Setting an Example for Future Homebuyers

MAKING HOME POSSIBLE IN TENNESSEE

Lack of access to financial and housing education is a major contributor to the homeownership gap for Black and Latino families. To help close that gap, Freddie Mac supports the Center for Financial Advancement (CFA), a signature program of HomeFree-USA that provides financial empowerment to future generations of homebuyers.

CFA partners with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) across the country to offer students a financial capability curriculum that includes Freddie Mac’s CreditSmart^® suite, a free online resource. The program focuses on the basics of credit and money management, building a foundational skill set students will take with them as they enter the workforce.

“We need the partners like Freddie Mac because it's only through partnerships that we're going to be able to close this racial wealth gap, and that's what we're about,” said Marcia Griffin, founder and CEO of HomeFree-USA. 

Making It in Memphis

As a student at Fisk University, a private HBCU in Nashville, Nicholas Whiteside was introduced to the CFA program. Taking full advantage of the opportunities provided by the program, he completed the CreditSmart Essentials and Homebuyer U courses to jump-start his own journey to homeownership.

Growing up in Memphis, Tennessee, Whiteside remembers watching his mother achieve her goal of homeownership.

“It was our space, our home, and that’s what made it special,” he said. “I think she wanted something better for her kids than she had for herself.”

At the time, it was hard to fully understand the gravity of this accomplishment: the difficulty in getting there, but also the long-term stability that comes with homeownership.

“As I started getting older, I realized how important it was, because that asset wasn't going anywhere,” Whiteside said.

Many families in Whiteside’s community have to overcome systemic challenges, including a lack of access to educational resources, to achieve homeownership. Despite accounting for 64% of the population in Memphis, Black residents make up only 43% of homeowners, which lags behind the city’s overall and White homeownership rates.

At HomeFree-USA, Griffin sees their job as getting people excited about buying a home, keeping a home, and getting financially prepared and educated. “At the end of the day, everybody wants a better home. They want nice neighborhoods for their kids to go to school, safety and comfort,” she said.

Whiteside wanted to show his community that homeownership was in fact an attainable goal. He leveraged the knowledge and resources he gained from CreditSmart and CFA to purchase his first home, in the same neighborhood he grew up in, at just 22 years old.

Giving Back to the Program

Since graduating college, Whiteside has served as Student Director for the CFA program. In this role, he helps college students prepare for homeownership by training them on financial management while also connecting them to HUD-certified housing counselors at HomeFree-USA.

Griffin emphasized the importance of financial education as a pathway to a better life. “Wealth building is critical for anyone, but it is especially important for underserved communities,” she said. “They just need to have a path. They need to have some guidance.”

Financial education and outreach to historically underserved communities is key in furthering Freddie Mac’s mission to Make Home Possible for all families. Since 2020, our CreditSmart suite has provided nearly 350,000 families with a foundational understanding of personal finances and the homebuying process.

Our collaboration with programs such as HomeFree-USA allows us to broaden our reach at the community level. Part of our Borrower Help Center Network, HomeFree-USA is a HUD-approved housing counseling agency serving more than 40,000 new homebuyers nationwide.

To learn more about our commitment to expanding homeownership opportunities visit Our Mission page.