-- Helping Pennsylvanians know their legal rights--

In an effort to educate Pennsylvanians about the legal basics of buying a home, the Pennsylvania Bar Association Client and Community Relations Committee held a statewide public education campaign, �Home Sweet Home: Protecting Your Purchase.�

Guest speakers at the campaign kick-off included Samuel McCullough, Pennsylvania Secretary of Community and Economic Development; and William Bostic, executive director of the Pennsylvania Housing and Finance Agency.

The PBA�s month-long real estate educational effort featured events such as free public seminars on home-buying, radio call-in programs and informational expos across the commonwealth. A series of ads highlighting legal questions and a toll-free number to receive a free PBA home-buying brochure appeared in most newspapers statewide during the campaign. These ads were the result of a partnership between the PBA and the Pennsylvania Newspapers Association.

The �Home Sweet Home� campaign is part of an initiative by the Pennsylvania Bar Association to create annual public education programs to help citizens understand and find protection under the law. The first campaign, held in 1997, focused on the need for greater public understanding of wills and state inheritance laws.

Sponsorship of this home-buying educational effort was provided by the Pennsylvania Bar Association and the following county bar associations:
Allegheny County Bar Association; Beaver County Bar Association; Berks County Bar Association; Carbon County Bar Association; Cumberland County Bar Association; Dauphin County Bar Association; Delaware County Bar Association; Elk County Bar Association; Erie County Bar Association; Lancaster Bar Association; Lycoming Law Association; Monroe County Bar Association; Montgomery Bar Association; Northampton County Bar Association; Schuylkill County Bar Association; Wayne County Bar Association; Wilkes-Barre Law & Library Association; and York County Bar Association. Additional funding was made possible through a grant from the Pennsylvania Bar Foundation and the Pennsylvania Bar Trust.