{"id":125,"date":"2017-07-25T18:31:29","date_gmt":"2017-07-25T18:31:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:8000\/?page_id=125"},"modified":"2026-03-12T18:29:04","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T18:29:04","slug":"mission","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/nextstepus.org\/mission\/","title":{"rendered":"Mission &amp; History"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-text-color\" id=\"our-mission\" style=\"color:#94c04a;font-size:60px\">Mission &amp; History<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Next Step&#8217;s mission is to put sustainable homeownership within reach of everyone, while transforming the manufactured housing industry through consumer education, affordability and energy efficiency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-c6ed355f3fe6673b15e1f2356145564c\" id=\"our-story\" style=\"color:#80af32;font-size:24px;font-style:normal;font-weight:400\">Our Story<\/h2>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"586\" height=\"887\" src=\"http:\/\/nextstepus.kalerwhales.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Liza-Jones-Build-23.jpg\" alt=\"Stacey Epperson and homeowner\" class=\"wp-image-2793\" style=\"width:291px;height:441px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nextstepus.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Liza-Jones-Build-23.jpg 586w, https:\/\/nextstepus.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Liza-Jones-Build-23-198x300.jpg 198w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 586px) 100vw, 586px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Next Step<sup>\u00ae<\/sup> Network was created out of a desire to make factory-built homes a practical, sustainable solution for those looking to own their home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While working in rural Appalachia, our founder Stacey Epperson saw many homeowners struggling with their older mobile homes \u2013 upside-down on loans and behind on sky-high utility bills. Recognizing the need for safe, sustainable, and affordable housing, she began questioning how to bring high-performing, new, factory-built homes to communities across the country.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Next Step was founded on the principle of Manufactured Housing Done Right<sup>\u00ae<\/sup>: helping families gain access to high-quality, energy-efficient homes \u2013 creating prepared, supported and educated homeowners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2011, Next Step was incorporated as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization wholly dedicated to building relationships between the factory-built housing industry, housing developers, affordable housing advocates, lenders and other key stakeholders to deliver factory-built homes as a viable, sustainable homeownership solution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-bb1c547670fd51dcae475b65783e2a1c\" id=\"annual-reports\" style=\"color:#80af32;font-size:24px;font-style:normal;font-weight:400\"> Annual Reports <\/h2>\n\n\n<div class=\"block(buttonList)\">\r\n  <div class=\"container\">\r\n    <ul class=\"list\">\r\n              <li class=\"item\">\r\n                    <span class=\"title fz(24) fw(700)\">2018 Annual Report<\/span>\r\n          <a \r\n            class=\"cta -green\" \r\n            href=\"https:\/\/nextstepus.org\/2018-annual-report\/\">\r\n              2018 Annual Report\r\n          <\/a>\r\n        <\/li>\r\n              <li class=\"item\">\r\n                    <span class=\"title fz(24) fw(700)\">2019 Annual Report<\/span>\r\n          <a \r\n            class=\"cta -blue\" \r\n            href=\"https:\/\/nextstepus.org\/about\/2019-annual-report\/\">\r\n              2019 Annual Report\r\n          <\/a>\r\n        <\/li>\r\n              <li class=\"item\">\r\n                    <span class=\"title fz(24) fw(700)\">2020 Annual Report<\/span>\r\n          <a \r\n            class=\"cta -green\" \r\n            href=\"https:\/\/nextstepus.org\/about\/2020-annual-report\/\">\r\n              2020 Annual Report\r\n          <\/a>\r\n        <\/li>\r\n              <li class=\"item\">\r\n                    <span class=\"title fz(24) fw(700)\">2021 Annual Report<\/span>\r\n          <a \r\n            class=\"cta -blue\" \r\n            href=\"https:\/\/nextstepus.org\/2021-annual-report\/\">\r\n              2021 Annual Report\r\n          <\/a>\r\n        <\/li>\r\n              <li class=\"item\">\r\n                    <span class=\"title fz(24) fw(700)\">2022 Annual Report<\/span>\r\n          <a \r\n            class=\"cta -green\" \r\n            href=\"https:\/\/nextstepus.org\/2022-annual-report\/\">\r\n              2022 Annual Report\r\n          <\/a>\r\n        <\/li>\r\n              <li class=\"item\">\r\n                    <span class=\"title fz(24) fw(700)\">2023 Annual Report<\/span>\r\n          <a \r\n            class=\"cta -blue\" \r\n            href=\"https:\/\/nextstepus.org\/2023-annual-report\/\">\r\n              2023 Annual Report\r\n          <\/a>\r\n        <\/li>\r\n              <li class=\"item\">\r\n                    <span class=\"title fz(24) fw(700)\">2024 Annual Report<\/span>\r\n          <a \r\n            class=\"cta -green\" \r\n            href=\"https:\/\/nextstepus.org\/2024-annual-report\/\">\r\n              2024 Annual Report\r\n          <\/a>\r\n        <\/li>\r\n          <\/ul>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mission &amp; History Next Step&#8217;s mission is to put sustainable homeownership within reach of everyone, while transforming the manufactured housing industry through consumer education, affordability &hellip;<br \/><span class=\"read-more\">Read More<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7358,"parent":0,"menu_order":24,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_eb_attr":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-125","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Mission &amp; History - Next Step<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Next Step&#039;s mission is to put sustainable homeownership within reach of everyone, while transforming the factory-built housing industry.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextstepus.org\/mission\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mission &amp; 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