Today we’d like to introduce you to Charly McCracken.
Hi Charly, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Neighborhood Empowerment and Wealth Collective, Inc. (NEW) is a Georgia 501(c)(3) nonprofit that I founded out of my own lived experience, hard lessons, and an unwavering belief that working people deserve the stability and dignity of homeownership.
About NEW
NEW is solving the problem of Middle Georgia’s workforce being both priced out of homeownership and constrained by a shortage of homes they can realistically buy near the jobs they sustain. We focus on essential workers, military families, and professionals who earn too much for traditional subsidies but face limited, often nonexistent, for-sale inventory at price points aligned with their incomes. By actually creating that missing inventory through The Kingdom Village and future communities, we provide concrete pathways for these families to move from renting to owning, while helping cities and employers meet their workforce housing needs and strengthen the local tax base.
NEW is positioned to become Georgia’s innovative nonprofit workforce housing developer, dedicated to advancing prosperity, opportunity, and economic vitality across Middle Georgia and beyond. Founded by and for working families, NEW plans to redefine what a nonprofit can achieve by serving as a catalyst for regional growth, talent attraction, and community transformation. Our flagship program, The Kingdom Village, will include 18 for-sale single family moderate homes and 8 rental to homeowner duplex units to support families with below market rent become “mortgage-ready.”
How My Journey Began
I spent 42 years in corporate America, doing what I was taught to do, work hard, be loyal, and stay the course, believing that one day I would secure a home of my own.
When I finally purchased my home through Countrywide Mortgage, it felt like the fulfillment of a long-awaited goal and a reward for decades of effort.
At the time, I clearly asked for two safeguards: a fixed-rate mortgage and an escrow account to handle my insurance, taxes, and warranty. In the rush and pressure of the closing table, without the clarity and support I needed, those safeguards were not put in place, and I did not recognize the consequences in that moment.
When Everything Shifted
Five years later, the adjustable-rate mortgage came due, my payment increased beyond what I could reasonably manage, and I could no longer afford my home. The bank took the house back, and I went from homeowner to renter, carrying the weight of that loss.
Soon after, the company I had served restructured, and my position was eliminated. A work-related injury then led to disability, and I found myself a cost-burdened renter, paying more than I could sustainably afford and unable to save toward another mortgage opportunity.
From Setback to New Vision
In that season, I made a decision: if I could not reenter homeownership the traditional way, I would create a path that worked for my reality. I set my sights on acquiring a small piece of land and building a modest, right-sized home that I could genuinely afford.
As I leaned into that vision, another realization emerged: I was not the only one. There are many people who have worked, served, raised families, and done their best, yet faced setbacks like predatory lending, job loss, disability, and life events that pushed them out of homeownership. I began to see that my story could become a blueprint for something larger than myself.
Why I Created NEW and The Kingdom Village
From that realization, the concept for the Kingdom Village came into focus. I envisioned a community for people navigating real-life challenges, where attainable homeownership, financial education, and mutual support form the core of neighborhood life.
I founded NEW to advance this vision. NEW exists so that the lessons I paid for in loss and hardship can serve as guidance, protection, and opportunity for others who want to move from renting to owning with confidence.
My Commitment Moving Forward
My journey from long-term corporate professional to homeowner, from losing my home to becoming a cost-burdened renter living with disability is now the fuel behind my commitment to NEW and the Kingdom Village.
I am determined to manifest this project, not only to regain stable homeownership for myself, but to open doors for others to step into ownership with clear information, fair terms, and a supportive community, instead of uncertainty and regret at the closing table.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I don’t view this experience as smooth or hard; it’s just my journey. One that I took on and am committed to completing. The biggest challenges are building a mission-driven team and implementing the capital stack to fund the Kingdom Village project.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
The Neighborhood Empowerment and Wealth Collective, Inc. (NEW) is a Georgia-based 501(c)(3) workforce housing developer advancing prosperity, opportunity, and economic vitality across Middle Georgia. Founded by and for working families, NEW is redefining nonprofit impact by serving as a catalyst for regional growth, talent retention, and neighborhood stability.
NEW’s mission is to expand pathways to homeownership while strengthening the local economy, increasing the tax base, and meeting workforce needs. By leveraging structured partnerships with cities, counties, employers, and investors, NEW is committed to delivering measurable outcomes including new homeownership opportunities, local job creation, increased local spending, and strengthened neighborhood connections.
The Kingdom Village
The Kingdom Village is structured as a compact, mixed-income neighborhood of 22 homes plus a shared clubhouse, intentionally designed as a replicable prototype rather than a one-off project. The housing mix includes 4 duplex units that function as a built-in “transitional” path to ownership, alongside 18 single-family homes at three distinct price bands starting at around $200,000 making it ideal for the workforce to obtain homeownership.
Who We Serve
The Kingdom Village serves Middle Georgia’s engine of progress: teachers, healthcare professionals, first responders, military households, government employees, and other essential workers and professionals earning roughly 80% to 150% of the area median income who are ready for the step into ownership but locked out by today’s prices and supply constraints. These are individuals and families who want to live close to where they contribute most, invest in a first or next home, and build durable financial stability without leaving the communities they support every day.
How Are We Different
In Middle Georgia, most ‘competitors’ are traditional, for profit home builders and multifamily developers. They are doing important work, but they primarily build apartments for renters or single family homes that are often out of reach for teachers, first responders, healthcare staff, government workers, and military families earning 80–150% of the area median income. As a nonprofit workforce housing developer, we are laser focused on that missing middle. Through The Kingdom Village and future communities, we will design and price homes specifically for the local workforce, pair them with financial readiness support, and create clear pathways from renting to owning near major employers through a robust housing program that includes transitional rentals priced below market empowering our families to become “mortgage-ready”. Our measure of success is not just units built, but the number of families who become stable homeowners and the strength of the local economy we help reinforce.
The Impact
NEW will use The Kingdom Village to deliver 18 for-sale workforce homes and 8 duplex transitional units, directly serving approximately 26 families and an estimated 75–100 individuals with clear, disciplined pathways into homeownership. By aligning home prices and readiness supports with 80–150 percent of area median income, this project equips essential workers and military households to live near their jobs, stabilize housing costs, and build equity that can be leveraged for education, entrepreneurship, and long-term security. As these households transition from high-cost renting into ownership-focused housing, their increased financial stability and local spending reinforce local economic development priorities, strengthen employer talent retention, and demonstrate a replicable model for workforce homeownership that can be scaled across Middle Georgia.
What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
Some of the greatest lessons I have learned throughout this journey are that it takes a village to build a village, Rome wasn’t built in a day, and what you don’t know, you can learn.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://new-collective.org/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NEWempowermentandwealth/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlythepearl/
- Other: https://grantengineai.org/
