Media Advisory
December 5, 2005
Contact: Becky Fleischauer, 202-220-2360 or 202-270-9350; bfleischauer@nw.org

San Francisco Hosts Nation’s Largest Homeownership and Community Development Training Institute

(San Francisco, CA) – December 5-9 San Francisco will host the nation’s largest training of housing and community development professionals — the NeighborWorks® Training Institute. Nearly 2,000 community leaders from across the nation will convene to become certified and trained in the most effective ways to increase minority homeownership; 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.

“Community leaders from across the country will come to San Francisco to gain new knowledge and experience in homeownership, financial literacy and community development,” said NeighborWorks America CEO Ken Wade. “The need for this kind of training has never been greater. Local communities are being asked to do more with less. Federal and state policies are aggressively promoting homeownership, mortgages are becoming increasingly complex and risky, personal debt is rising, and stubborn homeownership and wealth gaps persist.”

The Institute offers a comprehensive range of courses and an unequaled opportunity to learn from experts and peers in the community development field. Over the course of five days, the Institute will offer more than 80 classes, including a new slate of “green” courses promoting environmentally-friendly and healthier communities. Participants can earn professional certification in eight specialty areas, including homeownership education/counseling and community lending, neighborhood revitalization, and affordable housing development.

In addition to these classes, the Institute will offer:

• “Innovations in Housing Rehabilitation” forum on Monday, December 5 – a particularly relevant issue in light of hurricane destruction this year.
  
  
• Site visits Monday through Thursday that show firsthand best practices and challenges in affordable housing and community development, including: “How to Save a Neighborhood through Greening,” “Reading a Neighborhood,” “Mobilizing Arts and Cultural Resources for Community Building,” and “Grassroots Leadership Development.”
  
  
• Workshops and informational sessions Monday through Thursday, including: “Emerging Foreclosure Trends,” “How Does the Housing Bubble Affect NeighborWorks Organizations?,” “Courting Disaster: Construction Practices That Ignore Natural Hazards,”and “Writing Specs to Reduce Lung Cancer.”
  
  
• “The New Rural America: Partners and Progress” Symposium on Wednesday, December 7 will feature experts from communities in rural America that are attracting new business and investment capital to strengthen rural areas often overlooked by traditional business practices.

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.

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 235 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.