Homebuyer & Financial Education Specialist

The Organization and Its Programs

To buttress our work on affordable housing development, ownership and policy issues, our economic opportunity
programming helps people find jobs, save money, decrease debt, build their assets, and even realize the dream of
home ownership. The speculative market will continue to drive up housing costs in Somerville and our work helps
ensure that those with fewer assets can still live here. Helping residents sustain themselves in Somerville with
sufficient incomes and increasing assets is a crucial strategy in our fight for equity.

Our Financial Literacy classes help people better understand debt, banking, credit, and how to save. Our popular
First Time Home Buyer classes help people better understand the often-intimidating process of saving for and
purchasing a home, as well as how to access programs that can make doing so more accessible.

Asset Building at Somerville Community Corporation

Beginning in 2008, SCC shifted emphasis from a historic focus on homelessness prevention to programs designed
to help build household income and assets with and for low- and moderate-income households. We moved our
former homelessness prevention work to two strong partners organizations and began the programming that
now constitutes our Asset Building Department. Today our asset building work consists of financial education and
counseling, first time home buyer education, and First Source Jobs, SCC’s workforce development and readiness
program.

In 2022, we anticipate offering 11 First Time Home Buyer classes serving about 300 participants, as well as
administering an online First Time Home Buyer portal serving an additional 50 participants and four 7-week
financial education classes for 80 participants, along with related individual counseling. SCC will also collaborate
on a regular basis with Somerville Housing Authority to help support their residents who participate in their Self-
Sufficient Program (SSP). In addition, our First Source Jobs program will serve over 200 residents with career
counseling and job placement services.

The Homeownership & Financial Education Specialist

SCC is seeking a new member of our team to manage and deliver the Financial Education, First Time Home Buyer education, and all related counseling services. S/he will work under the supervision of SCC’s Economic Opportunity Management. The Asset Building Specialist will have the opportunity to work with groups of clients in classroom settings and/or online classes, as well as individually with clients on household financial matters. The Asset Building Specialist will work as a team with Economic Opportunity Management Programs and the 3 staff members in the First Source program.

Primary responsibilities include:
• Initiate and coordinate outreach for all financial education and home buyer classes.
• Serve as the primary presenter in First-Time Homebuyer Seminars and Financial Literacy Classes.
• Recruit and schedule presenters for all the professional elements of First Time Home Buyer classes.
• Maintain the schedule and organize all logistics and materials for classes.
• Track participant course completion and follow up.
• Conduct one-on-one sessions with clients on household budgets, credit, and financial matters.
• Analyze client’s financial status, cash flow and credit to determine readiness for homeownership or other programs.
• Provide referrals to other programs and services as appropriate.
• Document successes and challenges in reports to funders as well as for SCC impact measurement.
• Complete the quarterly report for HUD submission.

The Specialist will be required to maintain certification with HUD as a Homebuyer Counselor accordance with state and national standards.

Our Ideal Candidate

Our ideal candidate is an entrepreneurial self-starter who is mission driven and works well independently and as part of a team.They should bring many of these skills and qualifications:
• Strategic and goal-oriented individual who comfortably manages multiple tasks and projects independently.
• Skills in team work and team management.
• Strong oral and written English communication skills.
• Basic technology skills including use of Microsoft 365, Salesforce, Facebook, and Twitter.
• Experience teaching groups of low- and moderate-income adults.
• Background or training in one or more aspects of household finances.
• Comfort working with a range of people in a community based nonprofit environment.
• At least two years of work experience.
• Bachelor’s preferred, experience can be substituted for education.
• Proficiency in Spanish, Portuguese, or Haitian Kreyol a plus.
• HUD Homebuyer Counseling Certificate is a requirement, new employees will be required to obtain certification within three (3) months.

We seek candidates who embrace our mission and bring a sense of humor and passion to their work. We offer a competitive salary and benefits package.