Part I has interviews I conducted with Executive Director Donna Gallagher and AmeriCorps*VISTA Leader Zarak Khan. They explain what the Asset Alliance and IDA Collaborative is, along with why there is a VISTA presence. Part II is interviews I conducted with VISTAs placed at innovating asset building and IDA programs throughout the state, and Part III is all about the New Century IDA and my and Alexandra's role within this groundbreaking IDA working group. -Andriana Bicanin [AmeriCorps*VISTA].
Background:
There are currently ten VISTAs placed throughout the state of North Carolina supporting the Asset Alliance’s partner organizations. These high energy, service minded individuals have devoted a year of their life to helping build capacity at their sites, and helping those in poverty rise above and empower themselves. The goal of the AmeriCorps*VISTA project is to help the people in America rise out of poverty and create a lifetime of knowledge and empowerment. Welfare can get a person only so far, what sets them up for independence is asset building, and that is exactly what these amazing organizations are doing.
The Organizations who House the VISTAs:
New Century IDA: Experiment in Self Reliance
New Century IDA: Forsyth County Department of Housing. Winston Salem
Kingdom Community Development Corporation: Fayetteville
Eagle Market Street Development Corporation: Asheville
Community Link in Charlotte
Durham Regional Financial Center in Durham
Prosperity Unlimited in Kannapolis
Gaston Community Action in Gastonia
Choanoke Area Development Association in Rich Square
Beyond Academics at the University of North Carolina Greensboro
Donna Gallagher is the Executive Director of the North Carolina Asset Building Collaborative (NCIDA), and is part of a four state coalition with West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. As executive director of the NCIDA she works to develop programs and solutions for North Carolina through participating with partners, raising money, and working with the asset collaborative board.Before working as executive director of the NCIDA Donna was a banker and CPA (Certified Public Accountant). She left that world in order to go into child welfare. For eighteen years she worked in child welfare, housing and juvenile justice; it was during this time she saw a constant trend of emergency needs, and very few long term, sustainable, move out of poverty, types of programs that give families a path to take care of themselves either through education training or long term planning. She felt that government assistance, in some ways, does not place emphasis on long term solutions to staying out of poverty because welfare recipients are not able to accumulate assets through this sort of aide. She went into the Individual Development Account field because it is one of the major answers for upward mobility. Donna constantly saw families in poverty and a lack of resources for upward mobility and staying out of poverty. Seeing this motivated her to go into asset building, and continues to motivate her today. As she told me,
“Working in asset building means you work for an Equitable States of America. Liberty and justice for all is not just words, it means something. Public policy many times is geared to provide resources to the wealthy, so working in asset building means that you are working for an equitable America.”
The North Carolina Asset Building Collaborative:
The North Carolina Asset Building Collaborative works with programs and organizations around the state to build wealth for low to moderate income North Carolinians. They do this through: public policy advocacy, support programs like AmeriCorps VISTA and N.C. Saves, and work with other organizations where savings programs and financial education is the focus. Asset building overall is a huge field and they are trying to take the niche of savings- that of IDA and matched savings, and an array of other wealth building programs and ventures.
How was the NCIDA formed?
The collaborative is fourteen years old. When organizations were applying for the initial grants for the American Dream Demonstration, a group of service minded individuals applied for it but were initially rejected. This was seen as a blessing in disguise because the North Carolina Asset Building Collaborative was later able to get funding from the North Carolina General Assembly. This allowed them to create a program modeled and structured specifically to address the needs of the people and communities of North Carolina, rather than having to follow a federal model. After not getting accepted for the federal grant, the group went to Raleigh and said they wanted to bring this sort of asset building grant to North Carolina. A group of them wrote an AFI grant and were able to bring matched funding to North Carolina. The funds were sub-granted across the state into programs that wanted to do IDAs, with the collaborative still in the role of training and technical assistance with IDA and other capacity help. From there came the birth of the IDA collaborative.
What are some projects ya’ll are working on?
The NCIDA is putting a lot of effort into economic security forums. There are two forums scheduled for: Kannapolis and Durham (there was just one on November 16th in Williamston). These are facilitated presentations about asset building, and are broken up into small groups to drill down on housing, financial services and savings, education and small business.
NC Saves week: February 20th 2011.
Conference planning for 2011 Asset building conference. In addition to four state savings partnership.
NC Asset Alliance: The session starts after the 1st of the year. Advocacy on behalf of an equitable, which is hard this year because of the budget deficit. She is hoping the gains they made these past few years don’t get cut to plug the budget deficit. The assets alliance will be taking a leadership role in the ongoing efforts over policy and communications- there will be a lot of activity in early spring with the North Carolina General Assembly going into session.
Upcoming Events:
If you would like to attend any upcoming events, please go to the North Carolina Asset Alliance website and register. The events are free because of these wonderful sponsors: CFED, Bank of America, and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation.
Why were VISTAs brought in, what is the VISTAs role in asset building, and why is it even necessary to have a VISTA presence?
