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ORANGE COUNTY <br />BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br />ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT <br />Meeting Date: February 9, 2006 <br />Action Ager~a d <br />Item No. <br />SUBJECT: Resolution Acknowledging The Women's Center for its Rale in the IDA <br />DEPARTMENT: Human Rights and Relations PUBLIC HEARING: (Y/N) No <br />Department <br />ATTACHMENT(S): <br />Resolution <br />INFORMATION CONTACT: <br />Chair, Commission for Women <br />Milan T. Pham, Director, (919) 960-3877 <br />PURPOSE: To acknowledge The Women's Center far its work administering the Individual <br />Development Account (IDA) program with Orange County. <br />BACKGROUND: Orange County has been awarded a $50,000 Community Development Block <br />(CDBG) Grant from the N,C. Department of Commerce for an Individual Development Account <br />Program for first-time homebuyers with incomes below 80% of the area median income. <br />The IDA (Individual Development Account) Homeownership Program provides homebtayer <br />education and financial assistance to low-ta-moderate income residents in Orange County, <br />Participation in the program is open to individuals and families with earned income at or below <br />80% of Orange County's median income that will purchase their first home in Orange County, <br />IDA Program participants are given six to eighteen months in which to save $1,000 in a new <br />IDA savings account. Participants are required to attend six to eight homebuyer education and <br />financial literacy classes, where they learn about the process of buying a home as well as <br />budgeting, credit management, savings, mortgage differentiation and other skills, Participants <br />meet individually with a financial counselor and a housing counselor to discuss their individual <br />savings plan and mortgage needs, Each participant's personal savings of $1,000 or more are <br />matched by a $2,000 grant when the participant is ready to purchase her/his home. <br />The Women's Center, in collaboration with Orange County Department of Housing and <br />Community Development, administers the program conducting outreach, assists clients in <br />starting IDA savings accounts and provides financial counseling. The Women's Center has <br />been administering the program since 2002 and since then they have helped eleven (11) <br />people become first time homebuyers in Orange County. Over the next three (3) years, they <br />plan to assist twenty-two (22) individuals in buying a home. <br />FINANCIAL IMPACT: None <br />