Injecting more 'color' into Waterloo home ownership
Black empowerment group offering homebuyer education, incentives.
WATERLOO - Jody Cook, like her late father before her, has spent a life and a career in a profession serving others.
She's a social worker in the Waverly-Shell Rock Schools. Her father, the late James Wesley "Sonny" Cook, Sr., was a career Waterloo's police officer and the Waterloo Police Department's first Black police detective sergeant.
Both had sometimes thankless jobs. One thing Jody always yearned for in return was a house to call her own.
She got it -- a few weeks after her father passed away.
"These are happy tears," she said, wiping her eyes.
She achieved the personal milestone as the result of a relatively new homebuyer education initiative of the Waterloo-based 24/7 Black Leadership Advancement Consortium, or "24/7 BLAC," an economic empowerment initiative of a number of Black professionals in the Cedar Valley.
The homebuyer class is one prong of an all-out effort by the group to break down socio-economic barriers for Blacks, thereby uplifting the overall economic well being of the entire community.
"My vision was to always be a homeowner, taking advantage of the homeowner classes," in early 2023, Cook said, "It was work but it was good work. It was a journey, but persistence paid off.
"There's some good things happening in our community for our people," she said. "I get emotional." Some of those "good things' happening now are long overdue.
"We see buildings go up for people of noncolor, and avenues for them. Where do we fit in?" she said. "So I thank 24/7 BLAC for seeing the vision."
In her case, because of the preparation she had, once a home to her liking and needs became available, "everything came together," she said. The training was "spot on," she said, and it was comforting to know 24/7 BLAC organizers and staff were there to offer personal support.
"It's a blessing,” she said.
Jody Cook's not alone. Dozens of individuals have gone through the program in a relatively short period of time, despite a challenging period for home buyers.
It's slowly making a difference, in a community with Iowa's highest percentage Black population -- and it's being looked at as a model for other communities.
The program, "Project HOME," was launched in 2022. "That was a result of that 24/7 Wall Street report that came out," said 24/7 BLAC board president Sharina Sallis,
In 2017, the financial website "24/7 Wall Street" identified Waterloo-Cedar Falls as the worst place in the country for African-Americans to live. The ranking has fluctuated subsequently but Waterloo-Cedar Falls has hovered around the top. It's where the local "24/7 BLAC" group derived part of its name as part of a resolve to change things for the better.
"There was various different factors, and the disparities, that made it a struggle for individuals of color to live in Waterloo-Cedar Falls." Sallis said. One was a low degree of home ownership. As of 2021, 24/7 Wall Street reported 34 percent of Black households in Waterloo-Cedar Falls owned their own home, compared with better than 70 percent for white households.
"In order for us to move the needle on generational wealth, home ownership would be key" Sallis said, and it's also an identified objective of Waterloo Mayor Quentin Hart's and the city of Waterloo's longer range "2030" vision plan.
There has been a decline in home ownership for various reasons, Sallis said, but "people of color just really didn't have enough resources, or have access to the resources, to be able to purchase a home," hence the birth of Project HOME.
"When you think about that fact that, for most people, the American dream is built on home ownership," that was an impetus to launch the program, said Madelyne Ridgeway, 24/7 BLAC executive director.
Since initiating the program in May 2022, "we have graduated 59 people from the program," Ridgeway said. The program lasts for about four weeks, she said, beginning with program education and two to three weeks of one-on-one financial counseling, "just to develop a long-term plan of how they're going to get from education to actually closing" on a home.
The education has been headed by LaKeishea Veasley, a seasoned professional in lending, fair housing and community engagement issues, She was recently named director of the Waterloo Housing Authority. Her two-decade career has included work with Operation Threshold and Veridian Credit Union.
After graduation, Ridgeway said, participants receive a certificate entitling them to $2,500 in down payment assistance, plus other programs they may qualify for through institutions such as Veridian Credit Union or Habitat for Humanity.
"We graduated 59 and we have 14 who have actually used the ($2,500) stipend," Ridgeway said. "It took a little while — that movement from education to implementation. And what we've seen, in the quarters three and four of 2023, we've just seen this influx of participants who've gone through the program come back to claim their downpayment assistance.
"On average the cost was about $150,000 per home,” she said. “So we're at a little over $2 million in homes that have been closed on, that have gone through our programs."
