Press Room

 

 

Media Advisory                                                       For Immediate Release

 

Housing Fund of Central Alabama Awards Grant to JCCEO

(BIRMINGHAM, AL, March 7, 2007) -- The Housing Fund of Central Alabama (the Fund) announced today that it has awarded a $28,000 grant for core operating support and professional development to the Jefferson County Committee for Economic Opportunity.

 The Fund’s Grants Officer, Lois Chenier, said today that the grant will pay a portion of the salaries for the Program Coordinator for the Asset Building and Housing Counseling Program, and for the Homeownership Education Specialist. 

 “This grant to JCCEO will provide a key element of support for the agency to increase the number of clients who will become successful homebuyers and renters,” Ms. Chenier said.

 Gayle Cunningham is the Executive Director of JCCEO, a community based non-profit whose mission is to reduce poverty by assisting families to meet current needs and become self sufficient through the effective, flexible, and innovative use of all available resources. JCCEO’s housing counseling program works with low and moderate-income individuals in areas such as homebuyer education, mortgage default and delinquency, delinquent renter, housing consumer education, and post-purchase housing counseling. The Housing Division served more than 150 clients during 2005-2006. Its counseling services office is at 1200 Tuscaloosa Ave. SW in the Enterprise community of Birmingham.

 This is the second Housing Fund grant awarded to JCCEO. The agency received a $25,000 grant for salary support in 2006.

 The Fund’s 17-member Capacity Building Advisory Committee (CBAC) recommended approval of the grant to the Housing Enterprise of Central Alabama Board, which approved the grant. Co-Chairs for CBAC are Mimi Tynes, Former President, The Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham; and Maria Campbell, Chairman, Financial Services, SC&B Strategic Solutions.

 The Fund awards grants two times per calendar year: January and July.  Deadlines for each grant cycle are October 1 and April 1, respectively.  Since 2003, the Fund has awarded more than $500,000. The Fund also is investing nearly $250,000 in its Non-Profit Incubator program.

 About the Housing Fund of Central Alabama (www.housingenterprise.com): Based in Birmingham, the Fund is a non-profit affiliate of the Housing Enterprise of Central Alabama, LLC (HECA) that opened in 2003 to increase the production of moderately priced housing by providing grants to non-profits for core operating support on a limited basis, technical assistance and programs related to capacity building in the non-profit affordable housing development community. The Fund also partners with HECA, a for-profit lender, to provide financing to qualified private and non-profit developers to build and renovate single-family and multi-family housing for moderate-income families. The Fund also supports ancillary services such as homebuyer training and credit counseling, which help to guarantee the success and sustainability of communities.  The Fund has an initial grant pool of $1.6 million.

 Major investors in the Housing Fund and its incubator are: Regions Bank, Compass Bank, New South Federal Savings Bank, First American Bank, Superior Bank, Aliant Bank, The Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham, the Stringfellow Health Fund of the Community Foundation of Calhoun County, the Walker Area Community Foundation, State Farm Insurance Companies®, the Wachovia Foundation, the Alabama Power Foundation, and BancorpSouth Foundation.

 The Fund serves 12 counties in Central Alabama: Bibb, Blount, Calhoun, Chilton, Cullman, Etowah, Jefferson, St. Clair, Shelby, Talladega, Tuscaloosa and Walker

 For more information, please contact Tabitha J Lacy, Communications, Housing Fund of Central Alabama, 205-323-9888, or tlacy@housingenterprise.com.

 

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