Colorado nonprofit giving out $10,000 grants to help women buy their first home

By Kati Weis

Click here for updates on this story

    DENVER, Colorado (KCNC) — Making ends meet in this economy can be tough, and buying a home, for many, is only a dream, but one nonprofit is empowering women in lower income brackets across the Denver metro area to make their dreams a reality.

Project I See You is handing out $10,000 grants to first-time women homebuyers.

Many of the women who have received the grants have purchased homes in Aurora. One such woman, Latasha Bell, says receiving the grant was the break she needed after trying to save for a down payment for years.

“My mother raised us in low-income housing,” Bell said. “I knew that I wanted more for my kids.”

During an interview this week with CBS News Colorado, Bell was in tears explaining the moment she first opened the door to her home last November.

“Turning the key was unreal. I kept thinking about my mother, who’s passed on, that it would have been amazing to share with her that this can be done. Happiness, peace, and dreams aren’t for other communities. These goals are accessible to us as well,” Bell said. “I was so proud, because I realized in that moment I was breaking a cycle.”

As a single mom of two children, including a daughter with cerebral palsy, having a home to call their own has changed her life.

“We’re in a home where we call the shots, I can knock out a wall. I can outfit this home for her. This is her home, and I can build it to her needs,” she said. “This is a home that I can pass down to her and to my son.”

Many people like her are still struggling for a home to call their own.

Among all first-time homebuyers last year across the country, 81% were white, and only 7% were Black. Only another 7% were Hispanic/Latino, according to the National Association of Realtors.

“There is a gap, there is a disparity here,” explained Mercy Tucker, who runs Project I See You. “It is a long term, life changing impact that we’re making… This is something that when a woman owns a home, it really is the way to build generational wealth.”

Her organization has already given out 60 grants to women like bell since 2021, and this year, they’re hoping to give out 40 more.

Asked her advice for other women considering applying, Bell said, “I would say not to wait like I did. I waited for years before I stepped out to educate myself and to build community and network.”

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.