October 8, 2008
NeighborWorks® America
Receives More Than $4 Million in HUD Support
for Housing Counseling
Washington, D.C. –Today NeighborWorks America announced that it received more than $4 million in grants from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for housing counseling, an important resource for both prospective and existing homeowners.
“The grants announced by Secretary Preston provide tremendous support for the critical housing counseling and training activities being carried out by NeighborWorks America and our affiliated NeighborWorks organizations across the country,” said NeighborWorks America CEO Ken Wade. “Homeownership education and counseling helps borrowers steer clear of predatory lending practices and enables them to make sound financial decisions to achieve and sustain homeownership.”
Of the $4,198,229 awarded from HUD, $2,500,000 will enable the NeighborWorks Center for Homeownership Education and Counseling and the NeighborWorks Training Institute to provide housing counseling and foreclosure intervention counseling training and certification to professionals in the field so that they can effectively assist families with their housing needs.
“We are excited about the tremendous support from HUD,” said Jayna Bower, director of the NeighborWorks Center for Homeownership Education and Counseling. “Our ability to equip counselors around the country with the critical knowledge and skills they need to help more families understand the increasingly complicated sustainable homeownership process, and to help resident leaders improve their communities from the ground up is greatly enhanced.”
Also included in the more than $4 million in HUD grant support is $1,056,325 for comprehensive housing counseling, which will be distributed as grants to affiliated NeighborWorks organizations. Finally, $641,903 will be used for counseling and training related to Home Equity Conversion Mortgages (HECM) or reverse mortgages.
NeighborWorks America, the largest certifier of homeownership counselors, trains and certifies thousands of counseling professionals through a variety of venues, including at least four national NeighborWorks Training Institutes around the country each year, more than 200 regional place-based trainings conducted at local venues annually, and an online learning center that offers an introductory foreclosure intervention counseling course.
Counselors: For more information about NeighborWorks training opportunities, please visit www.nw.org/training or contact 1-800-438-5547.
Media: For more information, please contact Erin Angell Collins, 202-220-6317 or ecollins@nw.org.
About NeighborWorks America
NeighborWorks America creates opportunities for people to improve their lives and strengthen their communities by providing access to homeownership and to safe and affordable rental housing. Since 1991, we have assisted nearly 1.2 million low- to moderate-income families with their housing needs. Much of our success is achieved through our support of the NeighborWorks network ― more than 230 community development organizations working in more than 4,400 urban, suburban and rural communities in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. In the last five years, NeighborWorks organizations have generated more than $15 billion in reinvestment in these communities. NeighborWorks America is the nation’s leading trainer of community development and affordable housing professionals.
