Charlene Brewer (center) pauses outside her recently purchased home with daughters 17-year-old Kimberly and 14-year-old Tiffany.

IDA Program has first success stories

Alleghany residents Charlene Brewer and Chris Brady are now first- time home owners, thanks, in part, to assistance provided through the Success Highway Individual Development Account (IDA) program and its coordinator, Bud Hill.

The two new homeowners are the first success stories for the program in Alleghany County, although Hill hopes for many more in the future. The Success Highway IDA program is a savings and asset-building program in which participants open up a savings account at a local financial institution, with a goal of saving $1,000. Once the money is saved, the program matches the funds, 2 to 1 and the $3,000 in savings can go toward the down payment on a first-time home, to pursuing education after high school, or to starting a small business or improving one that is already in place.

According to information about the program provided by Hill, the matching of funds is not a "giveaway" of money.

"Participants earn savings matches by saving their own hard-earned dollars and taking other steps to prepare for the future, like attending workshops appropriate to the asset they have chosen," the information reads, citing examples of home ownership or how to construct a business plan. "Furthermore, providing match dollars is a way to help hard working families and individuals build a more stable and secure future."

Hill reminds potential, current and future participants that the program does not offer a quick fix. He added participants are typically in the program for as little as eight to as many as 18 months, which in part, is dependent on the budgeting

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