JEANNA DUERSCHERL The Roanoke Times

Cynthia Frazier stands outside her Roanoke home that she bought in June. Frazier used an individual development accounts program through Total Action Against Poverty to save for the home. TAP's matching funds program helped her save enough for the down payment.

When Cynthia Frazier bought her Downing Street home in Roanoke this summer, she and her three sons turned on music and danced in the living room.

Total Action Against Poverty's individual development accounts program gave them the chance to celebrate.

The Roanoke-based nonprofit maintains savings accounts for low-income families and individuals who want to buy a home, start a business or attend college. In six months to two years, participants' deposits triple and TAP teaches them money-management skills, said Teffany Henderson, who helped begin and manages the 8-year-old program.

The accounts affect more than just their holders, said Frank Rogan, chief executive of United Way of Roanoke Valley, which helps fund the program. In helping low-income people buy homes, build businesses and invest in their education, the assistance gives families a leg up and, in turn, their communities.

"This is a major breakthrough," he said. "If they get a grant, they can then move, then get a promotion, and then they're living the American dream."

The accounts have helped 87 individuals, the majority saving to buy homes and a few starting in-home day care services, Henderson said. Residents of Roanoke, Salem and the counties of Roanoke, Botetourt and Craig who have steady income can open TAP accounts. They can't use the money until they're ready to pay for their house, business venture or education and until they complete 15 hours of financial training.

A wide smile spreads across Frazier's face when she talks about the moment she was able to buy her home in the Villages at Lincoln.

"It's finally mine," she said, sitting at her dining room table. "I've been working for five years to purchase this home."

Immediately after meeting with Henderson at TAP's Campbell Avenue office in February 2008, Frazier, now 40, walked to Wachovia Bank to open her account. She saved $1,440 of her income over 16 months, stashing away at least $40 a month -- double what the program requires -- and attending training sessions on how to budget and what to expect as a first-time homebuyer.

The program "really put it into perspective for me. At first I thought I'd never be able to save enough for a down payment on a house," she said. "What I spent on breakfast alone for a month, looking at $5 a day, that's money I could put in the account."

She accumulated $4,040 in savings, because TAP matched 2-to-1 each dollar of her monthly contributions up to $1,300. The Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development runs a similar statewide program, matching up to $4,000 per person.

TAP has 25 participants with accounts; all but two are women. The organization has enough funds to support 50 additional families, Henderson said. Funds come from the federal Assistance for Independence grant and a $30,000 yearly donation from United Way of Roanoke Valley, Rogan said.

Frazier and her three sons moved into the tan, two-story house three months after she began saving and rented it for the next year. She bought the 4-year-old house from the Roanoke Redevelopment and Housing Authority for $90,000 on June 19, according to property records.

"I was tired of renting, and my kids really wanted to have a room where they could paint the colors they wanted to paint and not have white walls," she said. Her youngest sons, Alif, 11, and Dashean, 9, chose navy blue in their bedroom with red inside its closet.

Frazier is a licensed insurance agent with UnitedHealth Group. After a divorce 15 years ago brought her back to Roanoke, the city where she grew up, she found work as a receptionist in a doctor's office.

Frazier was living from paycheck to paycheck, with rent, monthly bills and credit card payments keeping her unable to save. Her credit wasn't good, she said, and she filed for bankruptcy in 2003, a move she calls her "life saver."

When she toured the three-bedroom, two-and-a-half bath house with her oldest son, Donshaye, she knew she eventually would buy it. Frazier is one of 30 TAP account participants who's sought to own a home through a Roanoke housing authority lease-purchase program.

Now, Frazier pays her mortgage bill two or three weeks ahead of time, she said. Her good saving habits have lasted. A portion of her paychecks goes directly to a savings account, and she's opened up two other accounts, one for Christmas savings and one for emergencies, she said.

With the money-management strategies she's learned from TAP's program, Frazier was able to buy a class ring and senior portraits for 17-year-old Donshaye, she said.

For more information on TAP individual development accounts, call Teffany Henderson at 345-6781, ext. 4408.