Pat Hawkins is the program director for the Homebuyer Counseling and Financial Education Program of Episcopal Community Development, Inc., in Newark, NJ. She developed the First-time Homebuyer Training Program and has continued to run the program since early in 2001. Her focus in this program has been on pre-purchase education and counseling as a means to creating sustainable homeownership and as a strategy for revitalizing neighborhoods already devastated by the foreclosure crisis.

In addition to teaching homebuyer education and foreclosure intervention classes and conducting individual pre-purchase counseling, she also provides reverse mortgage counseling as an exam-qualified counselor on HUD’s HECM Counselor Roster.

Hawkins attended Wellesley College, Episcopal Divinity School and Drew University, earning degrees in psychology, religion and pastoral theology as well as holding a Professional Certificate in Homeownership and Community Lending from NeighborWorks America. She currently teaches Introduction to Home Equity Conversion Mortgages (HO111).