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 Sue�o 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