News Release

Participating San Francisco Public Libraries have joined in partnership with Wells Fargo Home Mortgage and the American Library Association to present a series of educational seminars about home ownership and the mortgage lending process for first-time homebuyers. The Path to Home Ownership Begins @ Your Library seminars will begin in November.

In addition to the free home ownership seminars, potential homebuyers will find enhanced collections of materials about home ownership. Participating libraries include the Bayview/Anna E. Waden, Excelsior, Ocean View and Sunset Branches, the Main Library, and the Tool Lending Center.

The effort is part of a national campaign, "The Path to Homeownership Begins @ your library™," an initiative sponsored by the American Library Association and Wells Fargo Home Mortgage. San Francisco is among the first 10 cities in the nation to launch the campaign at a local level. A complete schedule of seminar times and locations can be found at www.ala.org/rusa/wellsfargo.

"Libraries are a central community meeting place and a place to gather information," said Susan Hildreth, City Librarian. "They are an ideal place for potential homeowners to become more educated about homeownership."

According to Harvard University's 2001 State of the Nation Housing Survey, the homeownership rate among minorities lags behind the national average of 67.8 percent. The homeownership rate for African-American households is 47.6 percent; Hispanics is 46.3 percent; and Asians and others is 53.9 percent.

"Many people don't apply for mortgages because they don't know how to get started or are uncertain about down payment requirements and credit issues," said Darrell Walker, Regional Emerging Markets Manager for San Francisco's Wells Fargo Home Mortgage. "By working with the San Francisco Public Library, we will provide easy access to information about home buying, which will help homebuyers overcome the information barriers to home ownership. In particular, we will focus on helping low- to moderate-income and minority homebuyers because rates of homeownership are lower among these groups."

All programs and exhibitions at the Library are free of charge and open to the public.

For more information about these seminars,
please call 415.557.4277.