Economic Empowerment Project helps 73 participants buy assets

Three years of sharing a cramped public housing apartment with her young children convinced Myriam Ibanez she needed to buy her own home. She enrolled in KDVA's Individual Development Account program and, with the help of Barren River Area Safe Space (BRASS) staff members, improved her credit score and saved $6,000--enough money for a down payment. The only problem was Myriam didn't earn enough income through her part-time job at a day care center to make a monthly mortgage payment.
That's when BRASS staff members Erin Pearson and Karla Trujillo stepped in. They helped Myriam write a resume and urged her to look for full-time employment. With their encouragement, Myriam enrolled in a certified nursing assistant training program. Her full-time job at a Bowling Green nursing home, along with her children's child support, meant she and her three children finally could afford their own home.
The family moved into the three-bedroom, two bathroom frame house on a well-maintained street in Bowling Green earlier this month. The $100,000 house sites on an acre of land in a neighborhood of newly constructed homes. Myriam said the home will make life better for her children: Marina, 11 months, Paula, 8, and Daniel, 12.
" I could buy this house because I got a better job," Myriam explained. "It's a really nice neighborhood, and my yard is big enough for my children to play." Myriam is one of 39 people who have purchased homes with the help of KDVA's IDA program. Thirty others have used their IDAs to go to school and four have used them to start small businesses. Nine home purchases are pending. About 200 participants are enrolled.
IDAs are restricted, matched savings accounts and every dollar a participant saves is matched 2 to 1. Participants who maximize the program finish with a $6,000. Participatns must haved earned income and meet income requirements. All participants are required to attend financial literacy classes, meet monthly with their case managers, and, if necessary, pay down debt and improve their credit scores.
Myriam was referred to BRASS through the court system. She met Karla when she began attending a group for Hispanic domestic violence victims. When Erin showed up one day to recruit IDA participants, Myriam was first in line. Myriam took less than two years to save her $2,000, and participataed regularly in all her case management meetings and financial education classes, Erin said. She worked hard to pay down her debt and tapped the IDA Emergency Fund to help pay a $400 past-due debt.
Karla helped Myriam write a resume, and both advocates talked to her about her intersets and helped her decide to seek a job with a nursing home that paid her to become a certified nursing assistant. Myriam, who has a green card, was born in Columbia, so Karla, who speaks Spanish, sometimes helped out during case management sessions. Erin said it took them four months to convince Myriam that she could improve her living standards. "The hardest part was building her confidence," Erin said. "Once we got through that, then we started focusing on how we were going to increase her income."

This article was taken form the Kentucky Domestic Violence Association Summer 2008 Newsletter.