On early February, the Business Opportunity Center (BOC) developed and provided educational training for community members who want to own their first home. Within one week, the Business Opportunity Center finished designing the training. On the day of the training, 66 participants attended and teachers from our José Martí Child Development Center provided childcare. In 2019, the BOC trained 123 prospective home buyers.
All 66 participants successfully completed the required training. We were thrilled with the outcome because we were able to assist communities who face housing affordability issues in our area. The next step is our Financial Empowerment staff will schedule one-on-one sessions with each participant. These sessions are intended to improve their credit situation through lending circles. This resource is a peer-to-peer model that helps participants access a loan with 0% interest while building credit. We are so excited to work with participants so that each of them can own their first home.