My experience interning for Habitat for Humanity
Written by Clark Vilardebo
When I was thinking of potential internship opportunities for my last semester of college, Habitat for Humanity wasn’t even remotely on my radar.
As a mass communication major with a focus in journalism, I had my eyes set on joining a newsroom or broadcast station.
However, after taking a formative trip to Mexico this past summer with Oakland Avenue Presbytery church, I realized that maybe Habitat is exactly what I’m looking for.
Giving back to the community is incredibly important to me, especially people who may not have the luxuries or privileges that I do, and after my trip to Mexico I felt even more emboldened to help in the community. It just so happened that an opportunity would come in the form of an internship.
What really drew me to Habitat was I felt comfortable writing for them because I know they actually put in the work, they don’t just say “we’re here to help and learn” and then do the bare minimum.
I have been in these homes and seen the work they do. I have been in the office while they’re planning community events. I have volunteered in the Restore.
It’s not just the fact they put in the effort – there is so much that goes on behind the scenes. While building and repairing homes may be what most people think of when they hear about Habitat for Humanity, it is so much more than that.
I would never know that advocating for government support is a major part of what happens behind the scenes if I never took this internship. I would never know the numerous programs that Habitat offers. I would never know
that disaster relief is now a major aspect of Habitat for Humanity York County’s work.
I also never would have realized the problems they run into behind the scenes with federal, state and county funding.
That’s when I realized that I can still put my journalistic skills to use by informing the public about those situations. It’s important that the people know that this is a massive, multi-coordinated effort that often has to deal with bad actors, constantly changing schedules, and/or traveling around the state.
With that, it’s also important that the public sees and hears from those who work at Habitat, and realize that these are actual people working chaotic schedules to make our community better.
During my time here, I’ve written about the new board members, Habitat programs, community outreach, and advocacy and development. I also did a video on the Restore – another key aspect of Habitat I did not know about before taking on this internship.
This internship has not just helped me as a writer and a mass communication major, but it’s also made me more aware of what goes on behind the scenes at organizations like Habitat for Humanity.
I want to thank my supervisor Summersby Okey, the Director of Advocacy and Development at HFHYC, for giving me this opportunity and being such a supportive and understanding supervisor.
I also want to thank HFHYC as a whole for welcoming me and allowing me to write about them.
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Creating Stability Through Housing, Repair, and Education
Written by Clark Vilardebo
Habitat for Humanity York County does more than build and repair homes – we also place an emphasis on community outreach. One of the many ways we do that is through the various programs offered here.
The Home Ownership Program, which Habitat is famously best known for, makes sure that homebuyers purchasing a Habitat home do not spend more than 30% of their income on housing, avoiding being cost-burdened by their housing cost.
The Home Repair Program is another focus here, as building a home is not enough – you have to preserve it too.
Having the correct deeds and paperwork is important to allow older adults to safely age in place, and also allows them to pass a meaningful asset on to build generational wealth.
The third program in Habitat for Humanity of York County’s suite of offerings is the Financial Capability Program, which is a financial literacy program that helps attendees know everything that they need to know to be prepared for home ownership.
This program has been a huge success. When it first started out, 2% of families who applied for our program were finally ready to purchase a home. Now, after implementing financial education before families apply, it’s up to 22%.
HFHYC also provides Senior Sense, which is a similar program for senior adults, and Piggy Banks to Paychecks, which is for younger children and teenagers.
After the April 2024 hail storm in Rock Hill and Hurricane Helene, disaster response and preparedness have been a focus for the HFHYC staff.
Krista Parenti, Director of Programs Services, oversees all these programs.
Parenti has been involved with nonprofit organizations for a while, but she says the “person centered and solution focused” approach at Habitat drew her to working here.
“[It] really focuses on ‘how can we be more equitable in our community,’ and ‘how can we involve our community in the decisions that we’re making,’ instead of making decisions for the community,” Parenti said.
Improving the communities families are living in is an important aspect of Parenti’s role, mentioning Rock the Block and Place Making Days as community revitalization events she helps organize for HFHYC.
Parenti says the Home Repair Program is where she sees the most work.
“Our home repair program reaches a lot of families. I mean, this last fiscal year alone, we reached 55 families.”
Being in charge of these programs, Parenti sees many success stories, and she did not hesitate to share them.
“For our new home ownership program, we did a closing in late June for a multi generational family. It was a son and his parents. His father is a veteran, and he is their primary supporter. So he takes care of them, he helps pay their rent, and makes sure they get everything they need. And he works really hard – he’ll work seven days a week sometimes, so being able to put them in a home that was going to give him the opportunity to have a lower monthly payment for a home, give his parents somewhere where they could be stable that was more accessible to them was really impactful,” Parenti said.
Parenti continued, “We do a lot of home repairs for the April hailstorm and Hurricane Helene related repairs. We had one homeowner, she was hit by Hurricane Helene really hard. It impacted her roof. She had a serious roof leak, so she put a tarp over her roof to mitigate that. You know, while she was waiting on repairs, and the city was fining her every day for that tarp for something that was completely out of her control. So being able to help families like that who are experiencing those types of things has been really big. We were able to fix her roof, and she’s no longer getting fined every day.”
As previously mentioned, disaster response has been a big focus since the April 2024 hail storm and Hurricane Helene, and there is currently a program dealing with it in the pipeline.
