NEDAP News | Vol. 3 Issue 4 | April 2008

Welcome to the April 2008 edition of NEDAP News

• NEDAP Co-Sponsors Immigrant Financial Justice Conference
• NEDAP Issues 2008 "Rapid Rip-Offs" Report
• Are NEDAP Staff Getting Board?
• Community Training and Advocacy Highlights
  

NEDAP Co-Sponsors Immigrant Financial Justice Conference

More than 60 organizations participated in the second Promoting Financial Justice for Immigrant New Yorkers conference, on April 14, 2008. The conference, organized by NEDAP and the NYC Immigrant Financial Justice Network, explored the impact of subprime lending and foreclosures on NYC immigrants and communities, and how local groups are responding.  Presenters also highlighted findings from the first city-wide "Immigrant Banking Survey," which gathered information from more than 600 immigrant New Yorkers about their financial services experiences and needs.  Click here for more information and to download conference materials.

NEDAP Issues 2008 "Rapid Rip-Offs" Report

NEDAP prepared its third annual "Rapid Rip-Offs" report on the impact of tax refund anticipation loans (RALs) on New York City neighborhoods.  The report shows that these usurious loans drained upwards of $59 million from the city's lowest income neighborhoods in tax filing year 2006. Though the total number of RALs has declined, RALs continue to be overwhelmingly concentrated in neighborhoods of color, and Earned Income Tax Credit recipients continue to be targeted for RALs. 

Also featured in this year's report are findings from a tax site survey NEDAP conducted, showing the persistence of deceptive marketing practices among independent tax preparers, in particular, which advertise RALs as "instant refunds" and fail to disclose that RALs are loans, in violation of NYC's RALs laws. Click here to preview map showing the percentage of tax returns with RALs, by NYC neighborhood.

Are NEDAP Staff Getting Board?

NEDAP staff members have been invited to join several boards of directors in recent months:

• Associate Director Deyanira Del Rio was elected to the board of the National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions.

• Rebeca Gamez, Community Education Coordinator, has joined the board of New Immigrant Community Empowerment (NICE) in Jackson Heights, Queens.

• Co-Director Sarah Ludwig recently joined the board of the North Star Fund, where she is chairing the Community Funding Committee's spring 2008 grant cycle.

Community Training and Advocacy Highlights

In April, NEDAP:

• Gave the plenary lecture at Rockland County Human Rights Commission's conference, "Effects of Sub-Prime Mortgage Crisis," in commemoration of the 40th Anniversary of the Fair Housing Act.

• Taught a lively series of financial education and justice workshops at Little Sisters of the Assumption Family Health Center in East Harlem.  More than 35 immigrant families attended the workshops, which were conducted in Spanish and sponsored by Qualitas of Life Foundation. 

• Conducted more than 20 workshops on predatory mortgage lending, foreclosure prevention, immigrants' banking rights and other topics, in collaboration with:

• Women in Prison Project
• The 2nd Annual RadicalMath Conference, "Creating Balance in an Unjust World"
• New Americans Welcome Center, Prospect Park YMCA
• St. Barbara R.C. Church, in Bushwick, Brooklyn
• North Fork Spanish Apostolate, in Riverhead, Long Island
• Hispanic AIDS Forum, in Woodside, Queens
• Our Lady of Perpetual Help R.C. Church, in South Ozone Park, Queens
• St. Therese of Lisieux R.C. Church, in Flatbush, Brooklyn
• Common Law, in Flushing, Queens
• Christ the King Church, in Springfield Gardens, Queens
• Jamaica Service Program for Older Adults

• Presented on two fair lending panels at a conference sponsored by Columbia Black Law Students Association, "The 40th Anniversary of the Fair Housing Act: Continuing Housing Inequality and Ideas for Change."
  

• Submitted comment letters to the Federal Reserve Board:
  • Regarding proposed changes to the Home Ownership & Equity Protection Act (HOEPA). Click here for NEDAP's comment letter. Click here for NYRL members' sign-on letter.  
  • In opposition to Bank of America's proposed acquisition of Countrywide Financial.  Click here for NEDAP's testimony at the April 29 Fed hearing in Los Angeles.

   

• Filed comments with the IRS, regarding its proposal to prohibit tax preparers from sharing taxpayers' information in order to sell them refund anticipation loans (RALs).  Click here for letter.

 

• Was selected by the Center for NYC Neighborhoods as a Program Partner to coordinate city-wide foreclosure prevention outreach and education, and help guide the Center's development of innovative foreclosure prevention solutions and policy initiatives.

• Appeared in various media outlets, including:

• New York Public Radio, Leonard Lopate Show - click here to listen
• WWRL 1600 AM 

• El Diario, "Peligra casa por papeles falsos"

• Guardian UK, "Troubled US homeowners fall prey to 'rescue' scams" 

• Daily News, "Justice on side of loan victims"

• The Indypendent, "Facing Foreclosure:  Brooklyn Retiree on Verge of Losing Home as Subprime Lenders Target Cash-Poor Black Seniors"

NEDAP News is the monthly e-newsletter of the

Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project - www.nedap.org

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