of almost 70,000, about 35 miles South of Boston. The FDIC has been a partner with Pro-Home, for community development projects, since 1998. Pro-Home was formed for "the protection and production of affordable housing" and has been approved as a housing counseling agency by 3 major housing-related agencies: HUD, Citizens Housing and Planning Association (CHAPA), and the Mass. Housing Finance Agency (MassHousing). On an annual budget of $260,000, Pro-Home employs a staff of 3, plus the executive director, and serves 16 surrounding towns, with a total population approaching 300,000. It is the only housing agency in the geographical area.
The relationship between Pro-Home, the FDIC, and financial institution partners began with the formation of an affordable housing subcommittee to research impediments to fair housing, in compliance with a HUD requirement of the city, to continue receiving CDBG funding. The FDIC CAS was selected to chair the subcommittee and continues in that capacity today. Over the years, the scope of the affordable housing subcommittee has expanded as the demands placed on Pro-Home have expanded.
Current Projects
Pro-Home has expanded its programs from pre-purchase housing counseling, to include post-purchase counseling, financial literacy education using the FDIC Money Smart curriculum, acquisition and rehabilitation of abandoned housing (housing development), and establishment and operation of a regional fair housing commission. During 2006, Pro-Home will consider several possible housing developments, but puts a higher probability of success on the following:
- Continuing negotiations for a vacant commercial building plus adjoining vacant parcel of land, on which ProHome would build its own set of offices with apartment units on the second and/or third floor. This property does contain an underground oil storage tank (UST), which tends to lengthen the negotiation process.
- Continuing to seek abandoned property with the intent of foreclosing under the Attorney's General's Abandoned Housing Program. With 2006 being an election year, the AGs office would very much like to see some more progress in this area. The only property that has been recently located, and defined as abandoned, has now been reclaimed and remodeled by the owner, who lives in Connecticut.
- Pro Home has signed a P&S on 2 parcels of land for almost $400,000. The
City ZBA has preliminarily approved a subdivision proposal from Pro-Home
on one parcel, which will result in construction of a single residence and
a duplex. This subdivision plan will be effective after a 20 day appeal period
(say by the end of February). A single residence will be constructed on the
remaining parcel. The Affordable Housing Subcommittee will meet to discuss
financing of the 3 parcels (4 units), as well as construction and end financing.
- The remaining project is related to financial education, rather than affordable housing development. It entails moving the site of the Money Smart financial education classes from the Attleboro Public Library, over to the United Way offices in Attleboro, MA, which has expressed a commitment to financial education and also has an established client base that will be encouraged to attend classes. UW has suggested that it will strongly encourage recipients of its food and fuel programs to sign a pledge to return to attend financial education classes.
Accomplishments
- From May, 2003, through December, 2005, Pro-Home has conducted 17 Money Smart courses for 150 adult students. Over 115 have completed all ten Money Smart modules. To allow the course to be run in a second city, teaching capacity was expanded in early 2005, by enlisting the support of more financial institutions. For 2005 alone, courses numbered 6 and attendees numbered 38. However, ProHome is now noticing a distinct slowdown in the number of people attending classes. At the beginning of 2005, attendance was running between 12-15, but by the end of the year attendance had slipped to 6 or 7. Attleboro, being a new site for financial education, only had 2 or 3 attend each course. This drop in participation is being attributed to two facts: there are not enough reasonably priced houses that allow first time homebuyers to qualify for purchase; and mortgage rates are slowly rising which knocks many first time homebuyers entirely out of the market. As a housing counseling agency, ProHome has a focused client base and without an opportunity to purchase a home, these people become discouraged and opt out of attendance. There is some added participation from clients of the Taunton Housing Authority, but it is not significant, and residents of Attleboro have not yet discovered the value of either ProHome or financial education.
- City-wide survey and focus groups to obtain public opinion and input on impediments to fair and affordable housing.
- Creation of a regional Fair Housing Commission and submission of a Fair Housing Ordinance to the City Council.
- Sustained Money Smart classes for over two years.
- Installed as a member of the Money Smart Alliance.
- Foreclosure of an abandoned single residence under the Attorneys General's Abandoned Housing Program, and subsequent rehabilitation and sale by lottery to a qualified first time homebuyer.
- Purchase offers have recently been submitted for two commercial parcels in downtown Taunton, subject to a phase 1 and 2 environmental study (UST), and a feasibility study to determine the most effective layout and best design for development of the properties.
- Received approval to expand its homebuyer counseling program, to encompass 16 surrounding towns.
- Expanded its Money Smart financial education program into an adjoining city.
Partners
Pro-Home draws on a wide variety of resources throughout the city, but for housing and related issues it relies heavily on its affordable housing subcommittee which is comprised entirely of financial institution representatives. Two of those institutions also serve on the Pro Home Board of Directors. As the recognition of the need for, and importance of, financial education has grown, so have the financial institution partners volunteering to teach the Money Smart curriculum, and to advise Pro-Home on other matters concerning community development. What began as a coalition of 4 banks and the FDIC has now grown to a list of 10 financial institutions , with the FDIC serving as a substitute, as needed. These partners also serve as an advisory board for reviewing construction plans and cost estimates, as well as providing construction and permanent financing, and general advice on housing development and fair housing issues.
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