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BY ATIENO-ANYANGO-JOHNSON
UMCONNECTION STAFF

In an ongoing ministry to the people of Baltimore City, the Board of Child Care recently launched a program to enable working class families to find a car that will get them to work.

The board has teamed up as partners with Ways to Work, a national program that provides affordable car loans to working families, enabling them to gain greater access to employment.

To qualify for a Ways to Work loan, Baltimore residents must be employed and meet the low-income standard set for the community. The program is specifically designed to help those with poor credit history who cannot get loans from mainstream financial institutions.

"The Ways to Work Program is a natural fit for the Board of Child Care's mission to serve children and families who require social, physical, behavioral and emotional support," said Thomas Curcio, chief executive officer of the Board, headquartered in Randallstown.

The new program office in East Baltimore will provide low interest loans of up to $4,000 to working families to help them buy the reliable transportation they need to remain employed, take their children to day care and access goods and services.

According to Curcio, the program had succeeded in improving lives in other places and he predicts it will have the same impact in Baltimore.

"Our vision for the program is to be a hand-up to those parents in Baltimore who are looking to improve themselves and their families, but who are facing barriers to employment and sustaining a job due to lack of reliable, affordable transportation," he said.

The Board of Child Care is able to offer the Ways to Work program through private funding from the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

Applicants are expected to start streaming in as soon as the word goes out on the opportunities this program provides.

Silvana Rossi, director of Ways to Work, is projecting there will be 40 applicants this year, followed by 60 next year. The numbers are expected to jump to 100 applicants by 2010.

Once an application is made, eligibility will be determined by interviews and home visits. Applicants are also required to complete a financial literacy class, said Fumi Ogunijinmi, a Ways to Work case manager.
Borrowers are obligated to pay back the borrowed money within 24 months.

Since 1984, when the organization was started, it has loaned out more than $46 million to over 26,000 families nation-wide for the purchase of vehicles, vehicle repair or other work related purposes.
"Our mission is to support working families by helping them in becoming self-reliant and financially stable." said Rossi.

"Ways to Work operates differently from many low-income car programs," explained the program's president, Jeff Faulkner. "We strongly believe in our approach to making loans for cars and not just giving cars away. The act of repaying gives our clients sound financial habits and reinforces personal responsibility and helps them build a payment history and improve their credit rating."

A recent national survey by Ways to Work revealed that participants achieved a 41 percent increase in take-home pay and most borrowers repaired their credit and were able to access mainstream financial
markets.

Baltimore will be used as a yardstick for measuring progress in the region and its success would determine the possibilities for future expansion into Washington, D.C., and West Virginia, Rossi said.

Ways to Work operates in collaboration with banks, insurance companies, car dealers and repair shops.

For Curcio, such partnerships make sense. The Board of Child Care also recently partnered with the Camping and Retreat Ministries of the Baltimore-Washington Conference to provide scholarships to summer camp for Baltimore children whose families have been affected by homicide.

For more about the Board of Child Care's work, see www.boardofchildcare.org.