MEDIA ADVISORY
“ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT TOUR” TO STOP IN ST. LOUIS One-Stop “Home Rescue and Career Fair” to Offer Foreclosure and Job Help.
St. Louis, MO - Area residents facing the threat of foreclosure or seeking employment will have the opportunity to get onsite help at a free one-stop “Home Rescue Fair & Career Fair” scheduled Saturday, October 24th, from 10AM – 4PM, at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, located at One University Blvd., 225 Mark Twain Bldg, St. Louis, MO., 63121.

The comprehensive event, sponsored by the National Urban League and the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis, will provide homeowners in danger of foreclosure direct access to one-on-one counseling from certified housing counselors, banks, lenders and legal representatives who can help save their homes. Job seekers, will also have access to immediate job openings being offered by participating local employers and businesses as part of the Career Fair portion of the Economic Empowerment Tour. The Home Rescue Fair and Career Fair event is free and open to the public.

“We are pleased to partner with the National Urban League to host this event in St. Louis,” said James Buford, President of the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis. “The Home Rescue and Career Fairs have the potential to help the many people in our area facing foreclosure and unemployment issues.”

St. Louis is one of only three cities selected by the National Urban League to host the 2009 Economic Empowerment Tour. To date over 3,000 people have been helped through previous tour stops in Dallas, TX. and Louisville, KY.

“Economic equality gaps existed long before this crisis, and now, multicultural communities are among the hardest hit by the loss of jobs and homes,” said Marc H. Morial, President and CEO, National Urban League. “The Economic Empowerment Tour will give every family the necessary resources and information that may help them save a home or secure a job during these challenging times.”

Renegotiation of Mortgages Possible at Event
In St. Louis, representatives from banks/lending institutions and certified housing counselors will be prepared to assess each homeowner’s situation and begin the process of working out a resolution for homeowners currently delinquent on their home mortgage payments. Lending institutions scheduled to be present are: Bank of America/Countrywide, Wilshire Credit, Chase, Wells Fargo, National City Bank, U.S. Bank, GMAC, Citibank, Home Loan Servicing, and Washington Mutual.

 An important note: Residents interested in taking advantage of this mortgage mitigation opportunity are highly encouraged to bring financial documents and all appropriate paperwork to receive the best assistance possible including:

• Current Pay Stubs (within the last 60 days)
• 2007 and 2008 income-tax returns
• Three months of bank statements
• Monthly Household expense budget break down
• Copy of closing documents and most recent correspondence from your mortgage company
• Most recent property-insurance and mortgage statements
• Hardship letter explaining reason for default

In addition to loan mitigation services, free legal services will be available to provide one-on-one counseling as part of the Home Rescue portion of the event. Foreclosure prevention workshops will also be provided by area experts including eligibility guidelines for President Obama’s Making Home Affordable Plan, Crisis Budgeting, Foreclosure Processes and How to Avoid Loan Fraud.

The Home Rescue Fair component of the St. Louis tour stop is part of the Alliance for Stabilizing Our Communities, a national partnership of non-profit organizations including the National Urban League, the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) and the National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development (National CAPACD) with help from Bank of America, that is hosting home rescue fairs around the country. The goal is to provide one-on-one sessions for troubled homeowners with certified HUD housing counselors and loss mitigation representatives from an array of lenders and servicers, as well as informational workshops.

Job Openings Also Offered at Career and Resource Fair
Over 30 potential St. Louis employers will be on hand at the Career and Resource Fair seeking to fill numerous positions and to meet job seekers. The positions involve all levels of skills, ranging from entry level to management positions. Employers looking to hire include UPS, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, SSM Healthcare, Edward Jones, Country Financial, Scottrade, Metropolitan Sewer District, Prudential Insurance, Charter Communications, St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, Missouri Department of Transportation and others.
In addition, job seekers will have the opportunity to interview with companies and attend professional development workshops; small business information on loans and incentive programs will also provided.

A Timely Event for St. Louis
The scheduling of the tour stop in St. Louis is significant for area residents since there are 13,430 homeowners currently in default on their mortgages and in danger of losing their homes, an increase of 1,755 homeowners just in the last two months (HUD Neighborhood Watch website www.hud.gov). In the first six months of 2009, according to RealtyTrac, there were 13,880 foreclosure filings in Missouri, with the greatest concentration in St. Louis, where there were 680 filings in August alone.

This rising tide of foreclosure is impacting African Americans even more significantly. According to federal data, people of color are three times more likely to have subprime loans: high cost loans account for 55% of loans to blacks, but only 17% of loans to whites. Even when income and credit risk are equal, African Americans are up to 34% more likely to receive higher rate and subprime loans with a prepayment penalty than are their similarly situated white counterparts. A 2006 report by the Center for Responsible Lending, entitled “Losing Ground” states that close to 20% of African Americans stand to lose their homes by the time this crisis is over.

The number of foreclosures is also believed to be tied to the rise in unemployment. According to the latest statistics available from the U.S. Department of Labor, the unemployment rate in St. Louis is currently at 9.6 percent compared to the national rate of 9.5 percent.

For more information for the 2009 Economic Empowerment Tour featuring a Home Rescue Fair and Career Fair," call the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis at (314) 615-3645or visit www.ulstl.org or www.nul.org.

About the Alliance for Stabilizing Our Communities
The Alliance for Stabilizing Our Communities is a national partnership of non-profit, community-based organizations’ whose programs’ serve multicultural communities nationwide. The National Urban League, the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) and the National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development (National CAPACD) with the help of Bank of America, created the alliance to assist homeowners in process of, or facing foreclosure through home foreclosure prevention events that provide one-on-one financial counsel from trusted experts and informative workshops. Over forty events are scheduled nationwide and workshop sessions include “Foreclosure 101, The President’s Making Homes Affordable Plan, Crisis Budgeting, and How to Avoid Loan Fraud” are central elements of each of the home retention events.

About the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis The Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis, Inc. is a contemporary civil rights and human services organization. Each year, the League serves over 80,000 persons in the areas of Economic Empowerment, Educational Quality and Equality, Meeting Basic Needs, Civic Engagement and Social Justice. The Urban League is a proud member of the United Way and is certified by the Better Business Bureau. For more information, visit www.ulstl.org.

About National Urban League Established in 1910, The National Urban League is the nation's oldest and largest community-based movement devoted to empowering African Americans to enter the economic and social mainstream. Today, the National Urban League, headquartered in New York City, spearheads the non-partisan efforts of its local affiliates. There are 102 local affiliates of the National Urban League located in 36 states and the District of Columbia providing direct services to more than 2 million people nationwide through program, advocacy and research. The mission of the Urban League movement is to enable African Americans to secure economic self-reliance, parity, power and civil rights. To achieve its mission they employ a five point strategy, tailored to local needs that include, Education and Youth Empowerment, Economic Empowerment, Health and Quality of Life Empowerment, Civil Engagement and Leadership Empowerment and Civil Rights and Racial Justice Empowerment. www.nul.org.