Background

Acts Housing has been a cornerstone in the Milwaukee and Beloit communities for over 28 years. Their comprehensive services, including homebuyer coaching and foreclosure rehabilitation, have empowered more than 3,500 families toward homeownership. By supporting families where it matters most, Acts not only empowers families but also revitalizes neighborhoods and their surrounding communities.

Challenges

Despite their long record of success, Acts Housing faced challenges in utilizing hard-to-find and messy data in ways that enabled them to fully understand their impact on community development and communicate that impact to key stakeholders including donors.

They needed a way to quantify their success and identify areas for growth, not just within their organization but in the broader context of the communities they serve.

Solution

They partnered with us for our local commitment and data analysis expertise, and we initially focused on creating a report detailing the long-term success of Acts Housing’s alumni homeowners.

As their collaboration progressed, we identified further opportunities to enhance the organization's impact. In addition to meeting the original objective, we developed a novel early mortgage default warning system. Utilizing publicly available property tax data, this system provides timely alerts for potential foreclosure risks among Acts Alumni families.

This innovative tool not only supports individual households but also plays a crucial role in sustaining community health by preventing foreclosures and supporting struggling families.

Results

• Enhanced Data Reporting: We produced a report with “incredible clarity,” showcasing the long-term success of Acts Housing's programs in a way that was both academically rigorous and easily understood by key stakeholders.

• Operational Improvement: The report has become a valuable tool for informing decisions within the organization, benefiting team members, volunteers, and board members.

• Proactive Support Tools: We helped develop an early warning system using property tax data to identify families at risk of financial distress, allowing for proactive support.

• Strengthened Partnerships: The success of the report has positioned it as a powerful tool for engaging partners, investors, and donors, demonstrating the seriousness with which Acts Housing takes the long-term stability of their families.

• True Partnership: Our approach stood out for its efficiency, understanding of available data, and genuine partnership. We provided valuable insights, sometimes directing Acts Housing to existing research and at other times helping to identify new, beneficial lines of inquiry.

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