More than $1 Billion in Mortgage Relief for Illinois Families

CHICAGO - February 9, 2012. Governor Pat Quinn today announced that Illinois mortgage regulators have joined with their counterparts across the country to accept the terms of a national settlement with five of the nation's largest banks. Under the settlement, more than $1 billion will go to help struggling Illinois homeowners and those affected by improper foreclosures.

The settlement will provide direct assistance to distressed homeowners, including helping them to change the terms or payments of their mortgages so they can stay in their homes. The settlement will also provide monetary awards to families who lost their homes due to faulty foreclosure proceedings, and will reform the mortgage servicing practices that led to the problems faced by tens of thousands of Illinois families.

"Over the past years, we've seen how the flawed mortgage financial system has hurt Illinois families, and I want to thank Attorney General Lisa Madigan for her advocacy on this issue," Governor Quinn said. "This settlement will help those most affected by the housing crisis, and will establish new rules for mortgage lending that will be easier to understand and enforce."

The settlement significantly eases the way for families to modify the terms of their mortgages. For families that are at risk of default, money has been set aside to help reduce the principal balance on the loan and reduce monthly mortgage payments.

The settlement also provides direct help to homeowners who owe more on their mortgage than the current value of their homes. The banks will also allocate funds to reduce the principal balance, approve short-sales (where the property is sold for less than the balance on the mortgage, with the bank's approval) and allow for unemployed payment forbearance, which defers payments for homeowners who are between jobs. Under the terms of the settlement, the five lenders are barred from starting foreclosure proceedings on mortgage loans while the homeowner is in negotiations on loan a modification.

The State's Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) is responsible for overseeing the activities of mortgage lenders and servicing companies. It has aggressively targeted mortgage fraud and sloppy or illegal loan processing and servicing. The settlement also includes $1 million for the state agency that will be used by IDFPR to continue its ongoing investigative and enforcement work.

# # #

Washington, DC - Along with Congresswoman Judy Chu (CA-32), Congressman Bobby Schilling (IL-17) today introduced the bipartisan Building Better Business Partnerships Act.  The bill, which is part of the House Committee on Small Business contracting reform initiative, is intended to help remove bureaucratic impediments for small contractors wishing to do business with the federal government.

Small businesses have proven that they can perform a service or produce goods for the government at a lower cost and often at a faster pace than their larger counterparts, however - as illustrated in this CNBC piece, "Fifth Time's a Charm: Winning a Government Contract" - too many challenges remain for too many businesspeople seeking to break through the bureaucracy. 

Rep. Schilling said, "As a small business owner, I understand that many federal programs intended to help businesses are ultimately too time consuming or onerous to navigate.  Unfortunately, many mentor-protégé programs are no different.  The Building Better Business Partnerships Act would streamline the contracting process, and place the SBA in charge of overseeing and setting standards for mentor-protégé programs based on what we know works.  This bill also adds transparency to the program by requiring the SBA to report on the number of small businesses participating in each program, including the number of those that are women-owned, disadvantaged, HUBZone, or service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses.  This will help all small businesses to more easily and more effectively contract with the federal government, enabling them to grow, create jobs, and get folks back to work."

Mentor-protégé programs are intended to partner small businesses with established mentors in order to improve the small business' ability to win and perform on contracts and subcontracts, but the 13 federal agency programs lack standardized measures of success and are duplicative.  This creates an unnecessary paperwork burden for participants.  The Building Better Business Partnerships Act allows the Small Business Administration (SBA) to oversee civilian agency mentor-protégé programs in order to promote portability of agreements between the agencies, guarantee that the programs benefit small businesses, and ensure that the mentor-protégé agreement doesn't inadvertently harm the protégé's small business status.  It also encourages equal treatment among small businesses (women- and minority-owned, etc) by authorizing the SBA to have mentor-protégé programs for all small businesses. 

"I hear one question over and over again from small businesses: How do I break into federal contracting?" said Rep. Chu, Ranking Member on the Small Business Subcommittee on Contracting and Workforce.  "With annual spending averaging $500 billion, there is no better way for small businesses to expand during these tough times than through federal contracts.  Unfortunately, only 20 percent of that spending is going to small businesses right now.   The Building Better Businesses Partnership Act of 2012 will help small firms break into federal contracting by making it easier for them to join mentor-protégé programs. Helping small businesses win contracts will help put Americans back to work, and with two out of every three jobs coming from small businesses, this bill will help the true driving force behind America's economy."

