Greater Springfield Habitat for Humanity
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Mission Statement
Greater Springfield Habitat for Humanity (GSHFH) is a housing ministry dedicated to strengthening communities by empowering low-income families to change their lives and the lives of future generations through homeownership and home preservation opportunities. This is accomplished by working in partnership with diverse people, from all walks of life, to build simple, decent, affordable housing.
About This Cause
Our homeownership program provides families tools to be successful homeowners with affordable mortgages for the purchase of homes they construct in partnership with GSHFH. Partner families complete financial literacy and first time home buyers courses. They provide sweat equity on our build sites learning skills to aid them in general home repair and upkeep of their homes. GSHFH maintains relationships with our families after purchase to provide resources for available area employment and educational programs. Our ongoing relationship allows for mortgage assistance due to job loss, medical emergencies or other factors that disrupt financial stability. To date we have help 66 families in Hampden County to become homeowners. Our home preservation program is an extension of our construction services. We serve low-income homeowners affected by age, disability or family circumstances who struggle to maintain the condition of their homes. This program allows them to reclaim their homes with pride and dignity. On its face, home preservation is a construction activity – at its heart, it is a community development program that increases the viability of the neighborhood by preserving the existing housing stock, and making the homes safer and more livable. We are proud to have helped 36 families with home repairs, but their are still may more in need. Because affordable housing is not just a local issue we have included global outreach as part of our programs. In 2001 members of the board took their first Global Village trip to Guatemala with the Fullers. Since then every 2-3 years staff and board members have traveled with a group of volunteers to Guatemala to work alongside local Guatemalan volunteers and the Habitat Guatemala staff. We have built new homes, constructed latrines and communal waste systems, provided families with water filtration systems and upgraded cooking stoves for 100 Guatemalan families in need. Our last trip was in 2018 when we were invited help complete projects that allowed Habitat Guatemala to reach a milestone of serving one million families. We have also provided global funding to Habitat affiliates in Nepal and Tanzania, and staff members have been participants on Carter Work projects in the US, Canada and Haiti. GSHFH has also incorporated Youth WorkForce Development programming into our Construction projects and at our ReStore, working with local schools and agencies to provide opportunities for youth to gain real-world job experience. The goal of these partnerships brings together organizations that are looking for host sites, skilled tradesmen willing to share their knowledge and GSHFH to instill a love of volunteerism in our youth, while providing them with needed skills for future employment. Volunteerism through construction is the foundation upon which Habitat was built and is how we continue to serve our families in need. Consistent reliable partnerships allow us to have multiple constructions sites under development at one time; increasing the number of projects completed and families served. ReStore is a nonprofit home improvement stores and donation center. ReStore accepts donations of gently used building materials, appliances, furniture and home décor and then sells them to the public at a discounted price. All of the funds from ReStore sales go back to support GSFHF programs. An additional benefit to the community is that the used building materials and household products donated to ReStore are recycled and kept out of the landfill. On average our ReStore diverts 75 tons of material from landfills. Our ReStore provides workforce training opportunities to disadvantaged populations through partnerships with Job Corps, Sunshine Village, Work Opportunity Center, Western MA Farm Workers Council, and is a work study and internship site for students at Springfield Technical Community College, Holyoke Community College, Westfield State University, Westfield Vocational Academy and the Massachusetts Clean Energy Internship Programs.