Mission
Our mission is to offer individuals the opportunity to realize their dreams by learning the skills necessary for home ownership, financial management and wealth creation. Based on personal experience, we know that buying a home is the first and most important step in creating wealth. We also know that the ability to acquire a home and create wealth is dependent upon one’s willingness to learn, change and grow.
All of Prosperity’s work is infused by the value of respect and the spirit of partnership.
As a nonprofit, tax-exempt community development corporation, the essence of our mission is service. Prosperity, Inc. would not exist without the generous philanthropic support of individuals, corporations, foundations and churches and the public support of governmental entities.
back to top...History
Prosperity Unlimited, Inc. (formerly Cabarrus County Community Development Corporation) began forming in February 1993 to serve low- and moderate-income families who lacked access to affordable housing, due in part to the large gap between housing provided by Habitat for Humanity and homes available in the private real estate market. The organization was incorporated in November 1993 and received its 501c)3 tax-exempt status as a charitable organization in April 1994. The organization became a state certified Community Housing Development Organization (CHDO) on July 18, 2000.
In 1994, Wachovia Bank loaned Prosperity Unlimited the necessary funds to purchase a small parcel of land. It took one and half years to develop this land with our first affordable homes. In the meantime, Prosperity’s founding Board Members participated in training provided by the National Development Council on Housing Development Finance; and two board members were trained as housing counselors.
After a series of meetings with experts and leaders in the field of community economic development (e.g., Abdul Sm Rasheed of the N. C. Community Development Initiative, Dean Edwards of The Affordable Housing Group, and Steve Osborne on the staff of the City of Concord), the organization’s treasurer wrote our first two grants proposals requesting funds for the organization to operate as a community development corporation (CDC), during the fourth quarter of 1994. During the first quarter of 1995, the organization was awarded $10,000 from the Cannon Foundation, $6,000 from the City of Concord and $17,000 from the N.C. Rural Center.
The first part-time housing counselor was hired in April 1995; and a part time executive director was hired in June 1995. By September 1995, Prosperity assisted five families become ready to purchase homes. One of these families purchased the home in which they were living and the other four families purchased homes built by Prosperity on the small parcel of land it bought in 1994.
Based on the success of the four families qualifying for home mortgage loans, First Charter Bank provided Prosperity a below prime construction loan to begin work on the new Maiden Lane Project. These affordable homes were sold by April 1996.
In 1997 Prosperity purchased another parcel of land for the construction of three new affordable homes. We also partnered with the City of Concord and The Affordable Housing Group to develop the Suncrest Project in the Sizetown/Shanktown area. Suncrest, a 14-unit, single-family development, won a Blue Ribbon designation from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). During this time period, the City of Concord provided the physical infrastructure (i.e., curves & gutters, street) and purchased additional land to build five more homes.
In 1998, Prosperity purchased 5.5 acres of land in the Bethel Community in Kannapolis, NC. The last new home built in the Bethel Community was in the late 1950’s. The area was burdened by substandard duplexes, several dilapidated homes and wooded areas where drug sales regularly took place. As a result of Prosperity’s construction efforts, this area is now comprised of 21 units of new and affordable single-family homes and three additional homes built by a private developer. We recently purchased four additional parcels of land in this neighborhood to build another six housing units.
In addition to these new and affordable homes built in the Bethel Community, Prosperity also developed a 4500 square foot office building. As a result of this combined new development, the tax value of the land improved by Prosperity’s initiative in this area rose from $100,000 in 1998 to greater than $3.0 million in 2007. One of the tenants in the new office building is a full service credit union readily accessible to the Bethel community residents.
Since its founding in the mid-1990’s, Prosperity Unlimited, Inc. has evolved into a full-service, not-for-profit housing and community development corporation that provides homeownership training, financial literacy and wealth creation, and downpayment financial assistance for first-time and other low- and moderate-income homebuyers. In addition, Prosperity builds new, affordable houses. In recent years, Prosperity has assisted approximately 25 families each year to become first-time homeowners. The organization is also certified to build Energy Star homes through a special energy-efficient program of the North Carolina Community Development Initiative and the N.C. Housing Finance Agency. Pursuant to this program Prosperity constructed our first Energy Star home in April 2004 with a certified heating and air conditioning cost of only $19 per month.
back to top...Licenses/Certifications
- NC Real Estate Firm
- NC Housing Counseling Certified
- High Cost Loan Counseling
- Energy Star Homes
- Home Buyer's Educator
Designations
- Approved Housing Counseling Agency, US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
- New Homes Loan Pool Member, NC Housing Finance Agency
- Community Housing Development Organization (CHDO)
- Community Development Corporation (CDC)
- Founded: 2/1993
- Incorporated: 11/29/1993
- First Funded & Staffed: 1995
- President/CEO: Louise Mack
- Full Time Staff Members: 7
- Part Time Staff Members: 1
- Volunteers: 2
- Consultants: 2
