December 2000 | |||
Members of the partnership pose after signing the memorandum of undestanding |
New Partnership Focuses on Expanding Opportunities for Non-Traditional Home Buyers What began as a simple outreach effort in support of National Homeownership Week has grown into a statewide partnership and a special curriculum devoted to educating Rhode Island real estate professionals about service to non-traditional and underserved homebuyers. In April Community Builder Janet Cayouette contacted the RI Association of Realtors to discuss the feasibility of a one day "information fair" at the realtors’ facility during Homeownership Week. She discovered that the realtors wanted help with developing a new curriculum designed to improve realtor service to underserved populations. At subsequent meetings, it quickly became apparent that the burgeoning curriculum would be much more effective by including other housing organizations in its development and implementation. Ms. Cayouette and PTO Mike Dziok expanded the initial working group to include Rhode Island Housing (the state housing finance agency) and The Housing Network, the umbrella organization for the Rhode Island nonprofit community. These partners solidified their commitment by executing a memorandum of agreement on October 5. The "Community Awareness in Real Estate" (CARE) program is designed to provide realtors with education that will enhance their ability to deal with non-traditional homebuyers with the goal of providing homeownership to all individuals who seek this opportunity. The CARE curriculum will include courses on diversity training; fair housing; finance; using Spanish in real estate; creating a credit worthy customer and preventing foreclosure. Real estate professionals who successfully complete the training program will receive a "CARE designation" and will be placed on a referral list that the partners will distribute to organizations that interact frequently with non-traditional homebuyers. The partnership and the new CARE curriculum should be a win-win situation for everyone. Our ability to increase homeownership opportunities for all Rhode Islanders will be enhanced. Rhode Island realtors can expand their customer base and become more aware of the issues presented by the non-traditional and underserved homebuyer’s market. At the same time, consumers will have real estate professionals that are better equipped and more sensitive to their cultural and economic issues. | ||
