For
Immediate Release
April 12, 2005
Contact:
Becky Fleischauer, 202-220-2360; bfleischauer@nw.org
Minneapolis Hosts Nation’s Largest Homeownership and
Community Development Training Institute
NeighborWorks® Sets Aggressive Goal for Closing the
Homeownership Education and Counseling Gap
Minneapolis – On April 18-22, Minneapolis will host the largest training force of housing and community development advocates in the nation – the NeighborWorks® Training Institute. More than 1,000 city, county and state officials and community development leaders from across the nation will convene to become certified and trained in the most effective ways to close the homeownership gap among white and non-whites; improve financial literacy; empower families to get the most out of the homebuying process; and use community development strategies to improve safety and build wealth. (See attached at-a-glance agenda.)
NeighborWorks America CEO Kenneth D. Wade said Minneapolis is a prime location for participants who want to learn how to close the homeownership gap and revitalize neighborhoods. “The Twin Cities boast three NeighborWorks organizations. NHS Minneapolis is one of first NeighborWorks network members, pioneering homeownership training and today promoting one of the best anti-predatory lending campaigns in the nation. Dayton’s Bluff NHS is one of St. Paul’s premier nonprofit developers and has experience in successfully navigating challenges facing neighborhoods undergoing gentrification. And Community NHS provides homeownership training and lending for a rapidly growing Hmong community in St. Paul,” Wade said. “We are pleased that such vanguards in the neighborhood development community will host this national training.”
After a period of suburban sprawl over a very large 13-county area, the central cities of the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area are now seeing a steady increase in population and property values. All three NeighborWorks organizations in the Twin Cities have been leaders in navigating the conflicts that emerge as neighborhoods change and new neighbors meet old. Competing interests create factions within the neighborhood, often organized around differences in lifestyle, ethnicity and income. That is the topic of the NeighborWorks Training Institute’s Wednesday, April 20 symposium, “When Gentrification Comes Knocking – Navigating Social Dynamics in Changing Neighborhoods.”
Minneapolis also faces significant challenges in providing high-quality affordable housing. Incomes and property conditions are declining, while housing prices are dramatically increasing. The homeownership rates in the areas served by NeighborWorks organizations tend to be less than 50 percent, 20 points below the average metropolitan area rate.
Minneapolis-St. Paul consumers have been targeted by predatory and subprime lenders. Subprime loans are high-cost loans made available to borrowers with a poor credit history or other higher-risk factors. Of the top ten lenders in the NHS Minneapolis service area, the top three – representing 50 percent of the applications --are subprime lenders. NHS Minneapolis offers an innovative program that educates consumers about the dangers of accepting loan terms that jeopardize their financial futures and provides safer alternative financing that allows borrowers to stretch without breaking.
“NeighborWorks organizations in the Twin Cities have been on the forward edge of community development, shaping housing and development, lending, and public education practices that truly serve residents well,” said Wade.
To ensure more families attain the benefits of homeownership, NeighborWorks Center for Homeownership Education and Counseling (NCHEC) will triple the number of counselors certified across the nation - increasing national capacity to serve more than two million individuals each year by 2007. To date, NeighborWorks has provided counseling to more than 500,000 families, and assisted over 90,000 low and moderate income families to buy homes.
Wade said the benefits of homeownership multiply over time. “For families, owning a home is an opportunity to get ahead—to start building wealth they can use to send the kids to college, to invest in a small business, or to finance a secure retirement,” Wade said. A survey of consumer finances found that low-income homeowners had a net worth twelve times that of renters at the same income level.
If you would like to receive media credentials to attend and cover the Training Institute, please contact Becky Fleischauer at bfleischauer@nw.org or 202-220-2360. After April 18, please call 202-270-9350.
Minneapolis NeighborWorks® Training Institute At-a-Glance
April 18-19
8:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Institute courses begin. Tracks include affordable housing; asset management; community building and organizing; economic development; construction; homeownership and community lending; management and leadership; and neighborhood revitalization.
Highlights
- Strategies for strengthening small businesses in your community
- Homebuyer education methods
- Financial fitness: teaching financial management skills
- The cutting edge: new and unique development programs
- Neighborhoods and smart growth: opportunities and impacts on revitalization
12:00 p.m. (April 19)
Luncheon speaker: Richard Lord, author of “American Nightmare: Predatory Lending and the Foreclosure of the American Dream”
3:45 p.m. (April 19)
Special showing and discussion of “Flag Wars” with producer Linda Goode Bryant-- “Flag Wars” is an award-winning PBS documentary about how the changes to a Columbus, OH neighborhood affected residents’ lives and relationships.
April 20
8:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Institute courses continue. Tracks include affordable housing; asset management; community building and organizing; economic development; construction; homeownership and community lending; management and leadership; and neighborhood revitalization.
Highlights
- Bank financing: how to discuss your deal and assemble your loan package
- Combating predatory lending
- Creating a successful voucher homeownership program
Symposium -- “When Gentrification Comes Knocking – Navigating Social Dynamics in Changing Neighborhoods”
8:30 a.m. Welcome by NeighborWorks America CEO Kenneth Wade
9:00 a.m. Panel discussion: indicators of stress on social fabric in gentrifying
neighborhoods
11:30 a.m. Luncheon speech by filmmaker Linda Bryant Goode, creator of “Flag Wars” -- an award-winning PBS documentary about how the changes to a Columbus, Ohio, neighborhood affected the lives and relationships of two distinct groups within the community.
1:00 p.m. Breakout sessions:
*Gentrification in black and white: working through racial dynamics
*Beyond race: cultivating socially connected neighbors to navigate change in the face of gentrification
*It isn’t all about consensus: negotiating competing interests
*Creating a broad-based, inclusive neighborhood response to gentrification
*Myths and realities about gentrification and its social impacts
3:00 p.m. Group discussion: Creating a tradition for talking and working together for neighborhood change
3:30 p.m. Group discussion: Putting it all together – participants will pull together what they have learned throughout the day and how they will use it in their home communities
April 21-22
8:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Institute courses continue. Tracks include: affordable housing; asset management; community building and organizing; economic development; construction; homeownership
Highlights
- Managing liabilities and reducing risks in the development process
- Working in diverse communities
- Place-building: using the natural and built environments in neighborhood revitalization
- Credit counseling for maximum results
About NeighborWorks America
NeighborWorks America provides financial support, technical assistance and training for communities across the nation, including the NeighborWorks network – a nationwide network of more than 230 community development organizations working in more than 2,700 urban, suburban and rural communities across America. These organizations engage in revitalization strategies that strengthen communities and transform lives. In the last five years alone, NeighborWorks organizations have generated more than $8.5 billion in reinvestment and helped more than 500,000 families of modest means purchase or improve their homes or secure safe, decent rental or mutual housing.
