Making moves for homebuyer healing and empowerment
Model Cities, along with partners Rondo Community Land Trust, and West Side Community Organization, will host a cohort of prospective homebuyers in spring 2026. The 6-month program will feature homebuyer education and pre-purchase counseling with our HUD-certified housing counselors. We will cover topics that go beyond traditional financial wellness, supporting generational healing to build generational wealth through home buying.
We’re taking a different approach to financial empowerment, creating collective knowledge to address the racial wealth and homeownership opportunity gaps. This program will help those feeling stuck in the home buying process with the tools needed to get closer to their home buying goals.
This program is for families who have found the journey to homeownership challenging because of historic harms to African-American communities in Saint Paul and nationally. Sessions will focus on collective care, creating a community of learning, and providing resources that offer more opportunities to Minnesotans.
Participants must be at least 18 years old, live in the Twin Cities Metro, self-identify as BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, or People of Color), and be experiencing financial challenges that make home buying seem out of reach.
Participating households will receive up to $6,500 to participate in the program if selected. With access to additional 0% interest credit opportunity loans that can help them manage unexpected expenses, leverage new opportunities, and build credit. Participants must be able to meet in person and commit to 6 months of biweekly classes, beginning March 18, 2026.
Questions? Contact Model Cities: info@modelcities.org or call 651-632-8350.
About Model Cities
Created in 1967, Model Cities serves individuals and families in Saint Paul to create a community where everyone has access to housing and economic opportunity. Our community development, economic, shelter, and supportive housing services are culturally responsive and supportive of our shared community. We believe communities thrive when people thrive.
About Rondo Community Land Trust
Through the innovative Community Land Trust (CLT) model, we empower families to build long-term generational wealth, foster the growth of local entrepreneurship, and preserve housing affordability for generations to come. By prioritizing community ownership and equitable development, we create sustainable pathways to economic stability, inclusive growth, and lasting neighborhood resilience.
About West Side Community Organization
WSCO organizes people of West Side to build collective power to advance justice and racial equity in the community for all people. Our work began as a movement of successful grassroots activism in the 70’s on the West Side to ward off the placement of a metal shredder in our neighborhood along the Mississippi River’s Edge, and to save the only public high school on the West Side, Humboldt, from permanently closing its doors. Today, WSCO remains committed to its activist roots, with community organizing and racial equity at the heart of our work.
*This article has been updated to remove registration links for info sessions which were held March 2026 and to add an additional program sponsor
