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sentative Amalgamated Publishers, Inc, New York, NY, and The West Coast Black Publishers
Association • Serving Portland and Vancouver.
We Too Have a Dream
Changing
banking system
to boost minority
homeownership
by
F ranklin D. R aines , C hairman
F annie M ae
and C E O of
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the areas of:
. Forestry
. Range
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. Fire
. Recreation
. Surveying
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. Others
Find these jobs at:
www.usajobs.opm.gov
OR
www.nc.blm.gov/jobs
BLM
Oregon/Washington
Equal Opportunity Employer
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with
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FROM YOUR
COMMUNITY
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Advertise w ith diversity in ffl’' J jiu * tla n ò (O b s e rv e r
( all 503-288-0033
- Franklin D. Raines, chairman and chief
executive officer of Fannie Mae
Fannie Mae has ju st expanded our
American Dream Commitment plan.
U nder this plan, launched in 2000,
we pledged to provide $2 trillion in
housing capital for 18 m illion m i
nority and underserved fam ilies by
the end o f the decade.
Since then, follow ing three ex
traordinary years for the housing
industry, we have already hit the $2
trillion mark. This is on to p o f the $ 1
trillion we provided to 10 m illion
underserved fam ilies from 1994 to
2000.
Now Fannie M ae is renew ing
and deepening our American Dream
C om m itm ent plan, starting with an
em phasis on first-time homebuyers.
O ver the past 10 years, the $3
trillion incom m itm ents Fannie Mae
has made and met have transform ed
us in to a c o m p a n y w h e re
underserved fam ilies are the core o f
our business and our future. Now
that we have the capital, the tools
and a wide range o f com m itted hous
ing partners, Fannie M ae is push
ing to do m ore with bold ideas and
big plans to really m ove the m inor
ity hom eow nership rate.
At Fannie Mae, we have a dream
too - that all A m ericans will have
equal access to the American Dream
o f hom eow nership. By striving for
our dream , we can help to achieve
Dr. K ing’s as well.
Janet’s Halftime Show: Get Over it
by A sk D eanna ! N ationally
S yndicated A dvice C olumnist
O kay— h ere’s the skinny. Janet
Jack so n ’s boob was rigged to pop
out on national television. The re
sult, the television world and those
co n tro llin g the buttons and the
program s go crazy. G et o ver it.
Y o u ’ve been "punked" although
A shton K utcher has retired. Only
this tim e, it’s a black w om an you
see in stead o f the trash y , h alf
d re sse d , b re a st im p lan t w h ite
w om en y o u 're used to seeing on
the tube.
The gross num bers o f people
calling it an invasion o f the family
aren ’t fooling anyone. The same
parents w ho claim they had chil
dren w atching are the same parents
with kids that have seen it all. Yes,
these children have seen every
thing on M TV and BET in the form
o f a music video. You nam e it, the
children have seen it. The drop it
like it’s hot, booty shaking but,
cheeks, and breasts ready to ex
plode from a dental floss top.
Y eah— I laughed because peek-
a-boo— Jan et Jackson got you!
Perfect m arketing— why not pull a
stunt when you have the largest
audience ever. I, worked. H er super
bowl incident got m ore hits on the
w eb in the history o f the Internet.
She even got more hits and searches
than the 911 T errorist A ttacks.
So why is the netw ork and ev
erybody else m ad? T h ey ’re mad
because Jane, Jackson got a free
com m ercial that rocked the world
for days and she d id n 't have to pay
$2.1 m illion dollars for it. N obody
rem em bers the C hevy com m ercial
with the yellow car, the beer co m
mercial with the donkey; they barely
even rem em ber the game. Pure g e
nius. Jane, Jackson did in about 5
seconds what the com m ercial in
dustry co uldn’t do in 30 seconds.
W ith this said— where is Jesse
Jackson and Al Sharpton with the
support and opportunity to play
the race card like they alw ays do?
This is truly a race thing. As many
"National G eographic" show s that
show naked black w om en and the
cruelty to black w om en show n on
"Roots" tells us one thing. It’s okay
for the w hite-controlled m edia net
w orks to depict black w om en as
naked, black whores, sluts and sexu-
ally insatiable objects, but when
the black w om an takes advantage
o f the w hite netw ork and does it
herself, they cry wolf. Jesse and Al,
are you on the line?
