This new grant will continue previous work funded by the Ford Foundation, focusing on the accumulation of wealth and social capital among low- and moderate-income renters and homeowners, as well as evaluating the performance of loans in the Community Advantage Secondary Market Program. The goal of the program — a partnership among the Ford Foundation, the Center for Community Self-Help and Fannie Mae, is to expand home ownership opportunities for credit-worthy, low-income, low-wealth individuals who are not now effectively being served by the conventional market.

Through the new Ford grant, the center will continue its research in many directions, including:

• Using Census data to analyze the neighborhoods where Self-Help borrowers live;
• Using a second wave of data to examine changes in the lives of the borrowers (i.e. employment patterns, changes in income and household status, the social impacts of home ownership);
• Co-authoring a paper with Fannie Mae and Self-Help detailing the structure of the partnership among the Ford Foundation, Fannie Mae and Self-Help.

The Center for Community Capitalism, directed by professor Michael Stegman, engages in multidisciplinary research and outreach activities that explore ways to apply private sector approaches to revitalization of America’s distressed communities.

"This grant will enable us to determine the role that home equity plays in the lives of low and moderate income families and to suggest new strategies to help working families build wealth," Stegman said.