AUSTIN — Habitat for Humanity Freeborn/Mower is taking Vision 2020’s ball and running with it.

The local Habitat for Humanity chapter is looking to hire a community development coordinator to work with Vision 2020 and Austin volunteers to fix more houses around Austin through the Community Housing Improvement Program, among other things.

“Their mission will be to coordinate the CHIP program, but also to help us develop and strengthen community partnerships,” said Executive Director Brigitte Campbell.

Habitat for Humanity was among several groups to partner with Vision 2020 to implement the CHIP program last summer, when volunteers did exterior work on six houses in northeast Austin. Volunteers hope to double the houses they fix every year, and Campbell said the project has already grown so big a full-time person was needed to supervise the local push to fix lower-income housing.

Campbell said she hopes to have someone hired by mid- to late April, but work on this year’s CHIP houses won’t wait. Volunteers will likely fix several houses in southeast Austin near Marcusen Park, and the homes at the 900 and 1000 block of Second, Third and Fourth avenues Northeast once again this summer.

“The first year we targeted all of the homes in the northeast, it was almost a too-good-to-be-true response from homeowners,” Campbell said. “We think if we go back to those same homes again this year, we’ll get a much better response.”

Local volunteers are already getting recognized for their efforts — Campbell said the Minnesota chapter of Habitat for Humanity has recognized the Freeborn/Mower chapter for CHIP, which works well with the “Brush for Kindness” program Habitat for Humanity already has. Campbell is at a conference this week and spoke Thursday on the CHIP program to teach other chapters how to set up similar initiatives.

All of that work is part of Vision 2020’s goal, according to Laura Helle, Vision 2020’s director of vision creation.

“We want to leave a bunch of organizations that are stronger because we worked with them,” she said. “That’s been our intention all along, and we know that is happening.”

In Jan. 26, there was a dedication ceremony at 708 Ninth St. NE in Austin to offer the keys to a family for its new home.

Habitat for Humanity Freeborn/Mower closed its nonprofit home improvement store in Albert Lea near the end of last month. Called a ReStore, it sold used furniture, home accessories, building materials and appliances to the public at a fraction of the retail price.