[su_label type=”info”]Agency Spotlight[/su_label]

A morning news report about free furnaces prompted Paul and Sharon to check out Community Homeworks.

They’re glad they did.

They found that, based on their fixed income, they qualified to receive a new furnace. Paul and Sharon also discovered what hundreds of the nonprofit’s clients experience each year – more money in their pockets due to lower utility bills.

“That was the beginning,” Paul said of the free furnace. Community Homeworks has fully weatherized his home in Kalamazoo’s Eastside neighborhood over the past several years.

“They’ve done numerous jobs for us and have really helped us with minimal co-pays and excellent work. Initially, we really appreciated a great savings.”

Community Homeworks, founded in 2009, aims to provide the resources to low-income community members to make necessary repairs affordable, to provide long-term reduction in housing costs through energy savings, and to make homes safer and healthier. That’s achieved through programming that addresses critical repairs, weatherization and energy efficiency. Also, the organization holds education workshops that homeowners can attend for credit toward services.

“I like to say that there are only two ways out of poverty,” said Executive Director Shaun Wright. “Increase your income or decrease your expenses. They have the same net effect. We know nothing about increasing income, but we have found that through weatherization and energy efficiency – and doing it correctly – we can substantially decrease expenses.”

The organization is a first-time funded partner with United Way, in its second of a three-year grant supporting its Energy Efficiency program. Wright said they typically serve 90-100 families in the program each year, and average 400 for their workshops ranging from painting to pest control.

“United Way funding helps us serve more families and serve them sooner,” he said.

In addition to its usual workload, Community Homeworks has played a significant role in flood relief efforts in the wake of February’s historic flooding in Kalamazoo. More than 250 single-family homes experienced varied levels of flood-related damage, many in need of critical home repairs including furnace and water heater replacement.

Outside of emergency flood relief efforts, a typical home project begins with an application and assessment. From there, each job can vary widely.

“We’ve got to take care of the critical issues first,” Wright said. “We’ve seen a lot of weatherization projects that don’t address underlying core building science issues. They actually create more problems for families. There’s some non-critical repairs that we can defer because they’re not health and safety related, and then we can come around and teach families how to repair and maintain those things themselves, too. Every job is a balance.”

Payment for each job varies as well. Families are assigned a co-payment based on income, with the opportunity to earn credit – up to $300 – by attending the education workshops. Through the weatherization and energy efficiency program, Community Homeworks can save homeowners an average of $1,000 per year, Wright said. That savings can help families avoid making difficult decisions between things like food and heat, or school supplies and medicine.

“When you have low income, that’s a big savings,” Wright said. “We found it really does make a difference for families. It just takes so much stress off their day to day.”

How You Can Help

When you support United Way, you’re helping families maintain safe and sustainable housing, a key strategy on the road to financial stability. Help us change the story.

Click here to give to United Way. You’ll have the option to direct your gift to flood relief efforts, of which 100 percent is passed on to agencies like Community Homeworks that are helping families get back on their feet.