SHEFFIELD – It was a big evening for Sheffield resident Toleta Beckwith. Life isn’t a bed of roses, but Ms. Beckwith knows that if you work hard and keep climbing that hill… Well, one day your efforts will pay off.
She picked up a check Thursday night for just over $12,500. Not bad. If was her money all along, and she is using it to make the down payment on a new home for her and her 2 children. And it only took her 13 years of hard work to get it.
Housing Authority Executive Director, Shirley Whitten, and Linda Wright, Coordinator of the Family Self-Sufficiency (FSS) Program, a part of HUD, have been working with Beckwith since about 2005. She represents but one of a number of families in Sheffield that are participating in the program. In essence, when a person enters the FSS program they are supported by a number of community agencies who provide assistance in job training, employment, household financial planning and savings accounts. In this instance, Beckwith has been working for a long time to actually save the money for the home down payment. She is the 3rd participant in the Housing Authority’s FSS program, but is the very first to have saved up her own down payment. Whitten indicated that the Housing Authority continues to assist the FSS homeowners as they move forward in their ownership. She says it helps ensure success.
If you are interested in learning more about the Family Self-Sufficiency program, you may CLICK THIS LINK.
