Articles

HOPE foreclosure campaign for Metro Atlanta exceeds goal!

May 31, 2007

Dear partners and colleagues,

The public awareness and media campaign to promote the national 888-995-HOPE hotline to homeowners facing foreclosure concluded in April with resounding success! The three-month campaign launched a year-long pilot program to reduce foreclosures in the metro Atlanta area. The original goal of the pilot program was to generate 5,000 calls to the hotline in 2007. We are pleased to report that between January and April, the hotline received more than 6,300 calls and from those calls more than 1,500 homeowners were counseled.

The success of the initial campaign was due to tremendous collaboration among counseling agencies, service providers, lenders, community-based organizations, and local government and media partners. Working together, we were able to build significant awareness for the hotline in metro Atlanta and help hundreds of homeowners understand their options and avoid foreclosure.

DeKalb County homeowner Margaret S. was one of the homeowners who found HOPE. When the telecommunications company Margaret worked for consolidated and moved out of the state in 2005, she opted to stay behind to care for her ailing sister. Eighteen months later Margaret had finally secured temporary employment, but was now five months behind on the mortgage payments for the home she purchased in 1993. Days away from foreclosure, Margaret learned about the hotline at church and called. She received both phone and in-person counseling and was able to work out a payment schedule with her lender that allowed her to keep her home.

Key insights from this successful campaign will be used to create similar campaigns in cities nationwide, but the efforts must continue here in Atlanta as well. We know there are thousands more homeowners like Margaret who are struggling to make their mortgage payments and desperate for help. In June, the Ad Council in partnership with NeighborWorks(r) America will launch a nationwide public service campaign to support the 888-995-HOPE hotline. Public service announcements created by the Ad Council will be distributed to print, radio and television outlets across the nation. You can help support this campaign in Georgia by encouraging local media to print or air the PSAs this summer. For more information on the Ad Council campaign, please contact Victoria Lelash at HOPE@jacksonspalding.com.

On behalf of our colleagues at Fannie Mae, the Homeownership Preservation Foundation, and United Way of Metro Atlanta, we thank you for your continued support of the HOPE campaign.

Sincerely,

Suzanne Boas
Consumer Credit Counseling Service Atlanta
Marietta Rodriguez
NeighborWorks America

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