Nehemiah: Making the American Dream possible for first-time homeowners

From CBS News: The Nehemiah project began in the 1980s building privately-owned homes on land that nobody wanted in East Brooklyn and sold the homes at prices that were affordable to working class families. Church and community organizers mobilized local politicians to sell the land for almost nothing and provide subsidies for community members and raise money that could be used for loans. The program has built 6,500 homes and created an estimated $1.5 billion of wealth for first time Black and Latino homeowners.

Click here to read the original story.

Issue Areas:

Housing, Land Use, Sustainable Development

Impact Areas:

Distributed Trust and Power, Equity

Actors:

BIPOC Communities, Lending, Banking, and Financial Institutions

Communities Served:

BIPOC Communities, Communities Experiencing Economic Hardship

Strategies:

Collective Action, Easing Economic Burdens for Individuals, Redefining Land / Land Ownership

Success Factors:

Building Distribution Systems, Eliminating Barriers, Embracing the Power of Relationships, Leveling the Playing Field, Meeting People Where They Are At, Overcoming the Big Challenges

Geographic Region:

North America

Countries:

United Kingdom

Date:

September 11, 2022

More Resources:

California helps college students cut their debt by paying them to help their communities

From Gail Cornwall / The Hechinger Report: In an effort to help lower student debt while benefiting the community, the #CaliforniansForAll College Corps program provides 3,200 students with service jobs and pays them $700 a month. Click here to read...

Inside the Nation’s Largest Guaranteed Income Experiment

From Abby Vesoulis, Abigail Abrams / TIME: A guaranteed income program is giving people the financial security to invest in themselves, avoid predatory loans, pay off debt, and improve their general quality of life. The lack of conditions on how...

A revolution in helping Africa’s poor: Cash with no strings attached

From Katharine Houreld / The Washington Post: GiveDirectly runs a program that gives a lump sum of cash directly to those in need, without needing to qualify with other specifications (such as school enrollment or vaccination status). Lump sum funds...

What America can learn from Canada’s new ‘$10 a Day’ child care system

From Jackie Mader / The Hechinger Report: The $10 a Day initiative, which started in British Columbia and is now being expanded throughout Canada, subsidizes child care centers so that tuition for families can be capped at a more affordable...

What Germany’s Coal Miners Can Teach America About Medical Debt

From Noam N. Levey / KFF Health News: Germany, like the U.S., has a largely private healthcare system that relies on private doctors and private insurers. Like Americans, many Germans enroll in a health plan through work, splitting the cost...

Conversation with Friendly Vang-Johnson

Friendly Vang-Johnson manages Friendly Hmong Farms, a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) social enterprise business, leveraging her 20+ years of experience in social justice work. Her understanding of the intersection between food sovereignty, land reparations, and racial justice was shaped by...