During the first week of March, several of our team walked a few blocks from our downtown San Jose office to Villas on the Park to celebrate the grand opening. At the time, COVID-19 restrictions were starting to appear (the shelter in place order would come a week later) but we were thrilled to attend…
Success Stories
Guardino Affordable Housing Scholarship Welcomes Class of 2020
June 26, 2020
We’d like for you to meet Elizabeth, one of the Guardino Affordable Housing Scholarship awardees of 2020. Elizabeth’s life was marked by movement but also staying in place around Turlock, a town in Stanislaus County. Before she turned 17 she had lived in seven different places – doubling up in houses of extended family members…
Success Stories
Affordable Housing and Leadership: Our Friends at Resources for Community Development
May 14, 2020
We’re inspired by all of our development partners and proud to stand with them all – and Resources for Community Development is just one example of the organizations that do great work and inspire us to do even better with our own. One of our very first acquisition loans was made to RCD – $1.1…
Success Stories
Empowered by Home: Justin’s Story
May 8, 2020
An assistant principal at Branham High School and a single dad, Justin Ponzio dreamed of having a home for his kids – ages five and six – to live and grow. When he found the Empower Homebuyers SCC program in 2019, the trio lived in a rental near a busy frontage road that was far…
Success Stories
Empowered by Home: Megan’s Story
May 8, 2020
Megan, a Bay Area native and a special education teacher at Union School District in San Jose, had been living in a tiny apartment in Campbell. In her third year of teaching, she knew she wanted to stay in her community and was ready for something bigger but like so many educators in the region,…
Success Stories
Empowered by Home: Karen and Ngoc’s Story
May 7, 2020
After emigrating from Vietnam, Karen and her husband Ngoc worked in the Bay Area for 14 years – she in banking and him as a technician – and were renting incrementally smaller living spaces even as their family grew to include two small children. When they found Empower Homebuyers SCC in 2019, they were on…
Success Stories
Home over Time: Michele & Don’s Story
May 4, 2020
Michele, an elementary schoolteacher, worked with our homeownership team in 2016 for our Below Market Purchase (BMP) program we administer for the city of Santa Clara. We caught up with her in 2018 – two years after she and her husband Don moved in, and they both expressed joy at living in a place where…
Success Stories, Updates
Empowered by Home: Dmitry’s Story
April 9, 2020
Dmitry, a teacher for the visually impaired, has worked for the Cupertino Union School District for the last four years. He loves the community he serves and could not imagine working anywhere else. Last fall, Dmitry first discussed his dream to own a home with his parents and they suggested he look into local down…
Success Stories
Empowered by Home: Katie and Carlos’ Story
April 9, 2020
Katie and Carlos first heard about the Empower Homebuyers SCC program in November 2018 when a family member told them about the very first town hall presentation, led by Supervisor Cindy Chavez, about the new Santa Clara County program for first-time homebuyers. Born and raised in the area, one a city engineer and the other…
Success Stories
Empowered by Home: Laura’s Story
March 12, 2020
By: Laura Jones, schoolteacher, Santa Clara Unified I was fortunate enough to be able to purchase my first home through the Empower Homebuyers SCC program. I first heard about the program in November 2018 and I closed on my home in May 2019. As a third generation native Californian as well as a third generation…