NeighborWorks: Success Stories

Success Story: Southwestern Vermont
A Lifetime Dream Comes True.

Duayne and Holly Allen have rented their entire lives and in some not so great places. For the last few years they enjoyed living in Westview Apartments owned by Springfield Housing Authority, yet they still dreamed of having a place of their own and a yard where their seven year old daughter, who has special needs, could play.

In the past they explored getting a loan to buy a house but it fell through at the last moment. They did not have enough income to afford a house that met lender guidelines. Then, Springfield Housing Authority let them know about a very unique opportunity underway nearby.

A strong partnership leads to multiple benefits
Springfield Housing Authority partnered with Vermont Works for Women to develop a house on land owned by the Authority. Vermont Works for Women had the vision and persistence to put together a vocational training program with Vermont Department of Corrections for women in the Windsor Correctional facility. This program is building 5-star energy efficient modular homes and selling them to nonprofit partners to sell to working Vermonters. The women inmates learn important skills while building a low maintenance, low cost affordable home that ready them for work once they leave.

When the Allens found out about this opportunity they turned to Rockingham Area Community Land Trust’s NeighborWorks® HomeOwnership Center of Southeastern Vermont to get the education and assistance they needed to understand all the in’s and outs of buying a home. Holly remarks: “Tina and Jim provided us with information about what we would be facing and made it all easy to understand. We could call anytime and they were very patient and understanding.”

Ringing in the New Year
The application process with USDA Rural Development Direct Loan program and Vermont State Housing Authority Section 8 Housing assistance program went smoothly and the Allens handled each step of the underwriting and inspection process with eager confidence. On December 29th they closed on the house to welcome in what looks to be a wonderful and fulfilling new year for the Allen family.

Recently Holly and Duayne reflected on the changes that home ownership will bring to their life: “It’s like heaven. We are very happy. Our daughter thinks she is on vacation. Already we are enjoying the privacy and spending time outside.” They understand that homeownership will bring challenges including rising real estate taxes and surprise expenses. These are outweighed by the sense of peacefulness and the ability to relax, not to mention having a garage to put the car in!

Vocational Training Program Makes a Difference in Women’s Lives

WHEN Jen Litch went to prison last year for her second drug-related offense, she felt totally hopeless. She had let down her two young children, again. “I felt I should give up, because I wasn’t ever going to make it,” she says. “I wasn’t going to be any different, ever.”

Even so, inside jail, there was one program that sparked her interest. It was a hands-on training project in the construction trades.

“We counted: there were 60 real and significant partners in the project,” including private businesses, says Tiffany Bluemle, executive director of Vermont Works for Women.

As a former inmate who became a crew leader on the project, Jen Litch knows well how much it meant to the two dozen women who spent, altogether, a year building the new home. It was partly that they learned a trade that could get them a decent job after their release, which a number of program graduates have done—including Litch, who now works for Engelberth Construction.

When the Governor and other dignitaries came to the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the home that the women had built, she says, “it was a really, really proud moment in their lives. You could see how much it meant to them. It beamed from their faces.”

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