In a unique partnership with Freddie Mac, the quasi-government agency best known for making home ownership a reality for millions of Americans, Rosario Mendez will serve as Program Manager for a new HACU/Freddie Mac initiative designed to increase financial literacy awareness and skills within the nation’s fast-growing Latino communities.
The ultimate goal of the new initiative, CreditSmartsm Español, is to better prepare Hispanics, who on average suffer disproportionately high poverty rates and low college graduation numbers, for potential homeownership and other personal financial goals.
HACU, representing more than 342 colleges and universities serving the largest concentrations of Hispanic higher education students, became a partner in this ambitious new project based on the association’s extensive, comprehensive reach into the country’s largest and fastest-growing Hispanic communities – on and off today’s college campuses.
“Education and home ownership are the essence of the American Dream. I am very excited to be with HACU and to be working with two great organizations – HACU and Freddie Mac -- in the effort to make the American Dream a reality for so many more Hispanic Americans,” said Mendez, a lawyer with extensive government, economics and regulatory affairs expertise.
“This project is going to reach thousands of Hispanic students at an age when it is crucial to begin learning about credit management and how to successfully achieve their financial goals,” said Mendez, who will be based at HACU’s Washington, D.C., offices.
“We are delighted to welcome such a prestigious, proven leader to HACU,” HACU President and CEO Antonio Flores said about the appointment of Mendez.
“In this complex economy, financial literacy is as important as the advanced academic knowledge and skills our Hispanic students will need to survive and thrive as tomorrow’s employees, employers and national leaders,” Flores said. “Freddie Mac is to be commended for its foresight and dedication to providing this outstanding new opportunity to our Latino communities, which promises to dramatically increase the future economic security and success of such a large percentage of our future wage earners, investors, managers, taxpayers and homeowners.”
CreditSmartsm Español is the result of a formal Memorandum of Understanding between Freddie Mac and HACU to collaborate in education outreach to diverse U.S. Latino communities in partnership with allied organizations such as the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), the National Council of La Raza, the United States Hispanic Leadership Institute, Cuban American National Council, National Puerto Rican Coalition Inc. and National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals.
Freddie Mac will provide HACU as much as $125,000 over a two-year period to help plan, promote and implement this new financial education and awareness outreach initiative to HACU’s network of member and partner colleges and universities, which collectively serve more than two-thirds of all Hispanic higher education students.
HACU/Freddie Mac Program Manager Rosario Mendez, a bilingual native of Puerto Rico, completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Rochester in New York with a concentration in economics and obtained her law degree from Loyola University in New Orleans, Louisiana. She currently is completing an MBA in marketing at Johns Hopkins University.
Mendez most recently served for five years as Senior Legislative Counsel in Washington, D.C., to the Governor of Puerto Rico, where she developed expertise in government affairs, advocacy, regulatory affairs and specialized knowledge in successfully implementing project strategies benefiting targeted organizations and individuals.
HACU is the nation’s leading advocate for Hispanic education initiatives, winning record new public- and private-sector support each year for education programs spanning kindergarten through graduate school. HACU also is the award-winning leader of lifelong learning, information technology, international education and ongoing workforce development initiatives for the 21st Century.
Freddie Mac is a stockholder-owned corporation chartered by Congress in 1970, subject to rigorous governmental oversight and substantial capital requirements, to create a continuous flow of funds to mortgage lenders in support of homeownership and quality rental housing opportunities for a diverse U.S. citizenry.
For more information, contact HACU/Freddie Mac Program Manager Rosario Mendez at HACU’s Washington, D.C., headquarters at (202) 833-8361. Or visit www.hacu.net.