Blanquet Morgan
"I learned a lot from the [CASHFLOW] game—what you can do in life with your money and how your money can work for you. It was really interesting. That motivated me a lot. I thought ‘This is what I’m going to do in life."
Like all mothers, Blanquet Morgan wants a better life for her children.
“Where I’m living I’m not comfortable,” Blanquet says of her transitional apartment in a low-income housing development on Georgia Avenue. “I would like better living conditions for me and my two children. This is not such a pleasant neighborhood. My kids want to move too. At 10 and 14, they need privacy. Now they have to share a room.”
Several years ago, Blanquet enrolled in the Manna Homebuyer Club, where she learned about CAAB and signed up for an Individual Development Account in the fall of 2004. A diligent saver, Blanquet finished contributing to her IDA in two years, attending Manna’s Homebuying classes in the meantime. Recently she completed additional classes in general money management and financial education offered by CAAB.
“I learned a lot about credit—bad credit, good credit, all the ups and downs of credit cards,” Blanquet says. “I learned about investments in business. Mainly I wasn’t too sure about investing, but the workshops helped with that. I signed up to play the CASHFLOW Game. I learned a lot from the game—what you can do in life with your money and how your money can work for you. It was really interesting. That motivated me a lot. I thought ‘This is what I’m going to do in life.’”
Blanquet says saving isn’t hard for her, but earning enough money to qualify for a mortgage is. She works at the DC nonprofit organization Community of Hope while pursuing her bachelor ’s degree in elementary education at the University of the District of Columbia. She loves her work as a teaching assistant, among other responsibilities, at Community of Hope, where she has worked in various positions for nine years.
“They have an afterschool program and child care and summer camps and I’m a receptionist,” she says. “Most of the children in the program are homeless. You have to be committed to work with them. Hopefully when I finish my degree I will be able to seek employment full-time at Community of Hope.”
Originally from Jamaica, Blanquet tries to bring her children there occasionally to see family, but right now she’s focused on saving money for a home. Although she completed contributing to her IDA last summer, Blanquet hasn’t yet been able to find a house she can afford. “At this point I’m hoping to get another chance to see if I’ll be accepted to buy a house through Habitat. I’m still waiting to hear. They might have an orientation this spring.”
In the meantime, she’s making plans for her future goals. “I realize I need to finish school to earn more money,” Blanquet says. “I hope to graduate by December this year or May next year. After I get my house I’ll go back to school.”
