<p class="p1">Carolyn Bilbo gets emotional when she talks about her new home because she said she has waited 57 years to be a homeowner and that when she moved in last month, she finally realized a lifelong goal.</p><p class="p1">“To own a home is the American dream,” Bilbo said Wednesday through tears.</p><p class="p1">Her house is among six new homes, called The Cottages on V.E. Washington, that are painted in muted hues of taupe, blue, yellow, green, gray and blue-green, all with different spacious floor plans, and each sitting on a manicured lot with a large backyard.</p><p class="p1">An open house was held Wednesday to mark the completion of the latest Project Build a Future group of cottages, which are on V.E. Washington Street, immediately north of Broad Street and three blocks east of Enterprise Boulevard.</p><p class="p1">“Weather can sometimes delay projects like this, but this one went pretty fast and the homes were completed in about six months,” said Charla Blake, executive director of the group. “Each home has three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and is around 1,300 square feet. Roy Washington of Washington Construction does all of our homes and they are just beautiful.”</p><p class="p1">Blake said these particular homes are in the $135,000-$146,000 price range depending on what a homeowner qualifies for and which programs he or she completes.</p><p class="p1">A walk-through of a couple of the homes revealed granite counter tops in kitchens and bathrooms; new appliances, including dishwashers, ranges and refrigerators, that come with a home purchase; and roomy closets.</p><p class="p1">Bilbo, a longtime teacher, said one of the things she really liked about the Project Build a Future path to ownership is that there are several programs designed to help people reach their goals.</p><p class="p1">Homes built by the group, which aims to revitalize areas north of Broad Street, are available to people who meet certain criteria. </p><p class="p1">“I applied in April of 2016 and by April of this year, I had completed all of my paperwork with the assistance of the great folks at Project Build a Future, gone through their programs I had signed up for, my home was built, and I was getting close to being ready to move in,” Bilbo said.</p><p class="p1">She moved in last month and said she had “tears of joy” on her move-in day.</p><p class="p1">“I’m so proud to finally be a homeowner. I feel that I’ve accomplished something really wonderful, and I feel so blessed,” Bilbo said. “I’m on top of the world right now. Every time I walk through my new home, I think to myself, ‘I can’t believe it — I’m a homeowner.’ And then I start crying those happy tears again. It’s an unbelievable feeling.”</p><p class="p1">Bilbo said she tells everyone about the program and how she achieved her dream in hopes that they can buy a home too if it’s something they are interested in doing.</p><p class="p1">Project Build a Future offers homebuyer counseling and education and lease-to-purchase and new construction programs.</p><p class="p1">For more information, call the group at 439-7191 or visit <a href="http://www.projectbuildafuture.org" target="_blank">www.projectbuildafuture.org</a>.</p><p>A group of six cottages on V.E. Washington Street are the latest Project Build a Future dwellings to be completed. (Rick Hickman/American Press</p><p>A walk-through of one of the cottages revealed granite counter tops in the kitchen and new appliances. (Rick Hickman/American Press)</p>Rick Hickman