Living Cities News

/C O R R E C T I O N -- Living Cities/

In the news release, Living Cities Announces Grants to Support Innovative Local Models for Addressing National Foreclosure Crisis, issued 17-Jun-2008 by Living Cities over PR Newswire, we are advised by the organization that in the final paragraph, one Living Cities member - The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation - was inadvertently omitted. The complete, corrected release follows:

Living Cities Announces Grants to Support Innovative Local Models for Addressing National Foreclosure Crisis

Foundation collaborative will make up to $10 million available to fund the most promising local approaches for returning foreclosed properties to productive use.

WASHINGTON, June 17 PRNewswire-USNewswire — Foreclosures, like the subprime lending that precipitated them, have been heavily concentrated in vulnerable neighborhoods. The resulting vacant and abandoned properties threaten values of neighboring homeowners, invite crime, and discourage further investment.

Living Cities, the longest standing consortium of the nation's largest foundations and financial institutions, announces the awarding of its first round of grants, $3,750,000, to support the development of local models that will purchase and dispose of foreclosed homes in ways that preserve the character of these neighborhoods.

Today's grants are being provided to innovative, locally driven initiatives in Cleveland, Dallas, Detroit, Massachusetts, Minneapolis/St. Paul, New York City, Rhode Island and Washington, DC. Living Cities expects to make at least two additional grant awards in the coming weeks.

"As each day passes we see increased evidence of the destructive impact of foreclosures on our country's most vulnerable neighborhoods. Fortunately, many communities have begun to organize practical approaches to mitigating the harm and plan for the future. Our commitment is to fuel these efforts, bring them to scale and showcase them for replication," states Gary Hattem, President of Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation and Chairman of the Living Cities Board.

For over fifteen years, Living Cities funders have pooled their money and invested more than $543 million in 23 cities - leveraging more than $15 billion. This funding has allowed community development intermediaries and corporations to help neighborhoods recover from decades of devastation and disinvestment. "Woefully underrepresented in the subprime discussion are the voices of millions of hard working families whose home values have plummeted by $200 billion simply because they live on blocks with clusters of foreclosed homes. We expect our support to help build scalable models that will serve as blueprints for communities around the country when and if federal aid for such activities is made available," says Ben Hecht, President and CEO of Living Cities.

The grants will go to models being built in strong, moderate and weak housing markets, using mechanisms as diverse as New Market Tax Credits, land trusts, and non-profit real estate brokers. In addition to grant funds, Living Cities will be considering requests from these grantees for up to $5 million in patient capital, long-term, low interest rate loans from Living Cities Catalyst Fund, a new pool of funds provided through program related investments from Living Cities' members. Decisions on these loans will be made later this summer.

Living Cities grants announced today will be awarded to:

— Cleveland: Neighborhood Progress, Inc. ($500,000) — Dallas: Enterprise Home Ownership Program ($500,000) — Detroit: Detroit Office of Foreclosure Intervention and Response/ Detroit Economic Growth Association ($500,000) — Massachusetts: Massachusetts Housing Investment Corporation ($500,000) — Minneapolis/St. Paul: Minnesota Foreclosure Partners Council/Twin Cities Local Initiatives Support Corporation ($500,000) — New York City: Center for New York City Neighborhoods ($500,000) — Rhode Island: Community Housing Land Trust of Rhode Island ($250,000) — Washington DC: CityFirst Enterprises/CityFirst Homes ($500,000)

About Living Cities

Living Cities is the most enduring philanthropic and private sector collaborative in the world, with investments in America's cities totaling a half billion dollars over the past 15 years, leveraging over 15 billion dollars to revitalize Urban America. Living Cities supports bold, promising approaches that take advantage of cities' unique roles in America's economic prosperity and that have the potential to transform the lives of low-income people and the communities in which they live. For more information, please visit: http://www.livingcities.org.

Living Cities members include: AXA Community Investment Program, Bank of America, The Annie E. Casey Foundation, J.P. Morgan Chase & Company, Deutsche Bank, Ford Foundation, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, The Kresge Foundation, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, The McKnight Foundation, MetLife, Inc., Prudential Financial, The Rockefeller Foundation, Surdna Foundation, US Department of Housing & Urban Development. Affiliate Member: The Cleveland Foundation.

CONTACT: Eric Henderson of Living Cities, +1-646-442-2200, ehenderson@livingcities.org

SOURCE Living Cities

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