Don't look now Bobert but:

A Woman and Her Community Media Advisory

Who:    Jennifer Thompson
What:    Welfare-to-Work, Individual Development Account, First-time Home Buyer
When:   Closing Date for Purchase of Home - July 18, 2001
            Ms. Thompson Available for Interview - July 19, 2001
Where: City of Northwoods, Missouri - North St. Louis County
Why:    Good news from a Welfare-to-Work program!

Hard Work Pays Off - Nearly three years ago, Jennifer Thompson, 29, a single mother of four children, subsisted on welfare assistance. With the American dream seemingly beyond her reach and a cycle of poverty looming large, Thompson's future looked bleak. Against all odds, Thompson lit a candle rather than curse the darkness, and then burned the candle at both ends.

Ms. Jennifer Thompson with the Annie E. Casey Foundation film crew during recent filming of a welfare-to-work documentary. The Annie E. Casey Foundation funds East-West Gateway's St. Louis Regional Jobs Initiative. In June 1998, Thompson enrolled in classes at the Clayton Business School sponsored by the St. Louis Regional Jobs Initiative-a program of the East-West Gateway Coordinating Council and funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation and the Missouri Department of Social Services.

After six months cracking the books, she received well-deserved certification as a professional in the secretarial and word-processing field. She landed an entry-level job making $16,644 per year as a Claims Specialist with Seabury and Smith-a third party insurance company located in downtown St. Louis. Thompson put her nose to the grindstone and, within nine months, she had received a substantial increase in earnings.

A Penny Saved is a Penny Earned - Thompson successfully transitioned from welfare to work, but didn't rest on her laurels. She wanted more than check-to-check security, so she sacrificed short-term entertainment for long-term engagement. After paying bills and buying food to feed four children, Thompson socked whatever money remained into an Individual Development Account managed by Gena Gunn of the St. Louis Regional Jobs Initiative, a program of the East-West Gateway Coordinating Council.

An Individual Development Account is a unique savings plan for families with limited income designed to encourage asset building; it's the brainchild of Dr. Michael Sherraden of Washington University in St. Louis. The St. Louis Regional Jobs Initiative's IDA program provides a $2 match for every $1saved. Firstar Bank of St. Louis agreed to sponsor Thompson's IDA, while the United Way of Greater St. Louis administered federal funds earmarked for the program and the Missouri Department of Social Services handled the state funds.

With federal and state matches for every dollar deposited by Thompson, she noticed the meager sum in her IDA increasing rapidly. All the while, Gunn coordinated continuing education courses for Thompson, who enrolled in money management and economic literacy classes instructed by volunteers from the National Council of Jewish Women. Before long, Thompson's perspective shifted from subsistence to financial stability, and from financial stability to home ownership.

There's No Place Like Home - In just over two years, Jennifer Thompson blossomed from a single mother on welfare to a working mom with money in the bank. Thanks to the money management courses and the encouragement of her IDA program coordinator, Thompson realized the key to financial security is asset accumulation and home ownership.

Where There's a Will, There's a Way - Through a first-time home buyers program sponsored by Better Family Life - a local community development corporation - and debt counseling provided by Justine Peterson Housing and Reinvestment Corporation, home ownership became less and less a pipe-dream. The money in Thompson's IDA could be used as a down payment. Closing costs could be supplemented. And Thompson's education, steady job and participation in money management classes made her a likely candidate for loan approval.

On Wednesday, July 18, the American dream becomes a reality for Jennifer Thompson. Thanks to Gunn's constant coordination and encouragement and Thompson's dedication, Thompson's path from poverty to property owner ends at the front door of a three bedroom home on a tree-lined street in north St. Louis County.

http://gwbweb.wustl.edu/csd/asset/newsarticles/ewgateway.html