Plans to fight foreclosure crisis

I wish to commend and thank the Daily Herald for its coverage of the home foreclosure crisis facing so many of our fellow Fox Valley residents. Most of my friends and neighbors, including me, were of the impression that only communities in California, Nevada, Arizona and Florida were seriously affected by the home foreclosure tidal wave.

However, thanks to the excellent coverage of this subject by reporters from the Daily Herald, that all changed for me in the first quarter of this year.

In particular, the reporting of Deborah Donovan and Charles Keeshan was comprehensive and informative. Especially the Feb. 11 article by Donovan where she informed the reader that foreclosure filings in Kane and McHenry Counties for the 12-month period from January 2008 through January 2009 had jumped dramatically.

However, an article by Harry Hitzeman earlier this month featuring the magnitude of the foreclosure crisis in Elgin really put this crisis in sharp focus for me. He noted that Elgin has more than 1,000 homes in various stages of foreclosure, that overall 1,990 properties in Elgin entered foreclosure in the last 27 months, that 800 people attended a foreclosure avoidance seminar at the Hemmens Cultural Center and that city officials want to ramp up educational efforts to help people manage their money so the foreclosure cycle doesn't repeat itself.

Before I read this article, I had already set in motion plans to come out of retirement and help create a nonprofit platform to promote financial literacy, especially focused on elevating the knowledge of homeowner finances. His article reinforced my conviction to do so.

My partners and I plan to launch a national financial literacy road show next month. Currently, we plan to bring our forum to the Fox Valley sometime later this summer.

Nate Spain

Carpentersville