Entries from December 2008 ↓

Be bold. Be cheap. Mentor.

Especially if you are a dude. As RecessionGirl has researched this one for you, she knows for sure that Big Brother’s Big Sister’s (BBBS) of America has a ridiculous shortage of man-mentors for their program. Fellas, step up and represent your gender.

Mentoring through BBBS is a great way to give back to your community. Making the choice to participate in the program should not be made willy-nilly as being a ‘big’ is a substantial commitment. If you sign on and become a mentor, the contract period is for one year. Before I was RecessionGirl, I was a three year veteran of the program and now share a relationship with my little sister outside of the agency.

New York City is a great place to be a mentor as there is an endless supply of cheap stuff to do with your little brother or sister. Some of the highlights of time spent with my little sister include trips to the Coney Island Aquarium, the Big Apple Circus, The Bronx Zoo and The Museum of Natural History to name a few.

Ladies, I didn’t mean to ignore you on this one. Please show your support by mentoring too. Make sure to tell your man-friends that they ought to consider participation as well.

Click the link below and schedule an appointment to meet with a BBBS coordinator to learn more about mentoring.

https://aim.bbbs.org/einquiry/einquiryzip.aspx

Be bold. Be cheap. Mentor.

Be bold. Be cheap. Try to buy a house.

Neighbors Helping Neighbors helps low and moderate income Brooklyn residents to secure quality housing and build financial assets. http://www.nhnhome.org

RecessionGirl has done the investigating for you. After taking NHN’s 12 hour seminar designed to help educate first time homebuyers, RecessionGirl gave NHN two thumbs up.

One of the highlights of the NHN First Time Home buyers program is the federal grant matching program. The program works by providing $2 federal dollars for every $1 you save and is capped at $5,000. You can use this toward your down payment or in conjunction with any other money you may have saved toward the purchase of a first home.

The staff at NHN are friendly and they are not trying to ‘sell’ you anything as they are a non-profit of course. They provide a safe environment for question and answer that might be intimidating if you were to deal directly with brokers, sales people, lenders, attorneys, inspectors, etc.

NHN is committed to providing the highest quality of service in order to:

• Educate and counsel people so they can help themselves
• Organize people so they can act collectively and help one another
• Network with other community organizations
• Serve as an advocate for and conduit of resources in the community.

Smooches to NHN for caring so much about the citizens of The People’s Republic of Brooklyn.

Be bold. Be cheap. Try to buy a house.