"That's good for our city," Sallis said. "When you think about economic impact, $2 million worth of homes," at an average of about $150,000 per home, “that's a significant amount when you think about turning a community into a destination as to where people want to live. A lot of times, what takes people a long time to be able to implement and effect their plan, is that down payment assistance."
Funding for the down payment assistance stipend came from the Waterloo-based Otto Schoitz Foundation and the Black Hawk County Gaming Association, a nonprofit organization which receives and commits a portion of revenues from the Isle Casino Hotel Waterloo to charitable causes and community projects. The two philanthropic organizations combined to provide more than $150,000 toward the assistance.
"I think there was a lapse in people not immediately closing on a home because of the housing stock," Ridgeway said, "What some Realtors or mortgage brokers might call 'affordable' in some of the newer developments coming up, they're not affordable for some of the participants that are going through the program. They were above what our participants want or need to spend."
Developers, bankers and city officials in and around Waterloo-Cedar Falls and surrounding communities and beyond have said affordable housing stock remains a concern. Some of it was in part due to a scarcity of, and increased costs of, building materials after the August 2020 derecho ground hurricane that devastated a large swath of the state, as well as supply-chain issues related to the coronavirus pandemic shutdown.
It not only made it a challenge for families and individuals to get into a newly built home, but also slowed if not froze what local real estate professionals have termed a normal "trading up" cycle — that would free up existing affordable homes, that buyers of higher priced newly built homes would move out of, for other families to purchase.
"That's where we are, is trying to find innovative solutions to help effect that," Ridgeway said. "We see these gaps, being we're on the front lines," working with program instructors and others.
The question, Ridgeway said, is, "What does it look like to develop affordable housing, truly affordable housing, in Waterloo? Other communities have done it, so we know it can be done. What does it look like and who needs to be on board to make that happen."
According to Realtor.com, the median home sale price in Waterloo is about $150,000 and the average home sales price is $132,000, compared with median and average sales prices in Cedar Falls of about $310,000 and $229,000, respectively.
Project HOME "needs a little more spotlight because there's so many that can benefit from it" said Realtor Travis Ferguson of The Ferguson Real Estate Team in Waterloo, who helped Jody Cook close on her home.
"As actual Realtors, what we're trying to do is the same mission -- lead by education. And that's where 24/7 BLAC starts the journey,” he said. “It starts with just getting that information out there, making sure everyone's aware of the process, resources that are available. Now that we're armed with the information; let's put an individual plan together to execute this.
"And there's a few other organizations as well that do a good job finding resources for the community," Ferguson said.
While some clients may have already had the training, others have not. "Very often we're the first call," Ferguson said. "A lot of our clients are first-time buyers, and they have no idea where to even start." Some firms might tell prospective buyers to check back, but "we encourage people to make us the first call. We will find out where you are with everything and we will get you connected to the right people."
"Mayor Hart has been a proponent of this work and talks about it on his travels to see if there's other resources," Sallis said, keeping 24/BLAC apprised of opportunities through organizations such as the Iowa Economic Development Authority.
With Project HOME, Sallis said, "We want people to be able to do your homework to be able to interview Realtors and mortgage companies the same was you would as if you were going to an employer and interviewing for a job. We want you to be able to choose who works for you with the journey that you're on at that time in your life."
The 24/7 BLAC program, along with Veridian Credit Union, Iowa Heartland Habitat for Humanity and Project HOPE, all in Waterloo, are part of the Racial Economic Equity Incubator of the Filene Research Institute in Madison, Wis.
According to information on its website, the Filene Institute is a credit union consumer finance think tank designed to " further the credit union movement and support consumer financial well-being" including addressing racial and socio-economic inequities among credit union members.
The Racial Economic Equity Incubator is a research cohort of nonprofit social action organizations and credit unions in eight communities across the United States, from New York to Hawaii, aimed at creating "a framework for incorporating racial equity into financial programs, products, services, and strategies with an explicit focus on reducing the racial wealth gap," according to information on Filene’s website.
Other upper Midwestern communities involved in the Racial Economic Equity Incubator are St. Paul, Minn., East Lansing, Mich. and La Crosse, Wis.
The Filene Institute is looking at what programs work in the various communities, including Waterloo, as models for possible implementation across the country, Sallis and Ridgeway said.
