Washington, DC -- The Director of the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund Donna J. Gambrell participated today in the Mississippi Foreclosure Summit hosted by Governor Haley Barbour. The summit, held in Jackson, Mississippi, featured speakers that discussed the state, regional and national issues related to foreclosures and foreclosure prevention.

"I applaud Governor Barbour for bringing us together today to better understand the problems facing Mississippi homeowners and to discuss ways to reach at-risk homeowners," said CDFI Fund Director Donna Gambrell. "To prevent foreclosures, both borrowers and lenders must work together to find solutions that will keep people in their homes. The Treasury Department's Hope Now initiative recently announced that the industry has helped an estimated 1.6 million borrowers avoid foreclosures."

A recent report from the Mississippi Economic Policy Center shows that Mississippi has the eighth highest foreclosure rate and the highest percentage of borrowers with past due home loan payments in the country. In 2006, 36.9 percent of all first mortgages originated for owner-occupied single-family homes in the state were subprime.

The Department of the Treasury and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, in partnership with Neighborworks America, helped form the Hope Now alliance in October 2007. Hope Now is an alliance between counselors, servicers, investors, and other mortgage market participants that are working to prevent foreclosures and to improve the functioning of the mortgage markets.

The HOPE Hotline (888-995-HOPE), which is available 24 hours a day 7 days a week, receives on average more than 4,000 calls a day. There is no cost to borrowers for using the HOPE Hotline.

About the CDFI Fund

The CDFI Fund was created for the purpose of promoting economic and community development through investment in and assistance to community development financial institutions (CDFIs). The CDFI Fund's role in promoting community and economic development was expanded in FY 2001 when the Secretary of the Treasury delegated to the CDFI Fund the responsibility of administering the New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) Program.

Since its creation in 1994, the CDFI Fund has awarded $864 million to CDFIs, community development organizations and financial institutions through CDFI Program, the Bank Enterprise Award (BEA) Program, and the Native Initiatives. In addition, the CDFI Fund has allocated $16 billion in tax credit authority to community development entities (CDEs) through the NMTC Program.