Livonia
38099 Schoolcraft 
Livonia MI 48151  
734-743-1351
info@bffcdo.org​
Detroit 
2535 Michigan Ave.
Detroit Mi 48216
734-743-1351
​info@bffco.org

Building Families First Community Organization


BFFCO Vision is to see rental subsidy be utilized as the temporary and transitional resource that it was originally intended to be. 
We believe that it was never intended to become permanent and we should discourage the perception from the current and future families who are able-bodied, who will receive housing assistance. 

                                                           Apart from our vision, we strive to "break the generational cycle of poverty" that still exists among many of our communities.




Building Families First Community Organization is a IRS recognized 501c3 nonprofit that cultivates strong, cohesive families by creating opportunities, strengthening assets, and building communities. 

We encourage families to take ownership of their lives and adopt financially responsible behavior, while becoming independent of governmental assistance.
Good for the Family
Good for the Neighborhood
Good for the Community
We inspire people with the vision of bringing home ownership to every low income family and empower them with the tools to become successful.

We recognize that while conditions have improved over the past several years, there are many individuals facing barriers to economic success, including youth, working families, and the formerly incarcerated. Too many individuals living on the margins are limited by their zip code and unable to create a better life for themselves and their families through good jobs or affordable housing. That’s why we’re focused on building pathways to economic mobility by addressing the issues of affordable housing, workforce development, education, basic needs and community development. 

We’re committed to advancing a more diverse and inclusive society by expanding opportunities and supporting equitable solutions that will enable low-income families & communities to grow and prosper.


                                                                                                       





BFFCO engages in effective community revitalization, while putting the tools to build assets and financial capabilities into the hands of low-income families and empowering the families we serve to build a pathway out of poverty while increasing the Amenity Value and Quality of Life in the Neighborhood.

We have developed and refined an approach to our work that builds on expert research, the principles of a national asset development movement, and eleven-years of experience working with low-income families.

BFFCO “Path to Prosperity” model empowers individuals and families out of poverty through a comprehensive, integrated, proven system of care that engages and existing, already HUD funded human service delivery system.

A commitment to excellence
We strive for excellence in all areas of our work. Our holistic approach to asset building for low-income families draws on leading research, intensive data-collection, analysis and evaluation, and iteration on our programs to get at what really works. We have developed a reputation for focused, disciplined execution.

A first-in-kind program
Like many other asset-development organizations, BFFCO got started by providing supportive services and career coaching. In 2007, we identified a HUD funded federal program as a broad, scalable market to which we could apply our core competencies, and became the first nonprofit organization in the country to design and implement an asset-building, public-private partnership plan.

A relentless focus on savings and home ownership 
BFFCO providing adequate affordable housing for families, while delivering programs that empower families to build savings and asset building capabilities as a pathway out of poverty. This clear and concise focus allows us to iterate and expand on what really works and drive at the best possible approach to the problems we seek to address.


Our team has over two decades of combined experience:  

  •   A thorough knowledge of real estate fundamentals
  •   An understanding and experience of resident needs
  •   Decades of affordable housing investment and development experience
  •   An expert, in-house team of professionals capable of comprehensively evaluating the multitude of factors that goes into successful innovative investment decisions.
  •   Staff leaders experienced in both for-profit and nonprofit real estate
  •   A strong capacity to develop tailored resident services programs for each new property acquisition
  •   Support from an Investment Committee composed of seasoned members of our Board of Trustees
  •   A business model that combines a charitable mission with the management and financial discipline of a for-profit enterprise




By supporting the efforts of BFFCO, local business, corporations, and organizations connect with the community whose support is critical to their success, 

BFFCO partners:

• Gain greater access to targeted populations.

• Improve the economic health and vitality of the community. 

• Help train a potential labor force with skills that meet the evolving needs of area employers.

• Strengthen community relations and meet their philanthropic commitments.

• Increase awareness of their organizations within the community.
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WE THINK DIFFERENT
​There are so many families in Michigan and across the country who have hopes and dreams for the future -- whether that be to own a home, to invest in their own education or that of a child, to save for retirement, to start a small business, or another goal. While our subsidized housing system provides a crucial safety net for many families, there is more we can do to leverage this assistance as a platform for economic mobility. For many families in the subsidized housing and welfare systems, rules actually discourage and penalize savings, creating traps that make it more difficult for families to reach these goals and lift themselves out of poverty.

One such “poverty trap” exists in subsidized housing. Households receiving rental assistance typically pay about 30 percent of their income toward rent -- a policy designed to ensure that assisted households pay a fair, but affordable, share of their income for rent. The unintended consequence of this policy is that it may create a disincentive for families to increase their income, because working more means paying more rent and possibly losing other benefits tied to income, a structure which also makes it more difficult for families to build savings

*In 2014, nearly 60 percent of families with children receiving a voucher lived in a neighborhood with a poverty rate of more than 20 percent, while 14 percent lived in a neighborhood with a poverty rate of more than 40 percent. Similarly, in 2008 only one in four families with children receiving a voucher lived near an elementary school that ranked in the top half of the state. *ENTERPRISE

THE PROBLEM
THE FIRST OF IT'S KIND
VISION
MISSION