Jody Cook said she is spreading word about the program wherever she can.
She said her dad was in assisted living for some time prior to his Nov. 19 passing, and his fondest wish, too, was that she would find a home.
She received that gift Dec. 7 — which would have been her detective dad’s birthday.
Case closed.
Pat Kinney is a freelance writer and former longtime news staffer with the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier and, prior to that, several years at the Ames Tribune. He is currently an oral historian with the Grout Museum District in Waterloo. His “View from the Cedar Valley” column is part of “Iowa Writers Collaborative,” a collection of news and opinion writers from around the state who previously and currently work with a host of Iowa newspapers, news organizations and other publications. Click on their links below to sample their work.
The Iowa Writers’ Collaborative
From our founder, Julie Gammack:
”Have you explored the variety of writers in the Iowa Writer’s Collaborative? They are from around the state and contribute commentary and feature stories of interest to those who care about Iowa. Please pick five you’d like to support by becoming paid. It helps keep them going.’Columnists
Nicole Baart: This Stays Here, Sioux Center
Ray Young Bear: From Red Earth Drive, Meskwaki Settlement
Laura Belin: Iowa Politics with Laura Belin, Windsor Heights
Tory Brecht: Brecht’s Beat, Quad Cities
Dartanyan Brown, My Integrated Life, Des Moines
Doug Burns: The Iowa Mercury, Carroll
Jane Burns: The Crossover, Des Moines
Dave Busiek: Dave Busiek on Media, Des Moines
Iowa Writers’ Collaborative, Roundup
Steph Copley: It Was Never a Dress, Johnston
Art Cullen: Art Cullen’s Notebook, Storm Lake
Suzanna de Baca: Dispatches from the Heartland, Huxley
Debra Engle: A Whole New World, Madison County
Daniel Finney, Paragraph Stacker, Des Moines
Arnold Garson: Second Thoughts, Okoboji and Sioux Falls
Julie Gammack: Julie Gammack’s Iowa Potluck, Des Moines and Okoboji
Joe Geha: Fern and Joe, Ames
Jody Gifford: Benign Inspiration, West Des Moines
Rob Gray: Rob Gray’s Area, Ankeny
Nik Heftman: The Seven Times, Los Angeles and Iowa
Beth Hoffman: In the Dirt, Lovilia
Dana James: Black Iowa News, Iowa
Chris Jones, Chris’s Substack, Iowa City
Pat Kinney: View from Cedar Valley, Waterloo
Fern Kupfer: Fern and Joe, Ames
Robert Leonard: Deep Midwest: Politics and Culture, Bussey
Letters from Iowans, Iowa
Darcy Maulsby: Keepin’ It Rural, Calhoun County
Tar Macias: Hola Iowa, Iowa
Alison McGaughey, The Inquisitive Quad Citizen, Quad Cities
Kurt Meyer: Showing Up, St. Ansgar
Vicki Minor, Relatively Minor, Winterset
Wini Moranville: Wini’s Food Stories, Des Moines
Jeff Morrison: Between Two Rivers, Cedar Rapids
Kyle Munson: Kyle Munson’s Main Street, Des Moines
Jane Nguyen: The Asian Iowan, West Des Moines
John Naughton: My Life, in Color, Des Moines
Chuck Offenburger: Iowa Boy Chuck Offenburger, Jefferson and Des Moines
Barry Piatt: Piatt on Politics Behind the Curtain, Washington, D.C.
Dave Price: Dave Price’s Perspective, Des Moines
Steve Semken, The Pulse of a Heartland Publisher, North Liberty
Macey Shofroth: The Midwest Creative, Norwalk
Larry Stone: Listening to the Land, Elkader
Mary Swander: Mary Swander’s Buggy Land, Kalona
Mary Swander: Mary Swander’s Emerging Voices, Kalona
Cheryl Tevis: Unfinished Business, Boone County
Ed Tibbetts: Along the Mississippi, Davenport
Jason Walsmith, The Racontourist, Earlham
Kali White VanBaale, 988: Mental Healthcare in Iowa, Bondurant
Teresa Zilk: Talking Good, Des Moines
Great story. Wonderful to see people coming together for the community. Thanks for giving this effort the spotlight it deserves, Pat.