we can unlock housing for each other.

Sometimes my parents would come home from their Korean get togethers with a big wad of cash. It had been their turn to receive the lump sum. 

It was all legit and part of a long-standing Korean tradition. They were participants in a gye - an old school model of community finance where individuals pool their money for the benefit of the group. After everyone contributed their share, the group would draw names each time to see who would get the bounty of the lump sum. Through mutual trust and cooperation they were able to solve financial issues for each other. My parents used the money to buy better equipment for their dry cleaning business—expenses that would have been too much to swing on their own. Their gye was with a few couples in their Korean dry cleaners association who they trusted. Trust is important as everyone needs to be invested in the overall benefit to the whole.

I was so inspired by this recent memory as it really touches on the heartbeat of joogi. Community is the foundation of our mission to get one million people into debt-free homes. We see that opportunity slipping away for too many and it’s not acceptable. We want everyone to know what it’s like to own a home. A home speaks volumes about who you are through the sights and smells and bestows a huge sense of accomplishment and safety and the kind of financial security and freedom that can uplift generations. 

The people closest to the problem are closest to the solution.* By participating in joogi’s unique commerce model, you CAN change the conversation. joogi gets everyone together to help pay off homes. Then we auction them off through a points system that is designed as equitable as possible. It won’t be about who has the most money but who has worked the hardest to earn points or joogis. The highest bidder gets the home and then steps off for the next person. It’s mutual trust and cooperation in action and it only works if everyone puts in a contribution. If you’re new to joogi or have just been waiting on the sidelines, start with $10 towards funding a home. (Or $1,000 if you’re able and want to earn more joogis for the auction or just help fund a home for someone else.) That’s enough to change the game for everyone. 

*Quote: Glenn E. Martin