AmeriCorps VISTAs were brought in to support and create a strong asset building awareness in communities throughout the state, which in turn helps create a lasting movement. Those in the NCIDA know there is work that has to be done on a lot of levels, and CFED has done a wonderful job nationally by providing good research through the scorecard, as well as learning opportunities and assistance on a lot of levels, but the VISTAs are here to help create awareness and build capacity at a local level.
Only five years ago the IDA collaborative received a grant to build the assets alliance- and now the assets alliance has almost 60 partners, as well as groups around the state that work on some piece of the assets agenda. There is a strong group of experts and advocates at the state level, but what was missing was drilling down the program and movement at the community level.
Understanding the economic split in N.C. is important when looking at why VISTAs were brought in, as well as understanding the needs of the communities and public outreach on behalf of the community.
The N.C. Rural Center works in 85 counties that are considered rural (where there are fewer than 250 people per square mile). Half of the population lives in rural areas, that is four million people. Rural center gets lots of resources they can bring in to small towns and communities. The collaborative met and asked themselves where they needed to put resources in community building, because there was already support in rural communities they decided to focus on urban areas. They looked at research done by the N.C. Center for Poverty Work and Opportunity; they looked at those pockets of poverty that are resident in urban center. Seeing as half of population of North Carolina lives in these areas, this is where they chose to place VISTAs. They wanted to provide additional resources for what they believe is a sustainable solution to poverty in urban areas of N.C.
More about VISTAs in the Asset Building Movement:
The IDA Collaborative houses the VISTAs for a term of three years. In this three year period they will:
1) Raise awareness of the organizations where they are placed.
2) Bring engagement
3) Create lasting solutions and build capacity.
The network of VISTAs across the state are a high energy group and they provide an outside view, objectivity, and bring fresh eyes into what’s going on with this movement. The accomplishments of this group are long range. Through the VISTA efforts they will be able to share what works well across the state. This is already happening. In the short three months the VISTAs have been with the NCIDA they have been sharing their efforts and energy and accomplishments. Donna is excited to see where the VISTAs take the organizations in three or fours years from now, and how their connection with the assets movement for N.C. creates a stronger link to the nonprofits, and asset building movement. She is hoping this will result in stronger laws, stronger public policies, and local actions that will support shared prosperity and connections so that everyone in N.C. has the opportunity to build assets. Assets are not an income solution, assets are a broader and more comprehensive view of families economic security.
Four State Asset Building Collaborative:
Donna is busy not only helping the people of North Carolina, but those in our region, through a coalition effort in executing the best asset building techniques and programs. The four state coalition is comprised of: the North Carolina Asset Building Collaborative, Virginia Community Capital (capitalized by the state of Virginia), South Carolina Association of Community Development Corporations (CDCs), and the West Virginia Kanawha Institute for Social Research and Action (KISRA).
This four state collaborative came about when Donna was having a conversation with the program officer at the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation around their work in asset building. He talked about the fact that they had done some grants together with asset building programs, and asked if she was interested in leading a group on how the different states can come together and benefit from each others work. The foundation provided a grant in the fall of 2009 and invited representatives from the other three states to come together. Dan Kornelis, the Director of Housing for Forsyth County (N.C.), hosted the training at the Forsyth County government building.
After coming to terms as to what their shared goal was and discussing each organizations strengths, they came to the common goal of increasing the savings of low wealth residents in their states. They surveyed everyone they knew involved with financial education and savings programs, and through these findings savings gaps were identified in respect to geography; common findings and dialogue: not everyone has access to financial institutions where they can save, the institutions can not be supported without costs, specific populations needs, and a lot of dialogue around the need for youth savings, need for education savings, and seniors were also mentioned.
They found that a savings product or program with small savings goals is needed especially in groups that serve very low income folks. They also found commonalities with home needs, appliance and furniture, and transportation. The NCIDA is trying to build emergency funds into North Carolina Saves. They left their efforts at this and went back to the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation and told them that they felt they could take this effort regionally.
In order to promote assets for all, they are reaching out to employer groups, financial institutions that are across the region, and other advocacy groups, on the regional level. The regional collaborative recently received word they will be funded for two more years. In 2011, the NCIDA is taking the N.C. Conference in Asset Building regional by inviting the three others states to this normally North Carolina only conference.
Any more thoughts or parting words?
“Overall, if we needed a lesson on how interconnected our economic survival is, the economic downturn is a perfect example. North Carolina has a bright future- there is a 1.5 decrease in unemployment- the question is how to we make it bright for all residents.” She is very optimistic that they can, “Continue to make North Carolina the best state in the country to Live, Work, and Play.”
His interview is much the same as the one I conducted with Donna, but he is able to provide us with an outsider’s view on what the movement in North Carolina looks like, what the role of AmeriCorps is, and his efforts with the organization. His role as supporter and coordinator for the VISTAs, as well as his previous VISTA experience, provides a unique perspective and insight into our roles and endeavors in North Carolina.
What Drives You to Help this Cause?
