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[Back to index of October 2007 articles] Church Volunteers Help to Raise a House By Kevin Ward The sound of hammer blows resounded from a lot on V Street in Northeast Washington on a recent afternoon, as hardhat wearing volunteers drove nails and toted lumber. For 25 years, Manna, a nonprofit developer of affordable housing, has been organizing "house-raisings" like this one across the District of Columbia. The organization, founded by the Rev. Jim Dickerson, has grown in that time from a home builder, to a mortgage lender to a community development firm.
And St. John's, Georgetown has been with them almost from the start. Tom Cooke of St. John's recruits volunteers and raises money for Manna. He first heard of the organization through his children's house-raising volunteer work and decided to get involved. "We've been working with Manna for over a decade, and we're sure to give grants and volunteers each year," Cooke says. "It's a great program." St. John's also has contributed to Manna's Capstone Fund, a revolving loan fund which provides working capital for the company's numerous projects. The fund, which follows the principles of socially responsible investment, has more than $2.4 million in assets, and has never missed an interest payment or defaulted on a loan. "The Capstone Fund is wonderful because it does such great things and there are no fears with it," Cooke explains. "There are many volunteers that use it, religious orders, even Calvert [a socially responsible mutual funds group that also had provided volunteers on this occasion]." As Manna has grown, it has become more ambitious in responding to the need for affordable housing. Originally choosing individual projects based on the economic feasibility of their completion, it can now organize efforts to help entire neighborhoods. In 1997, Manna created the Manna Community Development Corporation in an effort to help revitalize the Shaw neighborhood of northwest D.C. As part of this initiative, the corporation trained Shaw's residents to lead the area's renaissance. In 2006, Manna's board of directors voted to restructure Manna CDC into a new, independent organization. Now known as ONE DC (Organizing Neighborhood Equity), the organization focuses on preserving racial and economic equity in now quickly-developing Shaw.
The growth and development of Manna is all the more impressive when the conditions it faced at its inception are taken into account. In 1982, interest rates were at 18 percent and very few people were buying homes in D.C. This virtually prevented low-income families from purchasing homes in the area. Dickerson created Manna based on an equity sharing agreement; lower-income families would put up what money they could and receive a matching loan from upper-income partners. Over five years, the lower-income family would buy out the rest of the home, thus achieving full ownership. To date, Manna has helped provide more than $60 million in equity for low-income families. "It was faith-based because we really needed faith to take on these projects," Dickerson recalls. "The city was at the bottom, nobody was buying, and there were no subsidies. We never had all the money we needed, all the pieces; we needed faith in ourselves and faith in our efforts. "I thought about how there was no food in the desert and then God provided manna. We had the opportunity to do something, to help." Dickerson says St. John's was instrumental to the early growth of Manna. In the mid- 1980s, while the organization was still struggling from project to project, St. John's donated 10 percent of its capital campaign to Manna. "That was just incredible," says Dickerson. "St. John's has just always been great and it is important that they are noticed for it." While Manna's organization has become sophisticated, it still relies heavily on volunteers. There is committee work and community organizing to be done, but Dickerson and Cooke says most people find their way to the organization by volunteering at one of the building sites. "Demolition is always a pleasure," says Cooke with a laugh. "It is one room, you, and a sledgehammer. Of course, there are less aggressive ways to help with the construction such as painting and landscaping too." The house that was started from the ground up just a few weeks ago on V Street is almost ready for its landscaping and painting, with all work done by volunteers. [Back to index of October 2007 articles]
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