Help Angela Become a First Time Homeowner!

Hello! My dear friend, former colleague and all around fantastic human, Angela Allen is buying a home! I've known Angela for several years, both as a friend and as a co-worker, and as you all know she is a huge giver. A giver of time, patience, compassion, justice, friendship, love and generosity.

In the spirit of giving and generosity, I am asking you to consider making a contribution towards Angela's down payment to help her achieve her goals and purchase a sustainable and affordable home.

She has written a beautiful letter about why this is important for her and how she is going to utilize this big life move towards good things for herself and all of us around her in community. Please see her letter below.

With appreciation,

Lauren

p.s. We are trying to raise all funds by September 30.

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Hello fellow loved ones and Community members,

I first want to thank you for reading this and for considering being a part of my first time home buying journey. I wanted to share a little bit about why I decided to embark on this process, as well as what I hope to do with a new home so that you’re aware of what your donation will be helping to support.

Through all of my soul searching around this decision, my goal has become to live in this new home in a way that aligns with my values of community, justice, healing and shared space. Since the death of my mother, I’ve been wanting to live in a way that both honors who she was, and that deepens my connection to myself and those around me.

Therefore, with a new home I hope to expand my connection to a place and the land around me, and use my space as a way to build greater chosen family. I have dreams of starting a garden (something my mother loved to do) and sharing vegetables and herbs to friends and neighbors on my block.

I also have hopes of using a home to deepen my work in racial, economic and housing justice, so that Minneapolis can be a place where everyone can thrive, feel safe, and belong. I’d love my home to be a space in the community where social justice groups can have meetings or gather for discussions or political education. Then when I’m ready to sell this home, my hope would be to sell it to the local land trust so that I can counter the gentrification happening in the city, thereby making it affordable for other low-income or BIPOC community members.

I want space for my little fur baby to run around and a fenced in yard where he can play while still being safe. I would also like to foster or adopt more dogs in the future, and have space for potentially becoming a certified respite care worker for people fostering youth in the community. In addition, after everything that’s happened in Minneapolis over the past few years, there are so many community members in need of support with healing.

My hope is to pursue further certification in Expressive Arts Therapy, training in crisis management, as well as other programs focused on healing and systems change work so that I can be of greater use to my community. Having a home with a consistent and affordable mortgage that is (ideally) more cost effective than rent, could greatly help in this process.

More than anything, I want a space where people can feel welcome and safe, a space where my dog can have a consistent refuge, and where I can build community in a new and meaningful way. But as you might know, interest rates are extremely high right now. I found a great non-profit mortgage lender where I qualify for a program where I can buy the interest rate down with extra funds, and/or get the mortgage insurance removed, thereby creating an even more affordable payment.

I found a lovely home where my offer was accepted. I’m looking to raise $20,000 additional dollars in funds to help with the purchase of my new home. Any amount that you’re able to give to help me achieve my goal would be profoundly helpful. Thank you so much for your support–this means so much to me.

Sincerely,

Angela