Diana Dorn Jones has been working on housing issues in communities for a long time and it doesn't look as if she will be finishing her work anytime soon. Diana explains, "I've been working on these issues for a long time because I cannot work in communities and not address issues of poverty because that's what we do, we just happened to have started as a housing organization. We believe that the equity that is built through home ownership is a means of passing wealth to future generations of families, thereby ending generations are poverty. That‘s why I'm beating this drum. "Much of the wealth in this country comes from owning real estate". In my opinion you get a person into a house, they stay and take care of their home, make their payments, and they build equity and then they pass it on to their families, and that is how we built the middle class in this country, and I think that is the way we help our next generation of families get a step up. That is why I am pretty angry about what's going on with the housing market today, they are stripping equity away from families. "Now they are losing their homes to subprime lending practices"."
Diana continued her message for engagement in these words. "These people here tonight are working people who don't have very many resources , and this town Hall is a venue for them to be able to have a voice that we can take from the grassroots level in a small South Broadway neighborhood all the way to Washington, DC and have their voices heard. Just like in a presidential campaign, we are building a platform that is strong because when you have people and communities talking from the same page and having the same message, that's hard for anyone to ignore."
For those unfamiliar with the Marguerite Casey Foundation, the foundation is a major sponsor for community development efforts and it is headquartered in Seattle, Washington. The Foundation was created by Casey Family Programs in 2001 and seeks to build a more just and equitable society by nurturing a movement of low-wage families that engages communities across the United States and forwards an agenda that puts families first. The Marguerite Casey Foundation is headed by President and CEO, LuzVega-Marquis, and over the last four the foundation has funded 225 nonprofit organizations in eight regions across the country.
Their partnership with the United South Broadway Corporation was established because of the productive impact United South Broadway Corporation has had working in communities. The Marguerite Casey Foundation doesn't solicit applications but recruits organizations with productive resumes; that is an honorable testament to the effectiveness of the United South Broadway Corporation under the leadership of Mrs. Diana Dorn Jones.
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