Developed by the Asheville, North Carolina, Neighborhood Housing Services (NHS), Lunch and Learn is a quick introduction to homebuying done at the workplace.

Montford, the neighborhood in which NHS works, is one of the oldest in Asheville. Immediately adjacent to downtown, it has a diversity in racial makeup, income and housing stock. There are two major home-ownership issues:

• Gentrification is diminishing affordable home-ownership opportunities for working families.
   
• NHS and others need to pay attention to what happens to elderly homeowners’ properties. Finding the next generation of working families is an important strategy for Asheville NHS.

1.  The Program
Lunch and Learn is a 45-minute introductory session on buying a house that is designed to be done at a workplace, over lunch. The objective of Lunch and Learn is to pump people up about home ownership and to get them committed to the next step — a four-session homebuyer class that provides a more detailed exposure to the homebuying process.

2.  Structuring the Program
Lunch and Learn was first developed for use with city of Asheville employees. The city was interested in employer-assisted home ownership and brought in the state Housing Finance Agency to do the training. Response to this training was weak.
 
NHS and the citywide Affordable Housing Coalition were contracted to restructure the training. One result of the restructuring was an emphasis on personal family issues that affect home-ownership choices.
 
In 45 minutes, Lunch and Learn focuses on the following:

• the advantages of home ownership;
   
• the drawbacks of home ownership;
   
• credit issues and how they can be repaired; and
   
• working with real-estate agents.

3.  Applications
The Lunch and Learn session held for city employees successfully drew public works and maintenance employees. All of those attending signed up for the more intensive training.
 
The Affordable Housing Coalition (AHC) approached Wilsonart Laminate, a large laminating company, with an offer to conduct Lunch and Learn and the four-week training for employees. Wilsonart asked for homebuyer training and contributed the requested $35 per person. AHC conducted weekly sessions for third-shift workers as they came off their shift, around 8 a.m. Although sometimes a bit punchy, the workers had a high level of camaraderie and participation. NHS helped teach the classes.

4.  Funding
Asheville NHS participates in the AHC, which the city and local financial institutions fund to provide systematic home-ownership education. This support covers basic costs, but specific employers are expected also to contribute to costs of both Lunch and Learn and the more extensive work-place training.

1.  Site-Based
If an NHS wants to attract working people, going where working people are -- the work place -- makes sense. Doing a broad introduction to home ownership in the workplace is important, because it puts the training on the customers’ turf. The experience in Asheville suggests that this helps increase active participation.

2.  Starting with City Employees
City government, as a major employer, is a good place to start. The Lunch and Learn session the city held was well attended; employees responded very positively. Employees drawn to Lunch and Learn and ultimately to the homebuyer training sessions were the group that NHS wanted to reach: public works and maintenance employees, modestly paid but with stable employment.

3.  A Light Touch
Lunch and Learn is meant to be an entertaining introduction to home ownership that furthers people's interest in homebuyer training. It is a customer-focused approach dealing with issues and perceived obstacles people may feel prevent them from buying a house. It is a way of drawing people into more intensive training.

4.  Employers' Self-Interests
Homebuyer training was an easy sell for Wilsonart Laminate, which, as a company, understood the connection between home ownership and employee stability. The city of Asheville, a fairly progressive employer, also saw the value of bringing home-ownership education into the work place.
 
Agency interview with: Douglas McRae