Since the foreclosure crisis, Kathe Newman has been leading research into mortgage lending disparities in communities – work that will soon be expanded to include community organizations in Camden to better understand the challenges residents face in securing mortgages and what can be done to improve access to good loans.
“We will continue the theme of focusing on the quality of home loans and whether people can get loans that are right for them,” said Newman, director of Ralph W. Voorhees Center for Civic Engagement at Rutgers, and the recipient of a Rutgers Equity Alliance for Community Health (REACH) grant to partner with the St. Joseph’s Carpenter Society on housing funding equity.
The grant is among the first round of two-year, $4 million funding from REACH. The universitywide presidential initiative aims to join community-based organizations, leaders and residents with university researchers, teachers and students to find ways to improve health and quality of life outcomes in three N.J. cities facing food insecurity, high unemployment, low high school graduation rates and low household incomes. To read the full story.