Atlanta Hawks and Fannie Mae Foundation Landscape Peoplestown Home as Part of 'Home Team' Partnership.

Business Editors

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 2, 2001

Entire Hawks Team and Head Coach Lon Kruger Plant Trees and Shrubs

Atlanta's "Home Team" - the Atlanta Hawks and the Fannie Mae Foundation - today teamed up with the Peoplestown Revitalization Corporation, an Atlanta neighborhood nonprofit organization, to landscape a home as part of the Home Team's goal of revitalizing neighborhoods.

The Hawks' front-office staff joined the entire Hawks team, including spokesperson Alan Henderson, and Fannie Mae Foundation volunteers to plant grass, trees, and shrubs and lay sod around a new single-family home in the Peoplestown neighborhood.

"We continue to be proud of our partnership with the Fannie Mae Foundation to help provide housing for low-to-moderate income families in Atlanta," said Hawks player Alan Henderson. "We were out at this same house in January building the decks in the front and back yards and it's a great thing to be able to come out now and see how far along the house has come. Now, we have the opportunity to put the finishing touches on our previous work by adding the landscaping."

During the 2000-01 season, the Home Team's development efforts in Atlanta are being managed by Peoplestown with a $100,000 grant from the Fannie Mae Foundation and $15,000 from the Hawks' fundraising efforts. Atlanta's Home Team program, now in its sixth year, is a partnership between the Fannie Mae Foundation and the Atlanta Hawks. Since 1995, the Home Team has funded the rehabilitation of 19 homes in Atlanta with $665,000 in grants from the Fannie Mae Foundation and funds raised by the Hawks.

"The Fannie Mae Foundation's mission is to help all Americans realize the dream of homeownership," said Stacey H. Davis, president and CEO of the Fannie Mae Foundation. "Creative partnerships with organizations like the Hawks and Peoplestown help us achieve our goal."

"Today marks a new era for Peoplestown," said Columbus Ward, executive director of Peoplestown Revitalization Corporation. "We're glad to be working with the Fannie Mae Foundation and the Atlanta Hawks to make homeownership possible for more Atlanta families."

The Home Team program, now in its eighth season, is a partnership between the Fannie Mae Foundation and the National Basketball Association. Its goals are to revitalize local neighborhoods and to provide free home-buying information to help Americans achieve their dream of homeownership. In addition to the Hawks, Home Team partner NBA teams include the Boston Celtics, Cleveland Cavaliers, Charlotte Hornets, Detroit Pistons, Houston Rockets, New Jersey Nets, New York Knicks, Portland Trail Blazers, San Antonio Spurs, Seattle SuperSonics and Washington Wizards.

Since the Home Team program began in 1993, the Foundation and NBA partner teams have assisted in the construction and rehabilitation of 731 homes in the Home Team cities across the country. These homes are sold to low- and moderate-income families, with a portion of the proceeds placed in revolving loan funds to provide funding for additional homes.

In each city, an affordable housing nonprofit organization manages the efforts with a grant from the Fannie Mae Foundation and funds raised by the team. By the end of the 2000-01 NBA season, the Home Team's revitalization efforts will have contributed more than $9.3 million ($8,438,500 from Foundation grants and $912,580 raised by the NBA partner teams).

The Fannie Mae Foundation creates affordable homeownership and housing opportunities through innovative partnerships and initiatives that build healthy, vibrant communities across the United States. The Foundation is specially committed to improving the quality of life for the people of its hometown, Washington, D.C., and to enhancing the livability of the city's neighborhoods.

The Foundation, a private nonprofit organization supported solely by Fannie Mae, has regional offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Pasadena and Philadelphia. For more information on the Fannie Mae Foundation, please call Esther Rege at 202/274-8080 or visit www.fanniemaefoundation.org.

Style Usage: The Fannie Mae Foundation is a separate legal entity from Fannie Mae (a NYSE-listed company). In order to facilitate clarity and avoid confusion, news organizations are asked to refer to the Foundation exclusively as "the Fannie Mae Foundation" or "the Foundation," but not as "Fannie Mae."