Wells Fargo Foundation and the NeighborWorks® Network Step Up Partnership to Promote Homeownership

April 5, 2004 — The Wells Fargo Foundation is stepping up its four-year-old partnership with the NeighborWorks network of community development organizations. In 2003, the Foundation provided $436,500 in funding to 33 NeighborWorks HomeOwnership Centers™ that promote home ownership among low- to moderate-income people, in addition to $441,660 for training activities for community development practitioners.

"The goal of NeighborWorks HomeOwnership Centers is a parallel mission to Wells Fargo's--getting more people into homes," said Kimberly Jackson, executive director of the Wells Fargo Housing Corporation. "We recognize the power of working with organizations like NeighborWorks America and the NeighborWorks network because they can do a more efficient job of helping more moderate- and low-income families become ready to buy homes."

NeighborWorks HomeOwnership Centers offer a comprehensive range of user-friendly services that help significantly boost homeownership among the nation's most underserved buyers - women, minorities and families of modest means. These services include financial education, counseling of prospective and current homeowners, and community workshops on home ownership. There are more than 75 HomeOwnership Centers around the country.

In addition to providing direct funding to HomeOwnership Centers, Wells entered into a three-year agreement with the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation (the national organization that provides support to the NeighborWorks network) to provide fund training activities for community development practitioners. Wells Fargo agreed to donate $441,660 towards the development of the Native American Community Development Curriculum and $300,000 to establish Wells Fargo scholars at training institutes sponsored by the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation.

The Wells Fargo Housing Foundation, funded by Wells Fargo Mortgage, was created to provide solutions to affordable housing needs in Wells Fargo communities nationwide. Through the volunteerism of Wells Fargo team members, more than 1,000 homes have been built or renovated through the foundation since its inception in 1993.

The foundation began its partnership with the NeighborWorks Network in 2000, when it agreed to support the expansion and renovation of 25 HomeOwnership centers. "Some of the HomeOwnership Centers were in obscure, less accessible locations," said Jackson. "We wanted to help move them from side streets to main streets so they could reach more low- to moderate-income families."

After visiting a HomeOwnership Center run by Chicago Neighborhood Housing Services, a member of the NeighborWorks Network, Jackson observed: "The first thing you have to give people is hope. The environment of a HomeOwnership Center engenders hope. Clients learn to control their destinies by reducing their debt and improving their credit. With hope, you can help people get into homes. First hope, then homes."