Nehemiah Corporation of America
Nehemiah Corporation of America is a non-profit organization based in Sacramento, California specializing in homeownership, affordable housing and community development. It started in 1994 as a small organization, but grew to prominence later in the 1990s after it developed a program that allowed home buyers to make down payments on their purchases using funds that were derived from the home sellers. This program, the Nehemiah Program, became popular and was widely emulated, giving birth to what came to be known as the seller-funded down-payment assistance industry. The industry attracted criticism from U.S. federal agencies (particularly the Government Accountability Office and the Internal Revenue Service) and was ultimately shut down in 2008 by a change in federal law.
New York &amp; Company
New York & Company was founded in 1918 as Lerner Shops by Samuel A. Lerner and Harold M. Lane in New York City. Samuel Lerner was the uncle of lyricist Alan Jay Lerner. In 1992, the company changed its name to Lerner New York and in 1995 to New York & Company. They have been publicly traded since 2004.Celebrities who have appeared in advertisements for New York & Company include Eva Longoria, Brooke Shields, Iman, Cindy Crawford, Jennifer Hudson, Maria Menounos, Ellen Pompeo, Patrick Dempsey, Eva Mendes and Gabrielle Union.