http://youtu.be/4V0G6A4lG9w

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Almost everyone knows that homeownership is a good way to build assets and wealth, but during the bank-created economic recession, hundreds of thousands of Americans were—and still are—facing mortgage foreclosures. Saving homes from foreclosure can be thought of as a real estate transaction, but for CDCs it is an intervention to help people avoid losing their major and sometimes only asset, and simultaneously to help whole communities resist decline.

Flint, Michigan is one of the iconic communities devastated by the nationwide foreclosure crisis. However, homeowners like Regina Richards, who had been laid off from one of her two jobs, might have lost their homes due to a build-up of unpaid property taxes and other expenses had it not been for the ability of an organization called Metro Community Development. The group provided her with financial counseling and eventually helped her get access to a program that provided zero interest loans to struggling homeowners. Metro Community Development[1] gets it that the issue isn’t simply housing units, it’s people. “Families lose assets, and those who don’t, lose value in their assets,” Metro Community Development CEO Ravi Yalamanchi said. “It’s a huge challenge.”

CDCs and their intermediary partners do themselves a great injustice when they boil down their activities and accomplishments to the production of housing units or, perhaps even more narrowly, how much money they have borrowed from banks and other lenders to make affordable housing happen. Housing production is an old-fashioned, myopic, and frequently inaccurate lens on what nonprofit community development corporations do.

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FLINT, MI – Regina Richards sits confidently in her home, thankful she was directed to a local organization that helped her save her home from tax foreclosure.

Richards, 48, has lived in Flint all her life and never thought she would be in a situation where her property tax bills would build up and the city she loved would threaten to take her home from her.

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FLINT, MI – A way of raising food with fish farms and gardens nourishing each other could bring self-sustaining, locally-grown products to Flint-area neighborhoods, farmer markets, stores and restaurants through a unique project.

It’s a big goal, but it would make a great impact, said Ravi Yalamanchi, CEO of Metro Community Development.

Metro Community Development, a program that helps disadvantaged youth obtain an education and job training, is partnering with Kettering University to create an aquaponics farm, which would put a fish tank on the bottom with a soil bed that has produce growing on the top of the tank.

The system works with waste from the garden used as food for the fish and the water in the fish tank pumped to the plants. After the water is cleaned through the garden, it is recycled back into the fish tank.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSeHWrVAnKY&feature=youtu.be

The post Metro is CEDAM’s 2014 Community Economic Development Leader of the Year appeared first on Metro Community Development.

Years after the real estate market collapse, families are still struggling to pay their mortgage and keep their homes, but there is help available.

A group called Metro Community Development is offering free counseling to Genesee County homeowners that are in the foreclosure process or dealing with other financial challenges.

ABC12 spoke with a woman who took advantage of that help.

Wynn McCree was one step away from losing her home. She says this program changed her life.

McCree moved into her Flint home in 2005, but her new home came with several challenges.

After McCree bought it, she injured her ankle, which left her out of work.

For four years in a row, she faced foreclosure.

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The post The Step Forward Program helps homeowners struggling to pay mortgage appeared first on Metro Community Development.

Show Me the Money Day offers a great opportunity for residents of the Flint-area to connect with the many financial institutions, nonprofits, service agencies, and other organizations that offer financial products, credit repair, homeownership programs, free tax preparation information, and more.

Local financial institutions that are members of the Flint CRA Bankers Forum are Chemical Bank, FirstMerit, First Place Bank, Fifth Third Bank, Flagstar Bank, Independent Bank, Chase Bank, Flag Star Bank and the State Bank. Numerous prize drawings throughout the day, including a $500 gift card and gas cards.

Click here to watch the ABC12 News Coverage

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While shelters fill up in this cold weather, volunteers are getting ready to find out exactly how many people are homeless in Genesee County.

Shelters and volunteers will count homeless people throughout the county and that number means federal funding to help them, help the community.

“They did help me here,” said Jacqueline Johnson, who lives at the Shelter of Flint.

Without the shelter, Johnson said she’d be in a bad situation. She and her son came to the Shelter of Flint the day after Christmas.

“They gave me a warm bed, my son and I,” she said.

For her, all it took was a month to get back on her feet; she’ll be going home any day now.

But for many, homelessness is their life and shelters across Genesee County want to help.

“We will have teams of people on the streets throughout the day and overnight looking for people,” said Liz Ruediger, with the Shelter of Flint.

Volunteers will literally count people on the streets and those in shelters. That number goes to the feds and they doll out grant dollars depending on the new number.

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The post Genesee Co. volunteers planning homeless count next week, impacts federal funding appeared first on Metro Community Development.

FLINT, MI – Whether it’s a sock hop or the thought of donating socks that catches interest, University of Michigan-Flint students are asking for the community’s help.

The UM-Flint Social Work Club is asking the community to help collect pairs of socks for those who are homeless in the Flint area. The “Sock it to Us” Sock Hop is planned from 6 to 9 p.m. Sept. 7 at Court Street United Methodist Church, located at 225 W. Court St. in Flint.

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FLINT – A Michigan group is calling for a citywide effort to financially back small businesses through an innovative online loan process.

Michigan Corps, a platform empowering Michiganders to make a difference at home, is launching Kiva – the world’s first online lending platform which connects lenders to entrepreneurs – in Flint.

The purpose is to engage the community as lenders and champions of local businesses, with hopes that it leads to the building of vibrant communities.

The initiative leverages zip.kiva.org, a pilot program of Kiva.org, where individuals can browse through the profiles and stories of local business owners and budding entrepreneurs, and select those they want to support with a $25 loan.

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