INDIANAPOLIS — The Martindale-Brightwood community wants to help more people reach their goal of home ownership.
There's a series of workshops coming up.
There are a lot of challenges that many first-time homebuyers face, and minorities could face even greater challenges.
According to Joi Harmon, deputy director of the Martindale-Brightwood Community Development Corporation, about 95% of people in this community are African American. Many of them are renters.
"We have a lot of renters in our neighborhood, but we also have people who have been in the neighborhood for generations," Harmon said.
The goal of the educational sessions is to promote generational wealth by investing in property.
Harmon said minorities deal too often with issues like predatory lending, or redlining, where lenders refuse to give loans to people based on the areas in which they live.
"Our goal is to make sure people are educated," Harmon said. "What to look for, know when you're not supposed to be charged for certain things. Just be equipped, be empowered."
Harmon said many people in the community want to own homes but don't know where to start. She said after a recent report showed home ownership across the state has gone down, it's important to educate people about the value of home ownership.
"We want to make sure that people who live in the neighborhood stay in the neighborhood through home ownership and through protecting their investment," Harmon said.
More than two dozen people registered to attend the first meeting Wednesday.