The Community Development departments of the 12 Federal Reserve districts have launched a new podcast and have dedicated the second episode to the work of ROC USA® and its network of technical assistance providers.
Called Access, each episode highlights a successful model or program within four focus areas: people, place, policy and practice, and small business. The goal is to showcase organizations that help provide access to opportunity for low- and moderate-income individuals and families.
The resident-owned community episode, called Place: Access to Community Ownership, focuses on Montana, and host Molly Hubbert Doyle, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas interviewed Lorie Cahill, Kaia Peterson, Michael Sloss and Dave Glaser.
Cahill, the ROC Association Director for the Mountain/West region, talked about her family’s health scare that initially led them to move into a manufactured home community. Not long after that, Cahill’s community, Green Acres Court, became a ROC with her help and that of NeighborWorks® Montana.
NeighborWorks’ Kaia Peterson talked about Green Acres and other Montana ROCs, especially about the coming together and galvanizing that takes place as homeowners come together to take control of their communities.
Sloss, ROC USA Capital’s managing director, explained the lending model and the strengths of the ROC model. He said manufactured housing is important in every state because, on average, three to five times as many people live in (largely unsubsidized) manufactured housing as compared to those in federally subsidized and other public housing.
Glaser, president of Montana Idaho CDC, a lending partner in Montana, spoke of visiting the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund years ago and learning about the ROC model. He said ROCs provide stability for people whose financial lives are otherwise largely unstable.
Visit the Access website and click on the February 2017 link to listen to the podcast.