Homeownership
Opportunity Outreach Through Technology
The following is a report
filed by Dr. Jim Wilkie, project leader, and Mr. John Elza, Director of the
HomeOwnership Center. The report details the goals and outcomes of a video
project started on September 20, 2008 and ending in late February of 2009. The
project resulted in a 30-minute video for the HomeOwnership Center called, Home Buying: The
HomeOwnership Way.
The Team
The project team consisted
of four Alderson-Broaddus College students: Kiersten Long, Brian Moats, Tasha
Orsburn and Eric Belcher [added was later in place of Orsburn, who had to drop
out of school for financial reasons], Dr. Jim Wilkie and many community leaders
from the HomeOwnership Center (HOC) in Elkins, West Virginia and other
non-profit, North Central, WV 501(c) organizations associated with the HOC. The
students and Dr. Wilkie shot and edited about 19 hours of footage that went
into the 30-minute video. HOC members,
Mr. John Elza, Lisa Shaffer, Tawnya Holbrook, along with many other people from
different organizations are in the video.
Outcomes of Project
The project team created 4
outcomes and performance measures to meet those outcomes. The 4 outcomes were:
1.
Improved outreach to consumers
2.
Improved access to information
3.
A-B student experience
4.
Increased numbers benefiting from
homeownership
Outcome 1
From informal preliminary
interviews with those who are in the video, the students sensed an excitement
about the project. A limited few, because of privacy, declined to be in the
video. Even those folks, however, were energized and volunteered to help in
other ways.
Outcome 2
Copies have not been made
yet due to shooting being completed on February 19. Already, the team has
noticed that past consumers and HOC staff have had positive contact as a result
of the video project.
Outcome 3
The video project enabled
the students to experience the communities that surround them. The students shot footage and interviewed
members from the HOC in great detail. In addition to the HOC, students met and
worked with people from the Randolph County Housing Authority, Youth Build,
Highlands, Woodlands, North Central Community Action Association and WorldVision. They
also experienced many community events including, the Randolph County Fair, a
Women’s Health Fair at Davis Memorial Hospital, a Youth Build training class,
an Ambassador Program session at the Old Brick Playhouse in Elkins, and a homebuyers class at the
HOC offices.
Outcome 4
At this point in time, it
is not possible to measure this outcome. Outcome 4 is a longitudinal goal that
must be assessed over years. It remains to be seen whether the video will
increase the number of homebuyers in the area. The HOC has monitored the number
of homebuyers over time and has, as a long-standing goal: to bring even more
people into the home buying mode. Because of this and the preliminary talk with
those involved in the video (explained in outcome 1) the team is confident that
the video will help get the word out about the services at the HOC and increase
home buying in North Central West Virginia.
Problems, Expectations,
and Surprises Resulting from the Mini-Grant
Coordinating schedules of
the student videographers with work schedules of those in the video was
challenging. However, most shoots went as planned. One exception was footage of
a homebuyers class. This involved an important element
of our plans, getting footage of clients that want to buy a home. Four homebuyers classes were cancelled because of weather or lack
of participation. That is why the team had to ask the Alliance for the 60-day
extension to complete the video project.