Wells Fargo and Navajo Partnership for Housing Team Up To Deliver Banking and Credit Education to Native Americans Story-Date: 10:51 a.m. PST Thursday , July 24, 1997 Wells Fargo and Navajo Partnership for Housing Team Up To Deliver Banking and Credit Education to Native Americans WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 24, 1997--Wells Fargo announced today that it has made a $50,000 contribution to support the Navajo Partnership for Housing. The contribution will develop a banking service program, designed to bring banking service and credit education to the Navajo Nation, the country's largest Native American tribe, covering an area of 25,000 square miles in Ariz., N.M., and Utah. Wells Fargo's contribution will be used to pilot an educational module to educate Navajo on banking services, credit and financial management, as well as introduce the other programs Navajo Partnership for Housing provides, including homebuyer education, construction, and loan service. Navajo Partnership for Housing will conduct the counseling through five Wells Fargo in-store banking centers that were recently opened in Bashas' stores on Native American reservations. If successful, Wells Fargo plans to expand its program to other areas with significant Native American presence within the bank's ten-state region, including Nevada and Colorado. `We are very pleased to work with the Navajo Nation in delivering basic banking education to the Navajo people,` said Karen Wegmann, Executive Vice President of the Bank's Corporate Community Development Group. `We are sensitive to the fact that different communities have different banking needs. This is just one of the partnerships we have formed with non-profits and community leaders to demonstrate how technology can make consumer's lives easier, including meeting their banking needs through ATMs, by phone and even over the internet.` Eric Bauer, Executive Director of the Navajo Partnership for Housing announced Wells Fargo's participation at a national conference today on Banking on Indian Country, co-sponsored by the Office of the Comptroller of Currency (OCC) and the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Tribal Justice. This donation is part of an overall contribution of over $1 million that Wells Fargo announced last month to various leading non-profits specializing in credit and banking services counseling in low-income communities throughout the bank's ten-state territory. The bank has supported similar banking service, technology and credit education programs in San Francisco, East Palo Alto and South Central Los Angeles. The Navajo Partnership for Housing is a member of Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation's National NeighborWorks network. The non-profit coperation was formed to facilitate the private mortgage lending process, which include the challenges that lenders face when lending on the Navajo Nation. Wells Fargo focuses on contributions to social services and economic development programs that enhance a community's quality of life. The bank also makes contributions to educational programs, kindergarten through 12th grade, that contribute to the improvement in academic achievement. Wells Fargo is the nation's ninth largest holding company with assets of $100 billion as of July 15, 1997. CONTACT: Wells Fargo Bank Lisa Rossi, 415/396-3606 KEYWORD: CALIFORNIA ARIZONA ALASKA COLORADO IDAHO MONTANA NEW MEXICO NEVADA OREGON TEXAS UTAH WASHINGTON WYOMING DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA INDUSTRY KEYWORD: BANKING EDUCATION GOVERNMENT Today's News On The Net - Business Wire's full file on the Internet with Hyperlinks to your home page. URL: http://www.businesswire.com ------------------------------------------------------------