As part of the Committee's contracting initiative, two other bipartisan pieces of legislation were introduced today with the goal of creating protections to fight contracting fraud and empowering advocates who fight for small business during the federal acquisition process.  More information on the Committee's initiative can be found here on the Committee's website.

# # #

There's a bright spot in the U.S. employment picture: the health-care industry.

Health-care employers added 17,000 jobs in November, and they've been adding an average 27,000 jobs a month since December 2010, according to the most recent Bureau of Labor Statistics report.

That's the good news. The bad news is nearly 10,000 health-care workers have lost jobs since August; there were 136 mass layoffs in that time period.

"Finding work in health-care is definitely getting easier, but the stiff competition means you'll need more than credentials to land those jobs," says Stephanie Roberson Barnard, a communications consultant who specializes in training medical professionals to speak and write clearly and effectively.

"Check any online job-hunting Web site for science, technical, pharmaceutical, biotech and medical jobs and you'll find one common requirement: 'excellent communication skills,'" she and co-author Deborah St. James write in their new book, Listen. Write. Present: The Elements for Communicating Science and Technology (Yale University Press; 2012), www.ListenWritePresent.com.

Unfortunately, the science-rich education required for health-care professionals leaves little room for learning how to craft a message for a particular audience, be it an email or a PowerPoint presentation. And that's essential not only for getting jobs, but for keeping them and winning promotions, Barnard says.

She and St. James, deputy director of publications and communications for a North Carolina biotech company, offer these tips for getting your message across:

• Plan: Take time to get to know your clients, colleagues and co-workers. Establish rapport and cultivate a collaborative relationship by finding out about others' interests (check out the pictures in their offices for clues) and inquiring about them. If you have never been to their offices, look them up on Google or their company's Web site. Always keep your personal conversations light and professional.

• Listen: Smile, nod, and acknowledge the speaker - and mean it. Really focus on what the person is saying and not just on the words. Truly effective communication requires your full attention. It's better to spend a few minutes concentrating on the other person's message during a conversation than wasting time trying to remember what he or she said because you were trying to do something else. It's okay to write or type notes as long as you ask permission first.

• Present: Practice. Practice. Practice. Need we say more? Of all the tips we offer, practicing is perhaps the most important one. People in our audiences often suggest that it's possible to over practice. They claim that too much practicing makes a talk appear staged. We have found that the "stiff" presenters are the ones who haven't practiced. They're so busy trying to remember what they're going to say, they can't tune into the audience or deviate from their slides. In contrast, the speakers who have mastered their content seem to glide about the room, exuding just the right amount of enthusiasm.

• Meet: Respect people's time by presenting materials simply. The biggest complaint people have about meetings is that they last too long. For this reason, presenting your ideas in a simple, concise fashion will give you the advantage of appearing focused and prepared. Remember, never compromise content for simplicity.

• Serve: Be kind to others. It costs nothing and requires no skill. Your kind words, good deed, or thoughtful gift may even launch a cascade of positive gestures among others. A recent study by researchers from the University of California San Diego and Harvard University suggests that cooperative behavior spreads among people. This ripple effect can have a wonderful positive impact on the corporate culture of your organization.

"Good leaders must learn to communicate not only within their field of expertise but also to reach people outside their field of authority, influence and passion," Barnard says. "With proper training and practice anyone can become a better communicator."

About Stephanie Roberson Barnard

Stephanie Roberson Barnard has trained thousands of pharmaceutical industry professionals on how to be more effective speakers, writers and communicators. She has also coached hundreds of health-care professionals on presentation skills for FDA hearings, CFO reports and scientific speaker programs, as well as national and international congresses. Her clients include AstraZeneca, Bayer Corporation, WL Gore, and Boehringer Ingelheim. This is her second Yale Press book collaboration with Deborah St. James.

About Deborah St. James

Deborah St. James is Deputy Director of Publications and Scientific Communications at Grifols. She has worked in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry for more than 20 years. Prior to her current position, she was Bayer Corporation's senior manager for national sales training in the pharmaceutical division. She is a former college English instructor and Senior Editor of Better Health magazine.