Secretary Martinez yesterday announced four more cities will participate in the Reaching the Dream Initiative to encourage more faith-based and smaller grassroots organizations across America to promote homeownership. Atlanta, Albuquerque, Chicago and Nashville now join Portland, Oregon, which earlier this year helped inaugurate the program.

By expanding the initiative, HUD will help faith-based and other grassroots groups at the neighborhood level in all five cities as each develops partnerships within their lending community to tailor mortgage products and other resources to meet the needs of the people they serve.

The initiative is designed to bring faith-based and community organizations, financial institutions, local officials and others together to address the needs of first-time homebuyers in their communities.

The Administration believes faith-based and other community grassroots organizations are uniquely suited to provide homebuyer education to lower income first-time homebuyers. Because of the depth of their roots in communities, faith-based organizations can do a great deal to increase homeownership in America.

To learn more about how faith-based or community grassroots organizations can encourage homeownership, visit the Internet.