Supporting Housing Nonprofits in the Mississippi Delta
Nonprofit Clients: Greenwood Leflore Fuller Center for Housing |Delta Grace, Inc
Nonprofits have been a critical part of the effort to revitalize the Delta and bring improvements to the region. The network of nonprofit organizations in the region has limited capacity, however, and has struggled to compete for dwindling sources of funding.
With a number of new but fragile organizations, the nonprofit housing providers in the Delta tend to be understaffed and to have limited administrative resources. Nonetheless, these organizations operate across large service areas. Many housing providers develop a small number of housing units each year and the productivity of these organizations is limited by their ability to secure government funding.
—Housing Assistance Council, "Housing in the Lower Mississippi Delta" (September 2013)
This excerpt from one of the Housing Assistance Council's (HAC's) many resources on housing in the Delta and other rural areas describes a challenge we know well. Delta DB and our peer organizations struggle with the dueling realities of limited resources and an abundance of clients; nonprofit housing providers in the Delta have long waitlists full of households with urgent housing needs.
In addition to our community engagement, design and construction services, Delta DB also seeks to enhance housing work in the Delta by filling capacity gaps where we can. This takes the form of strategic planning, grant writing, operations planning and administrative support. Since 2018, we have partnered with two housing providers in particular: the Greenwood-Leflore Fuller Center for Housing (based in Greenwood, serving Leflore County, MS) and Delta Grace, Inc. (based in Sunflower, serving Sunflower, Leflore, Tallahatchie, Bolivar, & Humphreys County).
We work collaboratively with these two organizations to support and expand their existing capacity; we complement but do not supplant their strong volunteer bases.
THE GREENWOOD-LEFLORE FULLER CENTER FOR HOUSING
Years:
2016 - Current
Since their founding, the Greenwood-Leflore Fuller Center for Housing (GLFCH) has built new homes, rehabilitated existing homes, provided rental housing, and provided education and employment opportunities to low-wealth residents of Leflore County. Their mission is to provide decent housing for low-income families and individuals who meet the required standards and are unable to acquire conventional loans for housing. They have completed construction of thirty-one new homes, selling each one to a low-income family at cost with a 0% interest mortgage. Their rehabilitation projects, titled Greater Blessing Box, have ranged in price from $350 to $5,000 and rely primarily on volunteer labor to complete livability improvements to homes of low-income families who own existing homes in need of repair.
Delta DB provides administrative and marketing support for the Fuller Center and also serves as consultants for strategic planning. The Fuller Center played a very important role in theBaptist Town Reinvestment Project and partners with Delta DB on theSNAP Home Repair Program.
DELTA GRACE, INC.
Years: 2018 - Current
Delta Grace is a non-profit, multi-denominational, faith-based organization that matches mission teams with those in need of home repairs.
The Delta Grace facilities serve as a year-round hub to provide mission opportunities for teams of all sizes, ages, and skill levels.
Teams are charged a fee to stay at the mission hub, which is then used to purchase project materials.
In 2018, Delta DB helped Delta Grace secure a $8,000
Partnership Grant through the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas and
Planters Bank and a $70,000
Housing Preservation Grant from USDA Rural Development. Delta DB continues to help manage their grants and has partnered with Delta Grace on the
SNAP Home Repair Program.
