What Can I Do With FSS?

 Erika came to the Family Self-Sufficiency (FSS) Program with goals to increase credit worthiness, maintain a good job and eventually become a home and business owner. During tough times, it hasn’t always been easy. Erika says, “setting goals and sticking to them are tough tasks.” In order to maintain her full-time employment and continue to be qualified to access her escrowed FSS funds, she began working overnight to accommodate her family. Of this sacrifice she says, “ Though it all, I never gave up - no matter how tough it got, I kept pushing.” What inspired her dedication is “my children and being that example...they are depending on me.’ Erika continues, saying that “the most important things to accomplish your goals are consistency and always believing in yourself.”      READ MORE

From selling empanadas while her daughters were in dance class, to buying a home, Rosa walked the path to her goal for many years. She has been seriously working on homeownership for two years with the help of Albany Housing Authority’s Family Self Sufficiency (FSS) Program at The WAGE Center and Affordable Housing Partnership. 

Back when she was sitting at her orientation to Section 8, dreaming of becoming a homeowner, she remembers, “My mind was so limited...it wasn’t really open. So, I said to myself: I would love to be able to do this. But that’s going to take such a long time. I won’t be able to do it...then life gave me another opportunity and that’s when I took it.”  MORE

Ciara has achieved goals she started the FSS program with and additional goals she didn’t even know she had. "At the time, my goals were to go back to school, clear up my debt and buy my first home. During my time in the FSS program, I managed to raise my credit score, almost clearing my debt. Also I started my own brand (Trezur My Kisses) selling t-shirts and other apparel." 

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Mia came to the FSS program at the WAGE Center already working, but with many goals. She was employed in the nursing department at Albany Medical Center, where she still works, nearly five years later in a different department.

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