The Freddie Mac Corporation is a shareholder-owned corporation that was chartered by Congress in 1970 to create a continuous flow of funds to mortgage lenders. The corporation's stated mission is "[to make] the American dream of decent, accessible housing a reality" for many people who might otherwise be unable to obtain mortgages for property they wish to buy. Toward this end, the corporation purchases mortgages from lenders and packages them into securities that are then sold to investors. In 1991, the Freddie Mac Corporation established a grant-making arm called the Freddie Mac Foundation, which has become one of the largest corporate funders in the Washington, D.C. area, having given more than $174 million to its chosen groups and causes between 1991 and 2006.
The Freddie Mac Foundation focuses its philanthropy primarily on recipients in the metropolitan Washington, DC area, where the corporation's headquarters are located. The Foundation also gives large sums to groups based in those cities where Freddie Mac's corporate regional offices are situated.
The Foundation views the social and economic struggles that afflict low-income minorities as problems that can be ameliorated by taxpayer-funded social programs targeting what the Foundation calls "at-risk" populations. Thus the Foundation contributes heavily to childcare facilities; "parenting support and child enrichment" services; "home-visiting and support services to parents who are at risk for child abuse and neglect"; programs designed "to help prevent at-risk youth … from entering the juvenile justice system"; and programs that "reach out to families to offer support at birth or before."
The Healthy Families America program, alternately called the Prevent Child Abuse America program, provides intensive home visits to help first-time parents deal with the stresses of childrearing.
The Wednesday's Child USA program is a national campaign to find adoptive homes for children in foster care.
The JC Nalle Community School in Washington, D.C., with the help of a Freddie Mac Foundation grant to the National Center for Children and Families, provides an extended-day program of math and English tutoring and other activities; physical and mental health care; social services; summer programs; parent education and Graduate Equivalency Diploma classes; and cultural and recreational programs.
Among Freddie Mac's recent grantees are: the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; Alliance for Justice; the Children's Defense Fund; DC Action for Children; the National Council of Negro Women; the Virginia Poverty Law Center; the Center for Policy Alternatives; the Lawyer's Committee for Civil Rights; the National Urban League; the Child Welfare League of America; the Legal Aid Society; the Legal Aid Justice Center; the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty; the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation; the Carter Center; the American Bar Association; Ayuda, Inc.; Cesar Chavez Public Policy Charter High School; Alliance for Children's Rights; DC Action for Children; Women Empowered Against Violence; My Sisters Place; the Washington Peace Center; Neighbors Consejo; the Sexual Minority Youth Assistance League; the National Council of La Raza; the See Forever Foundation; the Multicultural Career Intern Program; Asian American LEAD: Leadership, Empowerment and Development for Youth and Family; the Center for Multicultural Human Services; Planned Parenthood; the Latin American Youth Center; the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy; the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities; the Calvary Bilingual Multicultural Learning Center; the Women's Center; and National Public Radio.
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