SAYREVILLE — The path to home ownership for many area residents may soon become easier, thanks to the guidance of Faith Fellowship Ministries, Chevalier Avenue.
Faith to Home, a $25 million faith-based program created to help area families become home and business owners, was launched Friday at Faith Fellowship Ministries’ (FFM) World Outreach Center. Faith to Home is designed to help families overcome home-ownership barriers such as impaired credit, inadequate savings, and lack of information and confidence in their abilities, according to coordinators.
Under the leadership of Faith Fellowship Ministries’ Community Development Corporation (CDC), the program uses the services of Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, Freddie Mac, Raritan Bay Medical Center, Rutgers University’s Small Business Development Center, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and state, county and local governments.
Faith to Home provides courses, taught in English and Spanish, that reach out to those in need of assistance with home-buying education, financial literacy and entrepreneurship, among other topics.
According to the Rev. Clarence Bulluck, executive director of CDC, the program is targeting low- to moderate-income residents throughout Middlesex, Monmouth, Somerset, Union and neighboring counties.
"As a faith-based organization, we are committed to helping people improve their quality of life both spiritually and economically," Bulluck said in a prepared statement. "Historically low-interest loan rates have generated widespread interest in home ownership. At the same time, common credit problems are preventing people from buying a home. This means that there is a critical need for the financial and home ownership education that we are providing."
The courses offered through Faith to Home will be taught by 23 trained community and church volunteers. Instructors, many of whom already hold specialized degrees, are trained in the CreditSmart financial literacy curriculum provided by Freddie Mac. Many supplement their instruction with personal experience.
Jamilla Gordon, a small business owner and FFM member, is a participant in the CDC entrepreneurial course "Starting Your Own Small Business." Motivated by her experience, Gordon has been officially trained as an instructor for the entrepreneurial course and will teach in the next round.
"I’m excited to instruct from the CreditSmart material and also be able to use my own personal experience as valuable advice," she said.
Craig Nickerson, vice president of community development and lending at Freddie Mac, a company that creates a continuous flow of money to mortgage lenders, spoke of the important need that the courses address.
"This is our way of being more assertive at the front line. Home ownership is the most important means through which families can build wealth. Owning a home is probably the greatest single investment that we will make in our lives," he said.
According to Nickerson, home ownership is now at 68 percent, its highest rate in U.S. history.
Freddie Mac provides CreditSmart to the CDC with no expense to the church, according to Gloria Yates, community development specialist for the company.
"We are a partner in every sense of the word," Yates said. "This material is very comprehensive. Topics like credit and credit reports, budgeting and money management are all covered."
Wells Fargo said it will offer flexible, low downpayment mortgages to participants of Faith to Home. According to the CDC, $3 million in mortgage loans have already been secured this year by those who have completed the courses.
During a preliminary round of courses that began in January, targeted at the 6,000 families within the tri-state area that are members of FFM, news of the opportunity spread and the instructors of the course found that 30 percent of those enrolled were not otherwise associated with the church.
"We didn’t anticipate this level of response. In the future, this number will surely increase as we advertise the program with the public," Bulluck said.
The initial courses offered by the CDC, conducted as a trial, saw the participation of nearly 2,000 individuals from the church and local community. According to statistics provided by the CDC, the Homebuyers Education course, offered for $50 per family, saw 105 participants. Twenty of these participants have already purchased their own homes as a result.
"This is a new milestone of where we’re going as a faith-based organization," Bulluck said. "This is an awesome task, but we have taken it on."
Shakisha McCray, also a member of FFM, enrolled in the Homebuyers’ Education and Counseling Program last January. According to McCray, instructors determined her readiness for the accelerated path, Faith Fast-Track, which is offered within the program. McCray said she purchased a home locally shortly thereafter."I was planning to buy a home, but this course provided the excellent empowerment tools that I needed," McCray said. "I was able to begin the home-buying process with knowledge and confidence. It has been such a blessing for me."
McCray also plans to become an instructor of the course.
"This program works," Sayreville Mayor Kennedy O’Brien said, explaining that a co-worker also completed the course and recently bought a home in the borough. "Rev. Bulluck has a God-given gift to understand people and identify their talents."
CDC members are set to begin the next cycle of courses Nov. 1. They said they anticipate a large response from the community.
"We hope that people will take advantage of this opportunity in order to live the quality of life that God has determined that they should have," Bulluck said. "We are driven."
The courses offered by the CDC run 12 hours and are typically scheduled in three four-hour sessions on Saturday mornings. For more information on scheduling and cost, contact Julie Vasquez at the Faith Fellowship CDC, 2707 Main St., Sayreville, at (732) 727-9500, ext. 1117, or e-mail [email protected].