A Philadelphia Quaker congregation is helping Black families cover the upfront costs of homeownership through a reparations initiative offering $10,000 grants to first-time homebuyers, The Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
Green Street Friends Meeting in Philadelphia’s Germantown neighborhood is funding five grants for Black homebuyers purchasing properties in the 19138 and 19144 ZIP codes, according to the outlet. The program is part of the congregation’s broader effort to redistribute wealth to Black residents as reparations.
Charmira and Quincy Pilgrim were among the first families to benefit, receiving $10,000 toward the purchase of their $315,000 home in West Oak Lane. The couple, who had hoped to become homeowners since marrying a decade ago, closed on the three-bedroom property in late May.
“It was a blessing that I ended up getting the grant because money was tight,” Charmira Pilgrim, a 32-year-old special education teacher and case manager, told the outlet.
Green Street partnered with birdSEED, a Washington-based nonprofit focused on narrowing racial wealth gaps, to administer the grants. Applicants must be Philadelphia based first-time homebuyers, have lived in the area where they plan to purchase for at least three years, and have annual household incomes of no more than $150,000.
Applications for the current round are open through Sept. 30.
The Philadelphia homebuyer grants are part of a reparations initiative Green Street launched in June 2021. The congregation pledged to contribute $50,000 annually for 10 years. Its efforts have also supported estate planning, Black midwives, music education, and legal assistance for Black homeowners.
Green Street said legal clinics addressing tangled property titles have helped more than 85 families preserve over $11.3 million in housing wealth.
Rebecca L. Grant, a member of Green Street’s reparations committee, acknowledged that the congregation’s efforts cannot undo generations of housing discrimination but said the initiative can make a tangible difference for individual families.
For the Pilgrims, buying a home also created an opportunity to build an asset that could benefit their five children.
“It feels good to have ownership. It feels good to be in a space I can create a vision for,” Pilgrim said. “I see this as an opportunity for my kids to have a legacy.”
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