As for other programs in the near future, Parenti talked about multi-family developments, which are going to be single family attached development townhomes.
“That’s going to allow us to build multiple homes next to each other at the same time, which is going to help us increase that capacity and build more homes at once.”
Parenti also mentioned a program partnering HFHYC with York schools, giving students an opportunity to build homes and help in their community.
More Than Homes: How Advocacy Shapes Habitat’s Mission
Written by Clark Vilardebo
Here at Habitat for Humanity York County, our mission is seeking to put God’s love into action by bringing people together to build homes, communities, and hope.
In order to accomplish that mission and advance the beloved community , we place an emphasis on advocating for what Habitat does.
Summersby Okey, Director of Development and Advocacy here at Habitat for Humanity York County, plays a big role in that.
Okey joined Habitat in 2024, saying that “the solid foundation that Habitat has for truly caring about people and for making a difference” inspired her to join. With a background in political science and philosophy, social justice has always been important to her.
Being the Director of Advocacy and Development, Okey oversees the fundraising side of things, such as grants, individual donations, and partnerships, along with gifted items like construction materials or services.
Government advocacy is also an area of focus, though.
“We do local, state and federal advocacy. So when we’re doing advocacy, it is not in favor or of against any party or candidate. It’s always non-partisan and always focused on issues,” Okey said.
On the federal level, we work with Habitat for Humanity International and we’re currently focusing on two things: appropriations and theROAD to Housing Act.
“We’re advocating through the budget process for certain appropriations for federal funding that supports affordable homeownership,” Okey said.
These include community development block grants, HOME dollars for construction and development of affordable home ownership and rental properties, and SHOP, which deals with repair and maintenance for homes.
The ROAD to Housing Act legislation just passed in the Senate., This is a major step forward in a transformative housing legislation package, as it is the first bipartisan housing bill to be approved by the Senate in over a decade.
The next step is for the Senate and House to reconcile their versions of the bill.
On the state level, Habitat is currently seeking access to the S.C. Housing funds – a process that has been 15 years in the making.
It’s a similar process at the local level.
“In South Carolina and York County, Rock Hill is an “entitlement community,” which means they receive an automatic allocation of Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding because of the population; they are the only municipality in York County that reaches the population threshold to get that automatic entitlement,” Okey said. “So York County also receives an allocation because at the county level, not the municipal level, every year for the past five years, since we’ve reached the threshold to receive that, the county government has said, ‘No, thank you. We don’t want those dollars.’ We are estimating that it’s probably about $2 million for the county that they’re turning down.”
This money wouldn’t just go to affordable housing development, but infrastructure and workforce development too.
As a result of advocacy efforts, it was discovered that the county council didn’t know that the county staff was turning down this Community Development Block Grant funding, so members of the county council are now on board to advocate for the county to receive this funding.
Raising money for Habitat’s programs is another focus of Okey’s role.
Okey says the most difficult part of her job is “100% the funding landscape in York County.”
“We live in a very affluent and philanthropic pocket of rural South Carolina, but accessing those funds is difficult at times,” Okey said.
A major accomplishment from Okey’s work is Habitat for Humanity York County receiving their first federal funding: a $150,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The Housing Preservation Grant is designed to accomplish $150,000 worth of home repairs, which is about 15 to 30 critical home repairs in the rural part of York County.
Advocacy and development is certainly a grueling process, but it can also be fulfilling.
“Being able to interact with families, to build alongside families, to be there when they get the keys to their home, to watch them from beginning to end – it’s super fulfilling,” Okey said.
The Power of Partnership in Building the Beloved Community
Written by Clark Vilardebo
A major part of our mission at Habitat for Humanity is to build not just homes, but communities too.
And like many of our staff members already featured, Beatrice Croft, our community outreach manager, is vital to that part of the mission.
“My role is to pretty much build relationships and engage with the community. I am, you can say, the face of a Habitat for Humanity York County. I go out and build a relationship, tell what we do, [and] try to get people to partner with us, and engage with us,” Croft said.
Croft has been involved in non-profits for as long as she can remember, but says Habitat’s “goal of home ownership, building generational wealth, helping families achieve that goal through different means” is what drew her to working here.
“Most of our families may not be approved for a regular home ownership program. So we have different things like a debt to income ratio, or going through financial literacy before they go through the home ownership process. So I think that that’s what makes us different, and that’s kind of what drew me to Habitat.”
Croft is one of the busiest people at the office, as her role often involves her having to be out of the office often.
Currently, we’re partnering with the Catawba Area Coalition for the Homeless (CACH) to provide families food for Thanksgiving – which Croft played a big role in organizing.
As community outreach manager, much of Croft’s role involves attending community events and building our community partnerships like CACH.
Doing this may seem like an easy task, but sometimes persuasion is needed.
“Having to build that rapport and build that relationship, to gain the community’s trust, sometimes that can be difficult,” Croft said.
Seeing people become homeowners makes it all worthwhile for Croft, though.
“The idea to build generational wealth and help this family obtain stability is the best part of my job.”
Croft is very proud of the work she’s done here, but she hopes to add more partnerships with the Clover community.
For more information on our partnerships, visit
https://yorkcountyhabitat.org/give/corporate-partnerships/.