Kentucky's Home Ownership Month

Tuesday, July 23, 2002

Kentucky's Home Ownership Month included at least one very special celebration. A recent immigrant from Guatemala, Juan Galarza, is making Covington, Kentucky his new home. A resolution passed by the Covington City Council approved a forgivable second mortgage using HOME funds to enable Mr. Galarza to purchase a house in a Covington neighborhood.

[Photo 1: Covington City Council Members, Patty Pickett, Carmen Matos, Sister Mendez, Juan Galarza, Mayor Callery, Donna Durham, and Stephen Schneller.]
With the assistance of Catholic Social Services, a local faith-based housing counseling agency, and Centro de Amistad, a Hispanic advocacy organization, Mr. Galarza received the assistance he needed to go through the process of buying a home, including a Spanish language "Yes You Can - Own a Home" home ownership course offered by Catholic Social Services on behalf of Kentucky Housing Corporation. Photo - Back Row: Covington City Council Members; Front Row: Patty Pickett, Catholic Social Services; Carmen Matos, Catholic Social Services; Sister Mendez, Centro de Amistad; Juan Galarza, homeowner; Mayor Callery; Donna Durham, Catholic Social Service; and Stephen Schneller, HUD.

Mr. Aaron Wolfe-Bertling, Covington Community Development Director, introduced Mr. Galarza to the Council. Sister Mendez of Centro de Amistad helped translate Mr. Galarza's heartfelt words of thanks, as well as those of the Council who welcomed him to their city.


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"We, as immigrants, come to the United States of America with the understanding that with efforts, dreams can come true, " said the Delgado family, recent immigrants from Mexico, now making Morehead, Kentucky their new home. Their love of their new country is a wonderful reminder that all Americans should hear."

[Photo 2: The Delgado family in front of their new home.]
For the Delgados and others, their dreams came true on Thursday July 11, 2002. The City of Morehead and Frontier Housing, a non-profit affordable housing provider in Morehead, Kentucky, celebrated community partnerships and the progress made together in improving the Morehead community. Mayor Brad Collins provided a history of the transformation of the West Morehead neighborhood, and new homeowners received the keys to their new homes.

Project partners that made this project a reality included HUD, the City of Morehead, the Kentucky Department of Local Government, the Department of Agriculture, Rural Housing Services, Kentucky Housing Corporation, Appalachian Regional Commission, and the Federation of Appalachian Housing Enterprises. Frontier Housing also coordinated the services of youth group volunteers from local churches and churches from other states to construct the homes.

The Delgado family feels it has been blessed to be associated with Frontier Housing. "We, as immigrants, come to the United States of America with the understanding that with efforts, dreams can come true. It is through Frontier Housing's homeownership program that our dream of owning our home has become a reality. We feel committed to the community and hope to achieve the goal of giving back a portion of what the community has done for our family."

After the partnership ceremony, an open house tour was held to show the homes that had been built. In all, five new homebuyers were present at the event and received the keys to their new homes.


 
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