For the last 34 years, Creative Compassion, Inc. has striven to meet the housing needs of our local, rural community in the Upper Cumberland. All of our programs are meant to create & preserve housing opportunities in our community.
Initiatives we have created, continued, and taken part in:
New Home Construction
New Homes: Since 1992, we have built modest new homes for low-income home buyers. In 2022, we completed & sold our 185th home. Home buyers who build with us gain access to quality, professionally built homes, assistance with obtaining affordable, safe mortgage financing, and down payment assistance. We have contributed $9.2 million of new homes sales to our local economies (and this does not account for the increase in values these homes have made over time)!
Mortgage Financing
Since 2017, our staff has been certified to help potential home buyers get approved for a home loan with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). We help those wanting to build a house with us and those wanting to work with their own realtor buy a house already on the market.
Home Repair
Since 2009, our agency has helped 98 households pay for home repairs that keep their homes safe and livable. Through a partnership with United Fund of Cumberland County, we have been able to offer a no-interest home repair loan option for home owners in Cumberland County. No pay back grants for Cumberland, Fentress, Overton, Putnam, and White counties have been a consistent source of much needed help for very low income homeowners since 2015 through Federal Home Loan Bank of Cincinnati, The Home Depot Foundation, VEC, and MTNG. We also partner with USDA’s 504 repair program for more sizable repair requests. Currently, we have access to several home repair payment assistance options – some are no pay back grants, while others are low-to-no interest loans.
Utility Assistance
In 2022, our Board of Directors saw the community’s need for a housing and utility payment assistance program for those who reach out to us to help them. In its first year of operation, we helped 50 households with payment assistance, totaling $20,000+; this funding was gathered from gracious donations from Cumberland County United Fund, churches, and individuals. This program has continued on into 2023, during which we hope to help 74 households.
COVID-19 Response
One of the great things about being a true grassroots nonprofit is that we can fully dedicate our mission to quickly address community concerns that pop up quickly. Our agency applied for $35,500 in grant funds through the State of Tennessee. We were awarded these funds to help public schools in Cumberland & Fentress counties fight the spread of COVID-19. Through the work with volunteers and school administration in both counties, we were able to supply 17 schools with various supply requests, including: 6,825 mask lanyards & reusable water bottles, 240 touchless hand sanitizer dispensers, over 2,000+ AAA batteries, ADA-compliant water bottle refill stations, desk cough guards, and backpack sanitizer sprayers. These supplies helped 10,000 students and school staff fight against the public spread of the COVID-19 virus. We were glad to be able to quickly incorporate this need into our capabilities.
Rental
We currently do not manage any rental properties. However, we have contributed in other ways: we helped develop 3 affordable housing rental buildings (47 units), each with multiple living units, in partnership with Crossville Housing Authority, who now manages them. In partnership with them, the Azalea, Oakmont, & Teresa Gardens were constructed to provide low cost, supportive housing to elderly & disabled residents.
New Programs
Because we are not tied to a national nonprofit corporation, we are able to focus locally, in real time, where our community needs the most assistance. Currently, we are assessing new ways we could help Cumberland and the surrounding counties. If you have an idea, please consider emailing the Executive Director at director@creativecompassioninc.com