Los Angeles, CA On Saturday, July 15, 2006, KCCD hosted their 6th Annual Homeownership Fair at the Wilshire United Methodist Church. This year’s fair brought out over 1,000 participants, the largest turnout KCCD has seen for this event. KCCD President Hyepin Im said, "With Korean homeownership rate at 48% compared to the national 70%, we're pleased that so many turned out for the KCCD fair to learn of the many resources and programs that are available to assist potential homeowners. Despite the turn in the homebuyer market, the large turn out demonstrates that there are still so many in our community who are eager to realize their dream of homeownership. We're pleased that in partnership with our sponsors, KCCD is able to provide this invaluable service to the community."

KCCD’s 6th Homeownership Fair included a welcome from KCCD President Hyepin Im, Reverend Chol Hwan Kwak, Senior Pastor of Wilshire United Methodist Church, Samona Caldwell from State Farm Insurance, Morella Lombardi from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and Gayle Bryce from Freddie Mac. L.A. Police Department First Assistant Chief Jim McDonnell and Eric Boyd, representing Assemblymember Mark Ridley-Thomas, brought words of support and greetings.

Samona Caldwell from State Farm Insurance said, "KCCD's Homeownership Fair proved to be a great success! The homeowner literacy provided by the participating vendors armed the guests with the knowledge and opportunities on becoming a homeowner! State Farm is proud of our partnership with KCCD and look forward to working with them to provide financial literacy and insurance information to the Korean-American community in the future."

Right: KCCD Executive Director Jin Kim teaches the First Time Homebuyer Workshop to over 1000 fair participants.

Gayle Bryce said of the event, "I was honored to be part of the 6th Annual Homeownership Fair and see such a great turnout for an early Saturday morning event. Homeownership can offer great benefits to families and individual households by providing a sense of personal security and financial stability. At Freddie Mac we are very committed to expanding mortgage credit options to families across the nation and we value working with trusted intermediaries such as KCCD and the other participating sponsors that are committed to help make the dream of homeownership a reality."

The welcome session was followed by a workshop for first time homebuyers introducing them to government down payment assistance programs, taught by Marc Arakaki from the L.A. Housing Department, Daisy Ma from L.A. Community Development Commission, and KCCD Executive Director Jin Kim.

Participants also received information from various exhibitor booths at the fair. Exhibitors this year included State Farm Insurance, Washington Mutual, Countrywide Home Loan, Hanmi Bank, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Saeshe, The Gas Company, Sean Paik of New Star Realty, The L.A. County Assessor’s Office, L.A. Housing Department, L.A. County Community Development Commission, and the Real Estate Doctor.

KCCD wishes to thank our lead sponsors for our 6th Homeownership Fair, Washington Mutual and State Farm Insurance, for making this successful educational event a reality, as well as sponsors Freddie Mac, Countrywide Home Loans, Hanmi Bank, Sean Paik, JSTV, KISB TV, KBS TV, KAN TV, KGBC, Korea Daily, Korea Times, Christian Herald, Christianity Weekly, and TVK 24. We would also like to thank L.A. County Supervisor Yvonne Burke for providing an interpreter and translation equipment. Special thanks to McDonald’s and Countrywide Home Loans for donating raffle prizes!

KCCD is a non-profit faith-based organization, which serves as a bridge between the Asian American community and the greater community at large in connecting and creating private and public collaborations. Our mission is to maximize the capacity of Asian American faith-based organizations and other community non-profits to remove the cultural, language and economic barriers by increasing their access to resources and funds in order to assist low income individuals and revitalize neighborhoods.