JUNE 8 – The Bronx – TWU Local 100 Secretary-Treasurer Earl Phillips cut the ribbon to open the union’s newest facility – a homeowner and homebuying Counseling Center at 2475 Westchester Avenue. Local 100 members and community residents can access the Center’s services, including obtaining grants for first-time home-owners, financial counseling to help union members qualify to purchase homes, improve credit ratings or refinance high interest mortgages, and foreclosure prevention counseling.
Under the direction of Raiza Martinez, a veteran homeownership specialist with Neighborhood Housing Services, the Center aims to help TWU members and other Bronx working families to achieve the American dream.
Standing with Secretary Treasurer Phillips at the ceremony were other top Local 100 leaders, including Administrative Vice President Nelson Rivera, Tony Utano, VP of Maintenance of Way, and RTO Vice President Kia Phua. The counseling center was thronged with community residents, who talked to lenders from major banks and attended a class led by NHS board member Deborah Johnson educating them about paths to home ownership.
One interested walk-in to the event was Lamont Murray, a Bridge Painter whose mother, Stephanie Wilson, is a Bus Operator out of the West Farms Depot. He lives just two blocks from the counseling center and visited with his wife, Tibet, and his daughter, Monet. 
NHS offers grants of up to $25,000 for first-time home buyers who purchase a home for up to $424,000. For more information, call the counseling center at 718-502-3300.
