The OWN IT: Building Black Wealth (‘OWN IT’) program and education courses help participants improve financial literacy and their understanding of homeownership as it relates to building wealth. Upon completion of the courses, families ready to search for and purchase a home can apply for a $15,000 down payment assistance grant to put toward the purchase. OWN IT also offers continued support after the courses to ensure that families have the resources and support they need as they navigate through the home buying and homeownership process.
Eligibility
In our pilot phase, courses are exclusively available for families and staff at One City Schools. To qualify, you must have a family member enrolled at the school, be an alumni, or be a current staff member. Courses are free for all participants.
Courses
Wealth Building Course Spring 2023
Use of Data Policy
In order to effectively conduct our program, OWN IT: Building Black Wealth (‘OWN IT’) needs to collect information from participants. If equity isn’t included in the design and implementation of programs, inequities will persist. And not collecting data on people’s identities erases marginalized people and hides inequities. To clearly name “race” acknowledges the racial injustices that underpin disparities and signals a commitment to address structural racism’s deadly effects on racial/ethnic minorities and to heal communities’ emotional wounds. OWN IT acknowledges that systemic racism is embedded within financial systems, practices, and policies, and is committed to exposing and eradicating these structural barriers. Capturing data, including race and ethnicity to show where disparities exist can point to specific, underlying structural inequities and monitor progress towards equity. With this policy, we ensure that we gather, store and handle data fairly, transparently and with respect towards individual rights.
Scope
This policy refers to all OWN IT program participants/applicants who provide any amount of information to us.
Who is covered under the Data Protection Policy?
All OWN IT volunteers and members of the advisory group must follow this policy.
OWN IT collects information:
- during enrollment,
- after each class session,
- after the completion of a course,
- follow up surveys (4-6 months after course completion),
- after receipt of DPA grant and after home purchase (if applicable).
Purposes
To evaluate the OWN IT program and its ability to serve the community:
- Monitor progress towards equity.
- Information could help OWN IT demonstrate whether or not the program actually increases black homeownership and/or is helping Black families build wealth.
- The below information could help OWN IT determine whether programs or specific courses should be continued, expanded, adjusted, or discontinued.
- Course surveys to ensure we are meeting your learning goals and to receive your constructive feedback,
- Surveys 4-6 months after you complete a course to assess the long-term impact of what you learned and progress on your wealth building goals.
To create awareness around the racial disparities of the wealth gap, homeownership rates, and and advance equity by:
- Identify trends, potential injustices, and systemic racism in the local housing, real estate, and banking systems.
- Showing the housing industry (realtors/lenders/banks/etc.) that this model works
- Proposing solutions to address systemic and historical racism.
OWN IT acknowledges the systemic racism that is baked into the real estate industry and is committed to exposing these practices in order to propose solutions. Data can raise awareness by:
- Identifying trends, potential injustices, and systemic racism in the local housing, real estate, and banking systems.
- Showing the housing industry (realtors/lenders/banks/etc.) that this model works
- Proposing solutions to address systemic and historical racism.
To show present and future donors/grants what their funding can accomplish.
Policy elements
As part of our operations, we need to obtain and process information. This information includes any offline or online data that makes a person identifiable such as names, addresses, digital footprints, photographs, financial data, etc.
OWN IT collects this information in a transparent way and only with your full cooperation and knowledge. Once this information is available to us, the following rules apply:
- Any information that is included in publicly available reports will be entirely anonymous and include no identifying information.
- Information, data, and summarized results will generally be grouped together by such categories as class year, homeownership history, or demographic details like identity or income level.
- Example: “Of families enrolled in courses in 2022, 90% of the were first time homebuyers,” or: “Over 70% of families receiving an OWN IT grant have a household income between $50,000 and $150,000.”
- If your identifying information is to be shared publicly OWN IT will ask your permission first.
- Example: if we want to add your name to your quote, “I couldn’t have purchased a home without the assistance of OWN IT” says Insert Name Here. If you do not want your name added, OWN IT will use the quote without your name.
- Your data will not be shared with third party individuals without your prior consent.
Actions
To exercise data protection, we’re committed to:
- Restrict and monitor access to sensitive data
- Use secure networks to protect online data from cyberattacks
Contact the OWN IT team (info@ownitbbw.com) if you have questions or concerns.