Today, HUD employees hired between September 9 and September 30, 2002 are required to attend New Employee Ethics Training. HUD's Office of General Counsel will conduct the training through a satellite broadcast, from 1:30 PM - 3 PM, ET (10:30 AM - 12 PM, PT). While the training is open to all interested HUD employees, it is mandatory for new employees. There will be no make-up session.

Training topics include Misuse of Official Position; Impartiality in Performing Official Duties; Gifts during the Holiday Season; Conflicting and Prohibited Financial Interests; and Outside Employment and Other Activities.

Headquarters employees can take part in the ethics training in the HUD Cafeteria. Field employees can take part at their distance learning broadcast site. Information regarding local broadcast sites is available from your HUD Field Academy training consultant. Employees who are required to attend must sign-in (please print clearly, as this will be a record of your participation).

Please remember that this ethics training is mandatory for new employees and will be presented just once, today, Friday, November 15. No make-up session will be held. If you have any questions, please contact OGC's Ethics Law Division by email (Ethics_Law_Division@hud.gov).

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HUD offices work to open doors to help families live the American Dream. But in Iowa, new homeowners Jorge Rodriguez and his wife Evelyn Colon turned the tables and opened the doors of their new home to the Des Moines HUD Field Office and the local news media. The Rodriguez family opened their home because they wanted to tell their story - how their family finally was able, after five years of renting, to get a home mortgage loan - an FHA-insured mortgage for First Time Homebuyers.

Jorge and Evelyn, originally from Puerto Rico and educated in Universities in both Puerto Rico and America, had lived and worked in Iowa when their jobs took them back to Puerto Rico. After several years back on the Island, they realized they both wanted to return to the Midwest and make Iowa their home - for the employment opportunities and to raise their son in a smaller, more secure community.

Iowa HUD Director William McNarney, new homeowners Jorge Rodriguez and his wife Evelyn Colon.

But not everything worked smoothly. The family applied for a mortgage with several lenders but was always rejected: misunderstanding between legal documents filed in Puerto Rico in Spanish; income not accepted; and, most likely, miscommunication due to language barriers. It took a culturally diversified mortgage company and an FHA-insured mortgage to end their frustration and make their "American Dream" come true.

In fact, Jorge was so impressed with the speed that the mortgage company accepted their background and documents and approved their loan, and the ease they felt dealing with the company that Jorge asked about job openings. He wanted to be on their team, and today he is a Home Mortgage Consultant in Wells Fargo Home Mortgage Emerging Markets Department. Evelyn works in the banking department for the same company.

Today, Jorge helps others achieve quickly what took him years of disappointment and frustration. Jorge travels to Iowa communities and reaches out to potential homebuyers, providing mortgage assistance for first time home buyers and helping minority families overcome problems they might face as they pursue their own "American Dream."

Jorge and Evelyn were delighted to show their appreciation to Iowa HUD representatives Bill McNarney and Krista Bowersox, and tell everyone that not only has their family achieved the "American Dream," but through HUD's FHA, it could be a real option for almost any family throughout the state of Iowa.