Building Families First Community Organization
Livonia
38099 Schoolcraft
Livonia MI 48151                      734-743-1351
info@bffcdo.org

Detroit 
2nd Chance Ministries
2535 Michigan Ave.
Detroit Mi 48216
734-743-1351
​info@bffco.org
Good for the Families
Good for the Neighborhood
Good for the Community
Join us in the fight!
If you would like to partner with us in your community or would like to participate in our program, please contact us below.
Public Housing Authorities
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Program Interest


It is the expressed purposes of BFFCO's Keys To Transformation (KTT) program is to assist low-income families who receive Federal Rental Subsidy assistance to achieve the American dream of true upward mobility through our "Pathway to Prosperity" model. The needs assessment and selection steps are designed to ensure that each participant has a solid, achievable plan for economic self-sufficiency backed by the appropriate supportive services and using housing as 

Our KTT Program accomplishes this through two different levels of assistance to each family who participates in the program. 

  • The first of those levels (Remediation Stage), seek to address barriers to successful achievement resulting from educational and training/deficiencies.  
  • The second level (Transitional Stage), seeks to build upon the first level by providing opportunities for financial and investment counseling, home ownership and budgeting seminars, minor repair and maintenance training and other experiences which enhance their probability of success once they have made the transition into home ownership and off all forms of government assistance.

During the Remediation Stage, our experienced Coordinators, in conjunction with staff from other needs-based programs, works with the family to implement the plan.  
Activities to assist the family might include: 

  • Remedial education and literacy classes (English as a secondary language)
  • Job training/preparation
  • Child care
  • Increasing level of education with a GED, vocational course, or college credits/degree
  • Transportation
  • Substance abuse treatment and counseling
  • Family services

The Remediation Stage is included to provide an opportunity for families to receive the kinds of services, education and training which would move them from a marginal employment situation to one in which there is an opportunity for career advancement.

The Transitional Stage is designed to permit the family time to accumulate sufficiency savings so it will be able to either make a substantial down payment on a home or, otherwise, prepare for long term housing in the private rental market. During this stage, the program staff will continue providing counseling and supportive services to insure participant success once they leave the program and up to one year after.

  • Homemaking skills and parenting
  • Money management
  • Increase in saving account
  • Increasing income
  • Refining a budget and financial skills
  • Improving credit scores
  • Ending the need for rental assistance 
  • Becoming a successful homeowner

Counseling and assistance in home ownership, work habits, employee-employer relations, and other areas of problem solving will be provided each family at monthly workshops and through individual counseling sessions, if necessary. Assistance will include further job training in more technical areas to improve employability and longevity on the job through BFFCO's Job Placement Coordinators as well as external training programs. 

Toward the end of the Transitional Stage, the accumulated savings from excess rent payment held in escrow will be returned to the family for use as a down-payment toward the purchase of housing. 


Basic Needs (stabilize) – 
Services that stabilize and remove socioeconomic barriers
Economic Growth (accelerate) – 
Services which accelerate and create socioeconomic growth opportunities
Keys to Transformation
Youth Development Programs
KTT is a five-year, multi-disciplinary intervention designed to move low income families toward economic independence. Upon program completion, each participant will have saved up to $10,000 and will have a household income that is tracking toward full economic independence (approximately $35,000 to $55,000 per year).

Children and teens who live in poverty face a range of academic, social and emotional challenges. BFFCO's youth development programs offer valuable support and opportunities for this at-risk population.

Our program is designed to help guide and mentor teens as they progress through middle and high school while encouraging post-secondary education opportunities and the development of life skills. 

We provide our youth with academic support and assistance. Some children need assistance and supervision when completing homework assignments, while others benefit from individual tutoring. Participants are taught the importance of good homework habits and are encouraged and empowered to produce high-quality work on their assignments.

  Some of our opportunities provide:
  •   After School Program
  •   Summer Program for Youth
  •   Youth Leadership Program
  •   Teen Group

​What Poverty does to us: 
  •   Stress of poverty compromise core decision making behavior management skills.
  •   It swamps our analytic capabilities, compromise our abilities to think about our future, and heightens our impulsiveness. 
OUR programs combine four main elements:

Affordable Housing
BFFCO develops affordable, high-quality, energy-efficient homes that residents, our neighbors, are proud to live in. Why? Because every great home changes the lives of those living in and around it. We seek distressed properties that are in established areas and then renovate the property into a energy efficient home. Our renovation projects offer hands on training to individuals looking to get into an apprentice program with one of our Union Partners. Our renovation projects also raise awareness of the increased importance of green building practices. We are not just rebuilding we are investing in property and human capital simultaneously.

Service Coordination
Every family that resides in our affordable housing works closely with a Mentor Coach to complete an extensive 19 domain assessments to see what we need to do to help them move forward. With the participant’s assessment pointing the way, their Mentor Coach will work with them to create a service plan that lays out the short-, medium- and long-term goals and objectives necessary for achieving self-sufficiency.

Financial coaching
Through a unique approach to financial coaching, Building Families First Community Organization's Mentor Coaches works with families to break down their goals into measurable and achievable steps. The real, day-to-day, and at times frustrating work of budgeting, saving, managing debt, and building credit happens here. There are no shortcuts in this process. Small steps, such as paying down a single credit card, as well as larger steps, such as securing a second job to boost family income, are all key inputs into a successful plan. 

Asset Building incentive
Our programs draw on research in the field of behavioral economics by including an incentive designed to help families build savings toward their financial goals. The type of incentive offered varies by program. Families can use these savings to achieve their goals, such as buying a home, saving for their children’s education, completing a job training or college program, or starting a business
OUR RESIDENT SERVICES works with participants of HUD's FSS program. It promotes activities and lifestyles that lead to physical, psychological, and emotional well being for individuals and communities.
It is designed to educate families as whole in sound financial practices to increase income, decrease expenses, and build assets. FSS promotes academic achievement and lifelong learning as a means to strengthen in-school success, increase vocational opportunities for our youth, breaking the generational cycle of poverty within our families.