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.
Published: September 12, 2000
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