WASHINGTON – Fannie Mae's 2006 American Dream Team Program internship is underway, and just as they did when the program was inaugurated in 2005, credit unions have stepped up not only to serve as mentors for the selected interns, but also to help administer the 2006 program.
The 10-week summer program is a collaboration between Fannie Mae with selected lender partners, national nonprofit organizations and community-based trusted advisors that are committed to providing meaningful training opportunities for minority college students who are interested in building a career in the mortgage industry.
Fannie Mae Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer Emmanuel Bailey explained the program is the outgrowth of a pilot the housing Government Sponsored Enterprise conducted three years ago that was connected to the company's American Dream commitment to make it possible for more low- and moderate-income Americans to become homeowners. Internal research indicated some of the barriers that block minorities and immigrants from owning homes. Among the obstacles were they haven't been exposed to financial services and the home ownership process like other consumers, and there's a lack of information and need for trusted advisors minorities and immigrants can relate to.
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"If you look at all the predictions for future homeownership growth in the U.S., they all point to how important minorities and immigrants will be, and it was the clear intent of our lender partners to work with these groups to help them realize their dream of becoming homeowners. So we realized we could make a more significant impact if we brought more African-Americans, Asians and Hispanics into the mortgage industry and focus them on those communities that have heavy demographics in those ethnic markets and motivate potential interns to consider a career in the mortgage industry," Bailey said.
The 2005 program placed 50 African-American, Asian-American and Hispanic interns with 44 lenders and community-based nonprofit organizations. Several of the interns were offered part-time or full-time positions when their internships ended.
This year 66 college junior and senior students from around the U.S. were selected as interns.
"We wanted the best and brightest young people who reflected the markets we're trying to serve," said Bailey, adding that the selection process is a "rigorous process."
Each of the four national nonprofit organizations-the African-American Credit Union Coalition, Hispanic Heritage Foundation, INROADS Inc., and National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development-has its own process for selecting the interns, but Bailey says all the interns have to have demonstrated a commitment to serving their communities as well as excel academically. Their average grade point average is 3.2. The lender partners interview a minimum of two interns for the program.
To start the 2006 program off, the selected interns were flown to Fannie Mae's offices for a four-day orientation that gave them the opportunity to learn about the principles of the secondary mortgage market industry, view presentations by Fannie Mae executives, and "basically get a grounding of what the mortgage business is about and how they can drive change," said Bailey.
They also got to meet Congressman Elijah Cummings (D-Md.).
Starting June 5, they are working at one of 53 internship sites around the U.S. including 11 credit unions-AEA FCU, American Heritage FCU, Desert Schools FCU, Georgia Telco CU, JACL CU, Municipal Credit Union of New York, Municipal Employees CU of Baltimore, Navy FCU, Sacramento CU, Self-Help, and Washington State Employees CU.
Several credit unions are working with more than one intern. Navy FCU, for example, has three interns, and Self Help has four.
Bailey said the majority of the interns are working in communities were they live.
The interns will earn $5,600 for the 10-week internship. Fannie Mae makes a grant for the money to each lender partner that reimburses them for the interns' salaries.
Bailey said he would like to see the program expanded each year. He explained there's a capacity issue-the more lender partners sign on as internship sites, the more interns can be accepted into the program. -
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