Women Learn Skills Building Homes and Friendships, Helping Others with Women Build Program
(Mary Dupuis, June 7, 2023)
Pontiac, MI – Habitat for Humanity is a nonprofit housing organization that works with countless communities across the United States and around the world.
The organization began in 1976 when a group of people with the goal of helping those in need of shelter gathered together volunteers to work alongside them and build affordable houses.
Since then, Habitat for Humanity has helped millions of people achieve the stability and independence they needed through having a safe home.
In 1995, Habitat for Humanity came to Oakland County. Based in Pontiac, Habitat Oakland County has helped over 600 people on their homeownership journeys.
Dena Vatalaro-Pryde has worked as the Deputy Director of Philanthropy for Habitat Oakland County for seven years. She said with the current housing crisis, the work Habitat for Humanity does is becoming more important now than ever.
“We offer an affordable mortgage to people that otherwise might not be able to get a mortgage via conventional means,” Vatalaro-Pryde said. “It’s really important that people have the opportunity to have homeownership for building wealth, building their family legacies.”
She said the work Habitat for Humanity does helps to not only support families in need, but the entire community.
“Generally, wealth is achieved by the transfer of properties within families,” Vatalaro-Pryde said. “So, oftentimes we will have homebuyers that are first generation homeowners. It lifts up the whole community when more people have opportunities to to thrive and become financially stable.”
According to its website, the organization thrives off of the support of homeowners, donors, volunteers and neighbors. All of its funding is raised locally, with limited funds from Habitat for Humanity International.
Since Habitat for Humanity is part of a global partnership, when a home is built in Oakland County, Habitat Oakland County takes a tenth of those funds raised and puts it towards building a house in a developing country.
As of 2014, Habitat Oakland County has had a Women Build program in place where volunteers come together to make homeownership a reality for partner families in Madison Heights, Southfield, Oak Park and Pontiac.
The program exists to provide an opportunity for women who are interested in learning how to build and construct a home while serving their community in the process. Women Build opportunities don’t require any experience and opportunities are available for participation throughout the year.
Participants work with other volunteers as well as future Habitat for Humanity homeowners to build the homes, all under the guidance of construction professionals.
Vatalaro-Pryde also works as the liaison for Women Build and said the growth the volunteers experience while participating in the program is inspiring to her.
“I love to see the transformation of the volunteers where people will walk up to the build site for the first time and they’ll say, ‘Oh, no, I’m afraid of power tools,’ or, ‘I don’t know how to do anything,’” Vatalaro-Pryde said. “By the end of the day, with the care of the site supervisor and volunteers…they leave completely empowered. When they leave, they have new skills, they have new confidence. It just breaks down all of their fears and stereotypes that, ‘Oh, you know, women don’t do this or that.’ It’s just a real, selfless team builder.”
The homes the Women Build program constructs are for community members chosen by Habitat for Humanity. Anyone in need can apply to the homeownership program if they meet three criteria.
The first portion of criteria is there must be a need for a home. For example, the person is living in substandard housing whether it be an unhealthy environment, unsafe, overpriced, dangerous, or very overcrowded.
The second criteria that must be met is the ability to pay a monthly mortgage. Habitat for Humanity homeowners do still pay a mortgage, but it’s fixed and predictable. The organization has a program called Habitat University which is a free financial literacy program for Habitat for Humanity homebuyers to help them build their credit or manage their finances.
The third criteria to be met is the willingness of the homebuyer to partner with the organization. As Vatalaro-Pryde put it, there’s a “sweat equity piece.” The homebuyer needs to put in roughly 300 hours of sweat equity where they work on constructing their own home or a home currently being built for someone else. They could also work at Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore, a retail entity the organization has.
Vatalaro-Pryde said the changes in the lives of those who become Habitat for Humanity homeowners is something special.
“The transformation in (the homeowners’) lives is so significant,” Vatalaro-Pryde said. “The pride and also self esteem that homeownership offers them coming out of renting and not having any control over a yard, a porch, the color they paint their front door and seeing the personal growth that comes out of homeownership (is memorable).”
She noted it’s not just the homeowners that are uplifted, but oftentimes the children who now get to live in a new home.
“The benefit of homeownership that trickles down to the children in the families is one of the most significant pieces that we see,” Vatalaro-Pryde said. “We see children that are coming out of situations where they don’t have their own room. They can’t have sleepovers. They can’t have birthday parties. They’re embarrassed to bring friends home from school. They have to be quiet in the apartment where they’re living because somebody’s living below them that’s complaining that they’re running around or playing with their toy cars and they can’t be natural.”
Vatalaro-Pryde said based on Habitat for Humanity’s annual statistics the children of Habitat for Humanity homeowners are generally 25% more likely to go on to college due to having a healthier, more comfortable home to learn in and grow.
Instructions on how to become a Women Build team member in Oakland County can be found on the Women Build page on the organization’s website.
