cambio de colores (change of colors)
latinos in missouri: neighbors in urban and rural communities

march 12-14, 2003
university of missouri-kansas city

Homebuying Workshop

Realizando el Sueño Americano – Helping Latino Immigrants Become Homeowners
A report contributed by

• Ian Bautista, Deputy Director, El Centro Inc.
• Albert Hernandez, Loan Program Manager, El Centro, Inc.
• Licha Ibarra, Homebuyer Education Coordinator, El Centro, Inc.

El Centro in Kansas City, Kansas, was founded as a partnership with the Archdiocese of Kansas City over 20 years ago. Its roots lie in social services, childcare, youth programming, family emergency intervention, and homebuyer education. In the mid-’90s, El Centro began receiving home donations from the urban core and purchased Woodland Hill Apartments. Since the apartment complex has been renovated, it has been 97-98% occupied and racially and economically integrated. This initial success has led to an expansion in El Centro’s role in homeownership opportunities for their clients. El Centro now offers homebuyer education classes, which generally targets apartment residents wanting to buy a home, and is in the process of developing classes for entrepreneurs, to make them financially and management savvy.

Resources:

• Read a homebuyer’s manual on full-cycle, or community-involved, lending at: www.nw.org
• To see information on the Atlanta-based Latin American Association, which provides loans to undocumented workers, see:http://www.latinamericanassoc.org/housing.htm
• See El Centro Inc’s website at: www.elcentroinc.com, or call at (913) 677-0177, 1333 S 27^th St., Kansas City, KS 66106 (For Homebuyer Education talk to Licha or María. For Lending Information ask for Albert or Ian.)
• See also the Financial Security for Latino Families panel report