U.S. Representative Julia Carson (D-IN) today joined representatives from Irwin Mortgage, one of the nation's leading full service residential mortgage lenders, and Fannie Mae (NYSE:FNM), the nation's largest source of financing for home mortgages, to announce a $1 billion Multicultural Initiative to help immigrant and minority families attain homeownership.

Rick McGuire, president and chief operating officer of Irwin Mortgage and Rob Levin, executive vice president of housing and community development of Fannie Mae, announced the alliance at a press conference in the designated Indianapolis Homeownership Zone at the Julia Carson Government Center.

As part of this initiative, Irwin Mortgage has developed a comprehensive outreach effort that includes hiring bilingual loan officers, diversity management training, new communications strategies, printing marketing and loan materials in numerous languages, working with local community groups, and opening at least eight branch offices to better serve local ethnic communities.

While homeownership rates reached record levels in the 1990s, the rate for minority households is still considerably lower than the rate for white households. According to the U.S. Census in 1999, white households reached a homeownership rate of 73.2 percent compared to 47.4 percent for all minorities.

The new Multicultural Initiative was highlighted by officials and community groups as a positive first step to help close the gap.

Fannie Mae's partnership with Irwin Mortgage is part of the company's nationwide $2 trillion American Dream Commitment to increase homeownership rates and serve 18 million targeted families by the end of the decade, with a special emphasis on increasing homeownership among minorities, young families, women-headed households, new immigrants, and others whose homeownership rates lag the general population.

For information or to apply for a loan, contact Irwin Mortgage at 1-800-388-1537 extension 8437.

For more information on Fannie Mae's affordable mortgage options in your community, consumers may call Fannie Mae's Consumer Resource Center at 1-800-7FANNIE (1-800-732-6643), Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. CDT.