The facts tell the real story. For more than 25 years, NeighborWorks Green Bay has worked to stabilize and revitalize Green Bay's original neighborhoods.

We've helped more than 1,300 working families in Green Bay attain the American dream of homeownership. More than 90 percent of these families had low or moderate incomes. The vast majority of mortgages facilitated by NeighborWorks Green Bay and other NeighborWorks organizations across the nation are to buyers with low or moderate incomes, yet these homeowners have been able to sustain homeownership.
Why? Because our education and counseling teaches aspiring homebuyers to avoid the poor decisions and risky mortgage products that are at the heart of today's financial crisis.

A new national performance analysis of mortgages made to low-income homeowners who participated in homeownership education programs like NeighborWorks Green Bay shows a foreclosure start rate that is 20 times less severe than that for subprime borrowers, and three times better than the conventional conforming mortgage market. Every day our counselors are talking to Green Bay area homeowners who are facing foreclosure. Very few of these calls come from our past homeownership clients.
Comparing foreclosure data provided by the Mortgage Bankers Association, NeighborWorks organizations show that, while their own loan portfolios had a foreclosure start rate of 0.21 percent in the second quarter of 2008, the overall market's foreclosure start rate was 1.08 percent, more than five times as great.

Moreover, NeighborWorks mortgages hold up very well in comparison to the conventional conforming market. According to the MBA, the foreclosure start rate for conventional conforming mortgages was 0.61 percent in the second quarter, compared again to 0.21 percent for NeighborWorks mortgages.

Some have alleged lending under the Community Reinvestment Act is in part to blame for the problems the mortgage and financial markets face today. These reports appear to have overlooked the fact that the current financial distress is a recent phenomenon created largely by institutions that are not subject to CRA requirements.

NeighborWorks Green Bay has a track record of providing one-on-one mortgage advice, encouraging homebuyers to avoid loans that they cannot afford for the long term. Our dedication to community stability and strength is the foundation of what we're doing in Green Bay and other NeighborWorks organizations are doing in more than 4,400 communities around the country.

That some observers now are pointing to low-income people as the cause of the financial crisis we're facing today is just wrong. Homeowners who have access to traditional mortgage products combined with quality pre-purchase education and counseling are not the cause of the financial crisis we are experiencing today.

Since January 2000, NeighborWorks Green Bay has constructed or renovated 75 dwelling units. In this same period we have educated and counseled more than 2,700 aspiring homebuyers and existing homeowners. In total, since the year 2000, through our housing development and homeownership programs, we have leveraged $129 million of direct investment in Green Bay's Original Neighborhoods.

NeighborWorks Green Bay is a not-for-profit corporation governed by a volunteer board of directors selected from the neighborhoods where we work to make a difference. These efforts to strengthen neighborhoods and transform lives require the hard work and creativity of neighborhood residents, volunteers, lenders, Realtors, government officials and staff, local business and area philanthropists.