His background is heavy in volunteerism. He worked with Habitat for Humanity in Jacksonville, FL. (Habijax), and worked around poverty education as an undergraduate. He views his current role as VISTA Leader and talking to partners and collaborative members about their experiences as a “crash course” in capacity building for this type of nonprofit work.
Zarak chose to join this effort because of his background in partnership creation and sustaining such relationships. What drives him is the aspect of working with all members of the collaborative and helping them run smoothly. He finds the process of getting to know different people and organizations, seeing how their strengths work well together, partnering them, and seeing how those partnerships are fruitful and productive for everyone involved, very rewarding.
What is Your View of the North Carolina Assets Building Collaborative?
The Collaborative works with several different partners around the state that participate in IDA programs or are interested in IDA programs, the Assets Alliance, and those who build assets. It is a mix of working with partners on the ground, as well as state and national advocacy and education. They participate in state and national conferences and forums such as the CFED conference. They also talk to lawmakers about asset building programs and things that North Carolina legislators can do to support such a program.
A prime example of how the Collaborative helps the state is through the VISTA project. The VISTA project works to build capacity and keep lines of communication open with those who work on asset building and IDAs.
He said he is learning more and more about what each individual agency does and how much each agency knows about other collaborative members. Because of the connectedness of the VISTAs and the efforts each are putting into their organizations and with each other, the collaborative will be drawn closer together.
Nationally, North Carolina is ahead of other states when it comes to consumer protection and policies. Along with success comes struggles such as indexing minimum wage to inflation and support of state IDAs, but overall North Carolina is doing a great job with its asset building movement and IDA programs. North Carolina is actively bringing in modes of support and means to increase the success of its programs.
VISTA Presence
When I asked Zarak what he was most excited about when it came to working with the collaborative, his voice was upbeat as he said, “Easy answer. The VISTA project.” His interest and excitement over this project is clearly evident. This is the aspect that he’s most intimately familiar with, and a program he truly enjoys.
He just finished compiling the quarterly VISTA report, and the accomplishments and stories the VISTAs shared in their reports really excited him for where this project is going. The quarterly report required that each VISTA write what they have done at their service sites from the start of their service term in August, up until the beginning of October. The fact that the report only reflects the first five weeks of service shows the enthusiasm, energy, and strengths of this group of VISTAs. They have already gained “amazing” accomplishments that have not even been slated for completion for another six months.
He finds it is exciting to see how these things have been put into place, how effective and dedicated the VISTAs are, and how they have easily slipped into the groove of the agencies pretty early on. It will be interesting and exciting to see how these organizations have expanded, grown, and been supported two and three years from now, due to the efforts of the VISTAs.
In his view, the reason VISTAs are necessary is because nonprofits in general have the tendency to be overworked, understaffed, and under-funded. They help create sustainable new programs and with building capacity for those that already exist. With nonprofits that do emergency assistance the focus is on getting by and making sure people have absolute necessities- VISTAs have the time and perspective to see where change can help the nonprofit, they can also implement plans, and build new ways of offering things through the organization.
The majority of his time is spent working with the VISTA project. It encompasses a lot of planning and implementation of the VAD (VISTA Assignment Description). The VAD is put together by site supervisors and unique to each organizations needs. It is the assignment descriptions the VISTAs are trying to accomplish throughout the year. He makes sure that everyone, VISTA and supervisors, are comfortable, confident and understanding of their project descriptions. He also works to build relationships with financial institutions, and works with other coalitions in Raleigh and out of state to try and bring more resources to the project and collaborative.
What are some of the goals for this year, how about long-term goals?
This year:
1) Increase organizations’ capacity to serve low wealth individuals and families.
2) Improve communities’ asset building and engagement. Done through establishing local asset building coalition- if already there build around what’s already there.
3) Increase the financial knowledge of participants through the sites programs. That’s why a lot of the stuff this year is to get a baseline of where the sites are at- what they can put into place
4) Recruit and train volunteer wealth coaches who will provide financial education and advice to low income or asset poor families.
Long term:
The projects, goals, and accomplishments of the VISTAs are not just a one, two, or three year thing. One of the long-term aims of the project is to create a replication plan for projects statewide.
What are some current projects y’all are working on?
NC Saves- is a social marketing campaign to encourage North Carolinians to save. There is a lot of work to be done there. This project is good on several levels because it builds important relationships between agencies that offer financial education and financial institutions. The act of saving is something that most if not all people can be encouraged to do. Someone may not be ready for an IDA program but through this project they can receive both education and a savings account to put them on the right track to financial independence and asset building.
One of the best ways to get involved in this awesome venture is to work with one of the local partnering agencies. Please refer to the list of partnering agencies at the beginning of this blog post, or email Zarak at: zarak.khan@ncidacollaborative.org
Any more thoughts or parting words?
When I asked him if he had any parting words or thoughts, he expressed his excitement over what AmeriCorps*VISTA can accomplish this first year, and the position for which the current AmeriCorps members are creating for their host sites; the energy, excitement and talent in capacity building and support shown by the VISTA members, is setting up a successful three year presence of AmeriCorps*VISTA. The work done today is creating potential for a strong tomorrow.
