HOUSING & FINANCIAL EDUCATION - About

A cornerstone of GHDC services is homeowner education, guiding potential first-time homebuyers through the complexities of finding, purchasing and owning a home. Representatives from local banks and other professionals in the housing industry conducted "Homebuyer 101" workshops, with participants receiving Certificates of Completion that allowed them to apply for subsidies and other assistance in purchasing their homes. From Credit Management to Home Maintenance, these workshops trained more than 70 people in 2003, with at least 11 having purchased homes to date.

We have conducted workshops for the past eleven years that have resulted in over 1200 persons receiving certificates for reduced mortgage costs and benefits as first time homebuyers, with more than 150 purchasing homes. We are a City of Chicago delegate Housing Resource Center and are certified by NeighborWorks America, with a Certification of Professional Recognition in Homebuyer Education and Homebuyer Education Methods: Training the Trainer and the American Homeowner Education and Training Center (AHETC) for meeting national education standards for homeownership programs. GHDC is also a certified Regional Employer Assistant Counseling (REACH Partner) utilizing homebuyer education in a state-wide effort to increase employee retention through homeownership. We utilize Fannie Mae’s Home Counselor Online and the Community Empower On-line Credit Counseling program to assist in providing one-on-one counseling and development of an Action Plan to improve credit scores and as a tracking tool for continuous follow-up.

Our first-time home-buyer workshops are held as a series of 4, two-hour sessions over four weeks or as a full-day session of extensive programming totaling eight hours of training. All participants complete a data sheet which includes household and income information, and are entered into Fannie Mae’s Home Counselor On-Line.

To take advantage of our workshops and counseling, please bring the following with you:

1. Obtain a credit report – you can visit www.annualcreditreport.com for more information.
2. Download and fill out a budget worksheet (click here to download the form - this is an Microsoft Excel file).

Please call Steeve Kidd at 773.994.6670 for more information or questions.