With a $1 million grant, the Fannie Mae Foundation has sponsored a new multi-year fellowship program at the Kennedy School of Government for housing and community development professionals.

The newly-created Fannie Mae Fellows Program will bring up to 25 people to the Kennedy School's three-week summer Program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government for each of the next four years, according to the Harvard Gazette.

"This partnership is designed to expand the knowledge of housing issues and trends as well as engage the fellows in the Fannie Mae Foundation's commitment to increase home ownership, develop vital communities and improve housing conditions throughout the United States," Franklin D. Raines, a director of the Fannie Mae Foundation, told the Gazette.

"We will work together to reinforce the Foundation's 'Showing America A New Way Home' initiative, a historic commitment to remove the barriers to home ownership in America," Raines said.

The Fannie Mae Foundation grant will also underwrite the preparation of a series of case studies on housing policy to be used in various courses and the production of regional forums on housing and community development.

The Fannie Mae Foundation is connected to the Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA), a quasi-public corporation designed to increase the availability and affordability of housing for low- and middle-income Americans.

Dean of the Kennedy School Joseph S. Nye Jr. praised the school's involvement with the foundation.

"This collaboration with the Fannie Mae Foundation provides a wonderful, important opportunity to reach people who struggle with housing issues every day," Nye told The Gazette. "It is our hope that by working with the Fannie Mae Foundation, we can help increase the professional abilities of the participants and, ultimately, the effectiveness of their efforts to improve housing conditions throughout the United States."

According to The Gazette, the Kennedy School will choose the fellows--state or local government employees from cities across the country--via a competitive selection process.

The Program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government offers an intensive experience to stimulate interest in new management ideas and techniques and to develop relationships with colleagues across the country, according to the Gazette.

"The State and Local Government Program helps leaders respond to the demand for reinvention and the need to provide public-private partnerships," former Oregon Gov. Barbara Roberts, director of the program, told the Gazette. "We are eager to incorporate the substantial experience and expertise the Fannie Mae Fellows will share with our program and their co-participants.