THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AGENCY is helping first-time buyers purchase foreclosed homes through a new program called the Neighborhood Stabilization Homeownership Program (NSHP).

The program provides down payment assistance and home repair to qualified buyers and addresses the problem of abandoned and foreclosed homes in targeted areas within Riverside County. “We’d like to help maybe 200 families buy their first home and return those impacted neighborhoods into owner occupancy,” said Emilio Ramirez, Director of Housing Development.

The program, launched March 17, will be available to anyone who has not owned a home in the last three years, has an annual income that is not greater than 120% of the area median income and is purchasing a foreclosed home in the targeted areas of the county. The program will provide downpayment assistance as a silent second loan in the amount of twenty percent (20%) of the purchase price of the home. EDA down payment assistance will be secured by a deed of trust recorded in second position.

The first loan must be a fully amortized, fixed rate, 30-year mortgage. Energy-efficient improvements, curb appeal and landscaping are part of the program’s home repair assistance. Home repair items will be identified prior to closing. For more information, please visit www.rchomelink.com or call 800.909.0079.

A PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP is helping the county’s employees and residents answer pressing questions about homeownership in this stressful economy by offering the advice of myriad, trusted experts.

The Homeowner Education Learning Project. or H.E.L.P., offers free classes and was founded to ensure proper guidance in troubled times and to help owners avoid foreclosure. Questions H.E.L.P. experts can assist with include:

• Do I qualify for a note modification?
• Are there tax consequences if I participate in a short sale or foreclosure?
• If I foreclose, will I still owe taxes on the losses?
• Is there a program out there that I don't know about that can help me get out of my current situation? 

“The ultimate goal is to not only educate the consumer but to create a certification or gold standard for the professional so the public knows where to turn,” said H.E.L.P. founder Chris Sorensen. Providing the homeowner or home buyer a list of professionals who have set themselves apart by attending at their own expense aggressive ethics training, compliance training, product knowledge training as well as cross training lenders and realtors is crucial so members of the public know where to turn for help, he said.

“Just because you have a license and have a shingle on your door does not necessarily guarantee that you still are going to be adhering to your fiduciary responsibilities and that has been proven by the crisis we have today,” Sorensen said. For more information, please visit www.freehomeownershiphelp.org.

YOUNG PEOPLE AGES 14 to 24 will gain employment and learn valuable skills this summer during the Riverside County Summer Work Experience Program, funded by federal stimulus money. The program aims to help low-income individuals. Certain eligibility requirements apply and applicants will be required to provide copies of various documents, such as a birth certificate or a green card. Funding for the program comes from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, signed by President Obama in February.

The two-year program is on track to help 2,500 young people during its first year, said Loren Sims, Operations Manager for the Workforce Development Division. About $9.4 million has been allocated for the program over two years, but Sims said the majority of funds are expected to be spent in the first year. More than $5.3 million will be devoted to the first year of the program. “It’s a great opportunity for young people to gain valuable work skills, “ Sims said. “All the young people who participate will receive a job for a minimum of 120 hours and a maximum of 240 hours over the summer.”

The young people also receive work readiness skills, he said. Employers benefit by receiving additional assistance, giving back to their community and helping supervise a young person while exposing him or her to various employment and career opportunities. The county’s workforce development centers are helping people of all ages with employment needs. Three full service workforce development centers, in Riverside, Indio and Hemet, and two satellite centers in Temecula and Corona are helping displaced workers find jobs while providing other services. About 11,000 people received services of some kind from the centers between July 1, 2008 and March 31, 2009. Visit www.rivcojobs.com or call 888.968.8456 for more information.

UNDERSERVED ELEMENTARY school children in the Coachella Valley have healthier teeth and better smiles thanks to a model program that operates a mobile dental clinic.

The Smile Factory Foundation’s mobile dental clinic is housed in 53’ semi trailers that are on site at elementary schools in the Palm Springs and Desert Sands Unified School Districts at a scheduled time every year. The clinic remains on the school grounds for 10 working days of treatment. The Smile Factory also is offering dental care to the Coachella Valley Unified School District on a limited basis and plans to serve all three school districts beginning in the 2009/2010 academic school year.

The Smile Factory Foundation is a division of Borrego Community Health Foundation. The Smile Factory’s goal is ensuring that virtually every underserved elementary school child in the Coachella Valley is screened, diagnosed and treated by a dental professional. The program helps children from low income families, age 4-11, attending public education through Head Start or elementary schools within the Coachella Valley. The Smile Factory provides treatment to any child on the free and reduced lunch list who does not have dental insurance or is enrolled in Medi-Cal / Healthy Families. Qualified children who need treatment are scheduled for care during the school day, while the mobile clinic remains on school grounds.

Parents are informed of the appointments and invited to attend with their child. Through the Smile Factory’s oral hygiene education and screening program, about 17,000 children in the Coachella Valley have been reached. The Smile Factory also provided about 5,000 preventative and restorative dental procedures–equivalent to about a million dollars in billable services to a private practice–at no cost to the families qualifying for the program.

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