New Center To Combat Foreclosures, Improve Financial Literacy

The NAACP's Dedrick Muhammad says that county's struggle highlights a national problem.

"The fact that that area has the highest foreclosure rates in D.C. shows how this unique financial crisis might have stemmed back some of the progress that had been made in the black middle class," Muhammad says.

To combat foreclosures and to foster better saving practices in the community, the NAACP and Wells Fargo opened a new financial literacy center in Northwest Washington. Maurita Coley of the Capital Area Asset Builders says without these financial training centers minorities may continue to be priced out of homes in the District.

"But with the kinds of tools that you surround people with, I think that we can continue to get people in homes and build a diverse D.C. and really solves some of the problems that came out of the recent mortgage foreclosure crisis," Coley says.

Wells Fargo lends to more African-Americans than any other bank, and the NAACP is using this new relationship with the lender to investigate potential practices of racial discrimination.