Accessing Home works to bring low- and moderate-income families home through partnerships with affordable housing providers throughout Rhode Island.
The Accessing Home initiative launched in 2016 to help Rhode Island families acquire and maintain affordable, safe, and healthy housing.
Through this initiative, NWBRV partners with community development organizations, public housing authorities, and other non-profits to equip Rhode Islanders with the resources necessary to acquire and maintain affordable, high quality housing.
AmeriCorps
Accessing Home is currently recruiting AmeriCorps members. Apply today!
Accessing Home has a cohort of 15 AmeriCorps members placed at partner organizations across the state. Our members are trained and professionally certified as Resident Services Coordinators to provide resource referrals, case management, facilitation, and much more. Read about some of our alumni here.
Accessing Home AmeriCorps members deliver a variety of housing stabilization services, including:
- Advocating for tenants at risk of eviction by negotiating payment plans and providing important resource referrals
- Educating tenants on issues of rights and responsibilities; facilitating public education workshops
- Helping individuals and families apply for subsidized housing
- Providing financial coaching, including budgeting and credit help, to households looking to build wealth
- Assisting homeless individuals and families in finding suitable housing, building life skills, developing resumes, accessing job training, and obtaining services
- Educating community landlords on the Housing Choice Voucher program
- Recruiting volunteers, providing community outreach and making referrals
Through these services Accessing Home AmeriCorps members:
- Reduce barriers to affordable housing, such as poor credit scores, for Rhode Island residents;
- Transition economically disadvantaged Rhode Island families into stable housing; and
- Eliminate evictions resulting from delinquency and non-criminal activity.
Resources for current Accessing Home AmeriCorps members can be found here.
To learn more about federal AmeriCorps programs, visit www.AmeriCorps.gov.
Our Impact
Since 2016, Accessing Home has placed 22 successful AmeriCorps members at 16 organizations around RI. To date, those members have:
- Provided housing stabilization services to 1,515 individuals
- Taught 28 courses of Rent RIte, a tenant education curriculum
- Served more than 22,000 hours
- Received more than 1,700 hours of training
- Earned 12 professional Resident Services Coordinator certifications
Sponsors
This initiative is made possible by the generous support of our sponsors: The Corporation for National and Community Service and the Rhode Island Foundation.
