MacArthur Foundation Gives Millions To Stem City Foreclosures

(Crain's) -- The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation announced it's giving $68 million to Chicago-area organizations to help battle the home foreclosure crisis.

The Chicago-based foundation expects its donation, a combination of grants and low-interest loans, will leverage more than $500 million in capital and help 10,000 households. The plan includes offering counseling to about 6,000 borrowers and setting a goal of preventing 2,000 foreclosures by 2010.

"The scale of the foreclosure crisis threatens to disrupt hard-won gains in many of Chicago's lowest-income neighborhoods," said MacArthur President Jonathan F. Fanton. "Nowhere is this work more urgent and nowhere is it more important to us than in the city we call home."

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