�Good Morning. This is Mayor Mike Bloomberg.

�As the national economy has stalled, we�ve worked hard to prevent home foreclosures in New York.� Fortunately, we haven�t been hit as hard as other cities have been.� Still, some 13,000 homeowners have faced foreclosures during the past 12 months � and the numbers are climbing.� So last week, we took some new steps designed to help distressed homeowners work their way out of debt while keeping their homes.

�First, we�re launching a new public service ad campaign in communities where the risk of foreclosure is greatest.� In English and Spanish, the ads ask: �Facing Foreclosure? We Can Help,� and urge people to call 311 to get connected to free financial counseling and legal services.� We�re doing that because many homeowners threatened with losing their homes are too depressed or frightened to know what to do or where to turn.� And that makes them easy targets for predators all too willing to profit from their misery under the guise of offering help.

�Fortunately, they�ve got better choices, provided by local Legal Services offices, the civil division of the Legal Aid Society, and grassroots anti-foreclosure groups.� The non-profit Center for New York City Neighborhoods, which our Administration and the City Council created when the foreclosure crisis began to emerge, has funded such groups with $6 million in grants.� We�ll provide $2 million more in the year to come.� And a call to 311 will link anyone needing such services with free, confidential, and completely trustworthy help.

�We�re also pushing for more effective negotiations between lenders and homeowners before foreclosures happen.� Current State law requiring such mediation covers too few homeowners, who often treat the confusing notices offering them mediation as junk mail.� And sometimes the people the lenders send to mediation meetings aren�t even authorized to modify the home loans.� In Philadelphia, the Mayor�s Office and courts are addressing such problems and involving community groups like ACORN who help homeowners with the process.� The result?� Better mediation and fewer foreclosures � results we want to see in New York, too.

�The fact is that when foreclosures hit a neighborhood, the pain doesn�t stop with the families losing their homes.� Vacant foreclosed homes become derelict eyesores that bring down the value and threaten the security of every house on the block.� Lenders also take a financial beating from foreclosures.� So, everyone wins when we keep our neighborhoods strong � a basic principle of our Administration�s Five-Borough Economic Opportunity Plan for pulling our city through the national recession.

�Creating jobs is also key to beating the recession � and the jobs of the future require more education.� So before signing off this morning, I want to spotlight the success of a program called CUNY ASAP that we created to help community college students finish their studies while also meeting their family and job responsibilities � no small accomplishment.� The first wave of these students is graduating this month.� I congratulated more than 80 of them at Kingsborough Community College�s graduation on Friday.� And, we�re going to expand such programs that help our community college students learn more, and earn more, in the years ahead.

�This is Mayor Mike Bloomberg.� Thanks for listening.�

(YWN Desk – NYC)