Five Jericho Collaborations

Dear rider!

Thank you for riding and by doing so, helping Jericho Road thrive. Below you will find brief descriptions of five collaborations between Jericho volunteers and Lowell clients. We hope that by reading these case studies you will be better prepared and inspired to tell the Jericho story. Eight volunteers and five clients participated in these 5 projects. Since January 2000, when Jericho Road began, it has worked with 48 different clients on 123 projects and has recruited 110 volunteers.

The Merrimack Valley Housing Partnership offers home buyer training seminars for low and moderate income earners. This entails working with lenders, attorneys, home inspectors, real estate brokers and others. The MVHP approached Jericho Road, requesting a legal and business consultant to advise them on the feasibility of starting up a mortgage brokerage business. Jericho volunteers Tom Bird, a venture capitalist specializing in social entrepneurship, and Jim Smith, a lawyer with the Boston law firm of Foley and Hoag, met with the executive director and board of the MVHP and discussed the issues with them. "The few hours with Jericho likely saved us weeks and months of further deliberations" commented an MVHP board member after the meeting.

The Cambodian Mutual Assistance Association in the largest Cambodian-based organization which serves the critical needs of the second largest Cambodian community in the US--Lowell's. When Vong Ros, CMAA's new executive director approached Jericho for help, the organization was in trouble. Don Leopold, a strategic consultant with Sherbrooke Partners and a Jericho volunteer, led an intensive, 100 hour organizational audit effort culminating in a very concrete plan. Vong, who by now has used Jericho's services on several other occasions, says "we were in an organizational death spiral and Don helped pull us out".

With a staff of 450 overseeing programs such as Head Start, YouthBuild, homeless shelters and food and fuel assistance, Community Teamwork Inc. is the "mother-ship" of Lowell and the region's social service agencies. CTI approached Jericho Road for assistance on crafting its next five year strategic plan. Jericho consultants Alta Fleming and Katharine Esty devoted 300 hours to planning and executing an inclusive and participatory strategic planning process culminating in a two-day community-wide planning meeting. Karen Frederick, the executive director of CTI and a booster for Jericho Road noted that "my staff and I learned a lot from Katharine and Alta and could never have afforded their level of expertise. The plan is very powerful and I believe will have city-wide impact".

Ten homeless Lowell families have recently received a year-long subsidy allowing them to move from the shelters and motels they have been living in, to an apartment. Yet the odds of these families being able to pay the full rent at the end of subsidy period is very low. To fight these odds, the Jericho-led Partner Families initiative couples a Jericho volunteer with each family for a year. Working in tandem with partners Operation Front Line, a financial literacy advocate, and Community Teamwork, the Jericho volunteer and family will craft and follow through on an economic empowerment plan aimed at reducing spending and increasing savings and income. "This effort is unique" says John Mahoney, longtime director of CTI's Housing Assistance Program, "as it looks at the root causes of poverty and tries to give people tools to better their lives".

The Lowell Small Business Assistance Center helps entrepreneurs realize their dreams of starting a small business. Yet with a staff of three people, the organization was unable to meet the demand for its services. With the help of ten Jericho business professionals, including CPA's, marketing and sales experts, the LSBAC now offers its clients more teachers, as well as evening consultations and one-on-one mentoring. "Jericho volunteers allow the new wave of Lowell's immigrants a chance to live the American dream" says Russ Smith, director of the Center.