MISSION & VISION

Our Mission: To provide and sustain homeownership opportunities through services in homebuyer education, counseling, lending and development.

Our Vision: Empowering families and individuals to build wealth through homeownership.

HISTORY OF THE ORGANIZATION:

Housing & Education Alliance (HEA) began providing services with a $25,000 grant from the National Council of La Raza in February of 2002. Additionally, a contract with Hillsborough County's Department of Housing and Community Code Enforcement was signed for HEA to deliver bilingual Pre-Purchase Counseling and Education Services and to provide loan packaging technical assistance for clients applying for down payment assistance through the Department of Community Improvement and Code Enforcement. In 2003, HEA increased its funding with the support of other foundations and corporations such as J.P. Morgan Chase and Bank of America. This helped HEA to expand its counseling and education services to the City of Tampa residents and to clients utilizing Section 8 housing.

Today, HEA provides complete housing services to Hillsborough County and City of Tampa residents who want to purchase a home. The staff of HEA has over 100 years of combined experience in the fields of real estate, mortgages, counseling, economic development and business.

HEA has delivered more than 260,000 hours of education and one-on-one counseling to over 15,000 families and/or individuals on the subject of financial literacy and the homebuying process. Out of those served, approximately 1,500 purchased their first home either with or without government downpayment assistance. In fiscal year 2006-2007 alone, over 4,000 clients were served.

Furthermore, HEA began to address the needs of affordable housing units by purchasing property and constructing single family homes in Orient Park, a CDBG target area of the County. Of these homes, 30% were targeted to families whose income is under 50% median income guidelines. The remainder was sold to families whose income is between 50% and 80% of the median income guidelines.

"MY HOME AMERICA" HOUSING EXPO

In 2006, HEA hosted its first "My Home America" Housing Expo which featured exhibitors and gifts, seminars on topics such as understanding credit, predatory lending practices, government assistance, and many other topics of interest to homebuyers. The family friendly event was presented in both English and Spanish and was attended by over 2,000 participants and was highly publicized in the media. The event featured a Home Giveaway Contest at which time the Official Contest Rules & Entry Application were initially unveiled to the community. HEA was given an award from NeighborWorks America entitled “Innovations in Homeownership Strategies” for its “My Home America” Housing Expo.

PARTNERS/OUTREACH/AWARDS:

The staff also contributes to the private industry sector by participating in workshops such as The Housing Market: The Pulse of the Tampa Bay Economy, where HEA shared the panel with successful executives in the housing industry in the Bay Area such as Market Street Mortgage, KB Homes, Opus South Corporation and the Hillsborough County Property Appraiser. Staff members also are active in other outreach organizations such as The Greater Tampa Chamber and the Tampa Bay Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

In July 2004, our outstanding services were recognized when two of our staff members received awards at the Tampa Housing Authority's Housing Heroes Awards ceremony. HEA also received the Catholic Charities Diocese of St. Petersburg's 2005 Community Service Award and the 2005 Hispanic Chamber of Commerce's Non-Profit of the year Award. In 2007 HEA received NeighborWorks America's “Innovations in Homeownership Strategies Award” for its “My Home America” Housing Expo 2006. In 2007 HEA was featured in several public affairs television programs in both Spanish and English as well as in several Spanish radio shows and Spanish newspaper articles.