Y ou m ean to tell m e th at it’s
o kay fo r the B ible to tin g m ed ia to
show tw o w om en kissing, B ritney
and M ad o n n a and p lay it o v er
and o v er again w ith no n ational
co m p lain t. It’s o kay fo r D rew
B arry m o re to ju m p on top o f a
desk on the D avid L etterm an Show
and pull up h er top and reveal
nak ed b reasts and no co m p lain ts.
B ack to Jesse and Al.
W here is Jesse Jackson— it’s a
perfect opportunity to chase an
am bulance. A nd w here’s A l?
T hen again, Jesse and Al w on’t
touch this with a 10-foot pole after
their ow n drama. You know . The
Reverend w ent half on a baby and
A l— well the 40-day hunger strike.
Very am azing considering I had
lunch with Al and the las, cheese
stick on the table d id n 't stand a
chance.
Janet cam e, Janet saw, the boob
w ent— get over it and keep it m ov
ing.
(Süditan
Help Make Our Kids into Readers
O ffice :
the
Fannie Mae will create six million
first-tim e hom eow ners - including
1.8 m illion m inority hom eow ners -
over the next 10 years and help
boost the m inority hom eow nership
rate to 55 percent. But we are not
satisfied stopping there; ultim ately
our goal is to erase the racial gap in
hom eow nership.
The Harvard Joint C enter for
H ousing Studies has projected that
it w ould take unti 1 the year 2020 for
the m inority hom eow nership rate
to reach 54.4 pet cent. W e are going
take it farther six years earlier.
Ultimately our
goal is to erase the
racial gap in
homeownership.
better dJa
JAZZ, AFR0TAINMENT,
HIP HOP & MORE
S aturdays 4-1 1 p m
C all
In 1967, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
said, “H alf o f all Negroes live in
substandard housing. And Negroes
have half the income o f whites.”
Today - o n the 50th anniversary
o f the B rown v. B oard o f E duca
tion decision that marked the b e
ginning o f the end o f racial apart
heid in A m erica - m inority A m eri
cans still have not achieved parity
in housing or wealth.
Dr. King argued that poverty
had to be abolished first before
there could be parity in housing.
And o f course, to a great extent he
is correct— fam ilies need a decent
income and some money in the bank
to get a m ortgage.
B ut w e at F an n ie M ae, the
nation’s largest source o f hom e
m ortgage funds, also stand for the
converse proposition: If we can
bend the housing finance system
to transform the poor into hom e
p u r c h a s e r s , i f w e ca n h e lp
underserved fam ilies apply the in
com e and savings they do have,
then we can get more minority fam i
lies into hom es - and they can start
to build equity w ealth.
T oday,
w h ile
th e
U .S .
hom eow nership rate has reached
an all-tim e high o f 68 percent, and
75 percent for w hite A m ericans,
only 49 percent o f m inorities own
their homes. If there were racial
parity in hom eow nership, w e cal
culate that three m illion m ore A fri
can-A m erican fam ilies w ould own
their hom es - and w ould have $760
billion more in hom e equity wealth.
For exam ple, a $ 100,000 hom e pur
chased in 1990 that appreciated the
national average o f 4-5 percent per
year would now be worth $ 172,000
- yielding a $72,000 gain in equity
wealth, tax free.
T o do our part to close the racial
gaps in homeownership and wealth.
ads@ portlandobseivcr.com
W ith the failure o f M easure 30,
schools are once again facing the
prospect o f shortened school years
and larger class sizes. T he state
continues to struggle with how to
provide adequate care for our chil
dren.
W e c a n 't afford to wait to find
solutions. A 2002 U.S. D epartm ent
o f Education study show ed that
nearly half o f O regon fourth grad
ers from low-income families lacked
even basic reading skills. E duca
tion cutbacks w o n ', im prove these
s ta tis tic s . M o re th a n e v e r,
O regon’s children need our sup
port to succeed.
It is easy to feel frustrated with
the uncertainty and challenges fac
ing O reg o n ’s schools. It can seem
like th e re 's nothing we can do. Bu,
there are som e pow erful w ays for
us to impact the lives o f children
and the future o f our com m unities.
By g e ttin g in v o lv e d in o u r
schools through nonprofit volun
teer program s like SM A R T (Star,
M aking A Reader Today), indi
vidual O regonians can bring en
ergy, com m itm ent and resources to
schools throughout the state right
now.
G et engaged. Take the tim e to
visit a school in your com m unity
and consider reading with children
for an hour a week.
We do no, have ,o stand by.
Each o f us can invest in our state's
future, one child at a time.
Steve Stadum, O regon C hildren's
Foundation, 503-937-4800.