HUD recognizes Catholic Charities' Yiyi Dean

Doreya Yiyi Dean, Director of Housing Counseling Program and Grant Writer/Administrator for Catholic Charities of Corpus Christi, has been named as a Champion of Service by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
 
"Yiyi, is an extremely dedicated and motivating individual who has made very significant inroads for the first time homebuyers, distressed homeowners in the Corpus Christi area," said Susan M. Aleman, a Housing Specialist with the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. "She has persevered and obtained significant and positive results to the benefit of the population that she serves and truly deserves to be recognized."
 
In 1991, Dean started as a grant writer and program developer that carried over into her work with Catholic Charities of Corpus Christi. Ten years later she became a fully certified housing counselor and in 2002, she developed and implemented Catholic Charities? HUD-approved Housing Counseling Program.
 
Since starting the HUD-approved housing counseling program, Catholic Charities of Corpus Christi averages 1,100 clients annually. Dean designed the agency?s ?Family Self-Sufficiency Program? in 2007, and in 2008 she became a certified credit counselor, where she created a financial literacy curriculum for families and individuals with low-to moderate income.
 
Dean continues to work with families and individuals promoting homeownership and responsible rental tenures, while expanding the agency?s services to a 12-county area, placing emphasis in Colonia initiatives along the Texas-Mexico border.
She is currently working on developing programs that provide assistance to families and individuals experiencing food insecurity and hunger in rural communities.
 
Her work at Catholic Charities of Corpus Christi is instrumental in developing and expanding programs that reach a marginalized population and promote individual empowerment, and community stabilization throughout the City of Corpus Christi and neighboring counties.
 
Over the last 12 years of working with a diverse population, Dean has experienced many success stories. For example, in 2013, a 57-year old retired Army-Texas veteran with an 11.78 percent interest rate mortgage was facing foreclosure. Due to a series of heart attacks and his wife?s unforeseen illness, which later was diagnosed as stage three cancer, they fell five months behind on their mortgage, owing $7,092.32. Not being able to afford the repayment plan of $1,575 per month, the homeowner was drowning in mortgage debt.
 
After contacting the mortgage company, Dean was able to negotiate a three-month trial loan modification, and lowered the monthly payments to $875. A permanent loan modification was successfully completed seven months later and the homeowner received an interest rate of 2.5 percent bringing his monthly mortgage payments to $459.45. The family kept their home, which was a successful outcome.