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HDC
Hill Development
Corporation of New Haven
649 Howard Avenue
New Haven, CT
06519
Telephone:
(203) 776-3759
Fax:
(203) 785-1321
Email:
hdcofnewhaven@aol.com
Web site:
www.hdcofnewhaven.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SEPTEMBER 15, 2004
CONTACTS:
BRAD GERMAN, FREDDIE MAC
703-903-2437
REP. DeLAURO APPLAUDS FREDDIE MAC, HILL DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION FOR LAUNCHING CREDITSMART -- NEW HAVENCOUNTY
New Effort to Prepare More Underserved and Minority Families for Homeownership
New Haven, CT — In an effort to boost homeownership opportunities among minority and low- and moderate-income households in the New Haven area — including traditionally underserved Latino households -- Freddie Mac (NYSE:FRE) and the Hill Development Corporation (HDC) today launched CreditSmart®-- New Haven County, a comprehensive effort to provide free financial literacy classes in English and Spanish to help Latino and minority New Haven County residents build, manage and maintain good credit.
"Establishing and managing good credit is important for all Americans, but is particularly significant to communities who suffer from low homeownership rates," said U.S. Representative Rosa DeLauro. "I am delighted that the CreditSmart program - the first of its kind in Connecticut - will reach out to these communities in New Haven to make sure that everyone knows the benefits of good credit."
Although 63 percent of New Haven’s households own homes, only 32 percent of the area’s minority households own homes, according to recent U.S. Census data. Nationally, 68 percent of America’s households own homes, but only 48 percent of minority households are homeowners.
To close that gap for minorities and other underserved families, HDC will reach out across New Haven County to offer Freddie Mac’s trademarked bilingual financial literacy curriculum CreditSmart Español, and its English language equivalent CreditSmart.
Together, both programs have helped more than 25,000 families across the nation learn how to prepare and achieve homeownership and greater financial strength.
"Financial literacy is critical to helping families achieve their personal vision of American success. That’s what makes Freddie Mac’s CreditSmart and CreditSmart Español vital to laying the foundation for a new generation of homeowners in New Haven and across the nation, " said John Sepulveda, director of Industry Relations and Corporate Outreach at Freddie Mac. "I want to thank the Hill Development Corporation for working with us to make available these invaluable resources to families seeking to build a better life."
"This program is a wonderful tool that will assist us in reaching out to sectors of the community that have not been exposed to this information before," said David Alvarado, Executive Director of HDC. "CreditSmart will teach them the importance of the credit score and how it affects them for the rest of their lives. In conjunction with our Homeownership Seminars, CreditSmart will better prepare New Haven families for the possibility of owning their own home."
Freddie Mac is providing the HDC with workshop materials and funding to teach credit and money management skills that can help participants achieve homeownership, a college education for their children and other life-long financial goals.
HDC is forming a local coalition with partners such as the Livable City Initiative of the City of New Haven, Empower New Haven, Inc. and the New Haven Board of Education to provide area residents with access to these two programs. Workshops will be offered in both English and Spanish at no cost. HDC will also partner with a number of local financial institutions, insurance companies, housing authorities and corporations to ensure that the workshops remain cost-free and widely available.
CreditSmart and CreditSmart Español consist of eleven modules that help consumers obtain the knowledge and skills necessary to effectively manage their money and to positively impact their credit. The modules cover the following topics: Managing Your Money, Banking Services, Goal Setting, Your Credit and Why it is Important, Establishing and Maintaining Good Credit, Understanding Credit Scoring, Thinking Like a Lender, Avoiding Credit Traps, Restoring Your Credit, Planning for Your Future, and Becoming a Homeowner.
Founded in 1980, HDC is a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing economic progress and improved quality of life to those living in low to moderate income neighborhoods in the Greater New Haven Area. HDC is a member of the National Puerto Rican Coalition, one of the national organizations working with Freddie Mac to implement CreditSmart and CreditSmart Español.
One of the nation’s largest investors in residential mortgages, Freddie Mac has invested more than $3.5 billion in mortgages for New Haven area residents over the past five years, helping more than 28,000 local households become homeowners.
To find out more about CreditSmart — New Haven County and to register for the next class, contact the Hill Development Corporation at 203-776-3759.
Freddie Mac is a stockholder-owned corporation chartered by Congress in 1970 to create a continuous flow of funds to mortgage lenders. By supplying lenders with the money to make mortgages and packaging the mortgages into marketable securities, Freddie Mac sustains a stable mortgage credit system and reduces the mortgage rates paid by homebuyers. Over the years, Freddie Mac has made home possible for one in six homebuyers in America and two million renters.
Hill Development Corporation is a private, independent non-profit organization that is dedicated to providing decent safe affordable housing for low to moderate-income persons who live in the urban neighborhoods in New Haven County. HDC has assisted numerous persons with either acquiring homes or homeownership counseling, and has built or rehabilitated over 600 units of housing since its inception in 1980.
