Claude Harris is a mature African American man who works at our local VA. He works hard each day to take care of his two children. He dreamed of becoming a homeowner for a long time but never thought it was possible. One day, one of his co-workers heard about his dream and encouraged him to go talk to Darrell. It took him 6 months to get up the courage to ask for help. Through a series of counseling sessions with Darrell, Claude made a plan to get his finances in order to become a homeowner. He started taking Financial Literacy and Homebuyer Education classes. Claude kept at his plan for over a year. Along the way, he was making changes in his lifestyle that prepared him to become a homeowner. He reduced his eating out. He learned about budgeting and better managed his income. But, Claude was still reserved about actually becoming a homeowner. Claude didn’t tell his children what he was doing. “I didn’t want to get their hopes up” said Claude. He kept quiet about his plans all the way up to the day that he signed loan documents for the purchase of his house. After signing, he said “Now I can go get my kids and take them and let them pick out their bedrooms. They are going to be so excited. We have been living in a 2-bedroom apartment. The kids slept in the bedrooms and I slept on the couch. But not anymore. I get my own room.” Claude is one example of the many families that we get to help with our Financial Literacy/Homebuyer Education program.