A campaign to prevent mortgage foreclosures in Montana received two national honors in late 2006.
The campaign is a partnership between Neighborhood Housing Services, Inc., of Great Falls (GFNHS) and numerous sheriff departments statewide. In Montana, county sheriff departments are responsible for serving legal notices of mortgage foreclosure to homeowners. Under the partnership with GFNHS, sheriff's deputies from a growing number of Montana counties are delivering literature on foreclosure prevention at the same time they deliver notices of foreclosure action. The literature includes contact information for GFNHS’ Foreclosure Prevention Services program. As noted in the December 2006 NeighborWorks Great Falls newsletter, the campaign has prompted a number of homeowners to seek counseling and assistance that enabled them to keep their homes.
The campaign won a first-place award of $1,500 in the 2006 Successful Models in Financial Education Awards program, sponsored by Freddie Mac. It also won first place for innovation in a 2006 foreclosure prevention contest sponsored by NeighborWorks America and the NeighborWorks Center for HomeOwnership Education and Counseling. The honor carries a $2,000 prize sponsored by MetLife.
