The July 24th issue of The Chronicle of Philanthropy featured a story about BCC's foreclosure relief work. Senior writer Nicole Wallace spoke with BCC CEO Elyse Cherry about how BCC’s Stabilizing Urban Neighborhoods (SUN) Initiative works; she also profiles SUN client Cesar Santana, a father of three in Lynn, MA who was able to repurchase his home through SUN, reducing his monthly housing payment from $1610 to $630.
Wallace also spoke with Open Society Foundations (OSF) Senior Program Officer Solomon Greene about OSF’s recent grant to support planning for SUN’s national expansion. He says,
When there is something that’s working, it is very quickly taken up and held up as a model by other groups. One of the things we realized is that folks are talking about replicating what they call the 'Boston model,’ but there isn’t a lot of information about how to do it….(Boston Community Capital) is a great partner because they recognize they’ve got a good thing, but that they can’t be the only version of this solution.
OSF’s grant will support BCC’s research and planning for national expansion; it will also help us develop a toolkit for other organizations looking to replicate the SUN model.