PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) — As homeownership remains out of reach for many families, a Quaker congregation in Philadelphia’s Germantown neighborhood is investing in a reparations initiative aimed at helping African American families purchase homes and preserve housing wealth.<\/p>\n
One beneficiary is Charmira Pilgram, who recently moved into a home in West Oak Lane with her husband and their five children.<\/p>\n
“We are in front of my very own property!” Pilgram said.<\/p>\n
Pilgram said owning a home had been a longtime goal.<\/p>\n
“To have my own property has been a long time coming. It’s something we dreamed up for many years,” she said.<\/p>\n
The purchase nearly fell through, however, when she was unable to come up with the money needed to close on the home.<\/p>\n
“I didn’t have the $10,000 that I needed for the closing, and it was crunch time,” Pilgram said.<\/p>\n
Assistance came through the reparations work of Green Street Monthly Meeting, a Quaker congregation in Germantown.<\/p>\n
The congregation has committed $500,000 to reparations efforts, according to Lucy Duncan, founder of the congregation’s Reparations Committee.<\/p>\n
“We wanted to understand how we could use our resources in alignment with our values, especially our racial justice commitments,” Duncan said. “We came to unity to make this commitment of $50,000 a year for ten years.”<\/p>\n
The initiative began in 2022. Recently, the congregation provided $50,000 to the nonprofit birdSEED, which focuses on down payment assistance and housing justice.<\/p>\n
The funding will provide five families with grants of $10,000 each to help them purchase homes.<\/p>\n
In addition to down payment assistance, the congregation has supported efforts to help people at risk of losing longtime family properties because of tangled titles.<\/p>\n
“We stabilized $11.3 in housing wealth,” Duncan said.<\/p>\n
Duncan said the reparations initiative reflects the complex history of Quakers, who were both enslavers and abolitionists.<\/p>\n
“When people say reparations are impossible, it’s like, no, look here!” she said.<\/p>\n
For Pilgram, the assistance represents more than a successful home purchase.<\/p>\n
“I know long term we’ll have generational wealth for our family,” she said.<\/p>\n
Looking ahead, she said she is focused on the future the home will provide.<\/p>\n
“I’m just excited for the future that our family will have in this home,” Pilgram said.<\/p>\n
As part of its reparations work, Green Street Monthly Meeting has also contributed $50,000 to causes associated with Black maternal health.<\/p>\n
Congregation leaders say the effort has inspired other Quaker congregations to develop their own reparations programs.<\/p>\n
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