Ellen Barnards

Ellen Barnards is a Community Relations and Education Specialist with GreenPath, Inc., a not-for-profit housing and credit counseling agency founded in 1961. Since she joined GreenPath in 2004, she has provided counseling to consumers on budgeting, debt and credit, bankruptcy and housing including reverse mortgage and foreclosure prevention. She now focuses on outreach and education including presentations on credit reports and scores, budgeting, generating income, using budgeting to relieve stress and others. In partnership with Project Home, she offers monthly workshops for potential home buyers. As Co-Chair of the Dane County Foreclosure Prevention Taskforce, she works with others in the community to provide support for homeowners in crisis including a monthly foreclosure education and prevention workshop. Ellen partners with Centro Hispano to provide foreclosure counseling and education to the local Latino community and spearheaded a financial education project for this community as well. Of the more than 3,000 National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC) counselors, Ellen Bernards was chosen as the 2010 recipient Outstanding Individual Counselor of the Year.