To commemorate Fair Housing Month in April, Prosperity Now had the privilege of connecting with Laltsha Cunningham of Gesher Human Services. Laltsha, a member of the Affordable Housing Network Steering Committee, is a part of Gesher’s exceptional work in Michigan to create financial security and protect the stable homeownership and rental housing of underserved community members. Gesher serves the community through a variety of housing programs and has been able to expand their impact through partnerships with other nonprofits and community banks. Laltsha and the rest of the team are hopeful they will continue to have an immense impact on those they serve.  

What drives you to do this work? 

I have been in housing, lending, and community work for almost 25 years now and I started out in the banking industry as an underwriter. During my time in banking, I realized there were a lot of barriers that existed in getting a mortgage in my community. Whether it was credit, lack of savings, money management, or other things of this nature, I knew I wanted to do more to help the BIPOC community attain homeownership. That is what drove me to the nonprofit work I have been doing for eight and a half years.  

I really wanted to dive deeper into helping BIPOC communities change their financial health and build sustained financial wellness. I just wanted to help more families out. My firsthand experiences drove me to this work. Being the child of a single mom, watching her struggle with housing and rental payments, that gave me the firsthand experience that I can use now in my work to help families today. It is crucial we use our life experience to help others that may be going through similar situations. 

What are Gesher’s Current Programming and Strategy Priorities in 2023 and Beyond? 

Our main focus is affordable housing right now. The lack of affordable housing is a huge issue in Michigan, where I live. Renting and homeownership are both in crisis. We have many families whose rental rates are at an all-time high and need assistance. What we have done is put a special focus on how we can connect our participants and clients with financial resources to help them navigate this process.  

We are also going to focus on financial education in 2023, but because of the pressing and ongoing nature of the housing crisis, we are primarily looking to help families fill housing gaps. We do not own affordable housing ourselves, but we want to find resources, funding, and other ways for our participants and clients to secure fair and stable housing. We have partnered with community banks to create downpayment assistance programs, offered mini grants to help people pay off collections, and helped people build their credit scores to buy a home. Housing is a huge issue in Michigan. We want to continue and build upon this work in 2023.  

We also have a new program called HarMoney. HarMoney is a 6-8 week training on financial wellness. The first 6 weeks is about building credit, money management, and how to create a budget. The last 2 weeks is then a homeownership training course to help families understand what it means to buy a home during pre-purchase and post-purchase.  

After those 8 weeks are over, we partner with community banks to offer grants up to $2,500 for downpayments, preferably for a home, but if they are not ready to buy a home, we understand. They can use those funds to pay off debt that may put them in a place to qualify to buy a home in the future. It’s all about getting people into a place where they can buy a home. You need a stable home. You cannot be in fear that you will lose your home. This is crucial. 

Are there any roadblocks that Gesher is facing right now? Are there any issues distinct to Michigan or the Midwest? 

The main issue is just not having enough resources and funding to run programs. I will give you an example. This is our second HarMoney cohort and when we relaunched, we had space for only 30 families. We got over 600 inquiries. The roadblock is access to support that makes these programs run. I know that nonprofits run off limited revenue, so we need the support of other organizations and local banks to help make these programs move forward. 665 inquiries for 30 spaces tells you where the need is moving forward. It would be nice to see new organizations get involved in housing causes.  

From state to state, I see so many families living on the streets. We will not solve the whole issue right away, but if we get more resources, more people, and more funding in existing programs like HarMoney, we will help more people. These programs give individuals and families lifetime financial skills, on top of direct financial assistance and grants. We just need more people to give more time. It is not an easy ask, but it goes beyond the funding piece. People need to take the time to learn about these issues and help run programs. We need to encourage folks to join in.  

How do you reach out to new people and organizations you want to get involved in your programming? What do your outreach efforts look like? 

For me, my banking background has been very helpful for partnering with community banks. But I have also been reaching out and working with other nonprofits. For example, we partnered with a nonprofit called Empowerment Plan. All of their staff members were once homeless and they have created a jacket that is portable and becomes a sleeping bag for homeless individuals in the area. So, we partner with other nonprofits and encourage them to partner with banks. We just tell these nonprofits to give their local banks a call and see if they have time to get involved in the work. You don’t have to start with a big ask, but building partnerships can eventually lead to funding and resources.  

Thank you so much for these answers. My last question is what are your housing goals moving forward and how can those goals help close the racial wealth gap? 

One of our goals is to create innovative programs. We have partnered with a bank in Michigan to implement a program called Savvy Savers. It is a 90-day savings challenge that teaches individuals how to save and matches those savings after the 90 days. This is teaching people about how to build wealth, which I believe is the first step in closing the racial wealth gap.  

If people understand how to build their credit and savings, they can find stable housing which is so important for wealth building. We want to continue partnering with banks to run these programs that help people build wealth. Over 90% of our clients are a part of the BIPOC community, so helping them will help close that gap. These situations are generational as well. How do we break those generational curses? We cannot control everything, but we must work for the things we can change. 

In closing, I want to say that nonprofits cannot look at each other like competitors but allies, and we must work together to meet the common goal we share of helping our community.