 NEDAP News | Vol. 2 Issue 9 | September 2007
Welcome to the September 2007 edition of NEDAP News
NEDAP Joins Advocates from across NY State at NYRL Gathering
On September 27, NEDAP facilitated the annual statewide meeting of New Yorkers for Responsible Lending (NYRL), in Albany. NYRL members from all corners of the state spent the day exchanging information and charting the coalition's action plan for the coming year.
NYRL members discussed strategies to:
- Stem the foreclosure and predatory lending crises in New York, focusing on both prospective and remedial solutions; and
- Protect low income New Yorkers who receive SSI, Social Security and other government benefits from debt collectors' improperly "freezing" their bank accounts.
More than 35 people, representing 20 NYRL member organizations, attended the statewide meeting.
NEDAP Teams up with Students on Economic Justice Projects
NEDAP is thrilled to be working with a host of undergraduate and graduate students to advance our projects and advocacy campaigns:
- Law students Kate Evans and Sarah Fick from the
NYU Immigrant Rights Clinic are working with NEDAP and the NYC Immigrant Financial Justice Network to support local economic justice campaigns. The students are helping to organize demonstrations and know-your-rights trainings around new Department of Homeland Security rules that would affect workers whose employers receive Social Security "no-match" letters.
- A team of NYU undergraduates will be working with NEDAP to produce a short video, as part of a course in video activism. The video will be used in a public policy campaign to address the growing problem of debt collectors' freezing people's bank accounts that contain government benefits and other legally protected subsistence income.
- Under supervision of Fordham Law School Professor Marcella Silverman, a team of students from Fordham's Consumer Law Clinic is staffing NEDAP's Financial Justice Hotline one day per week.
Community Training and Advocacy Highlights
In September, NEDAP:
- Organized a foreclosure prevention town hall meeting in Corona/East Elmhurst, Queens, in conjunction with the Queens Borough President and HPD. NEDAP provided the more than 200 local residents who attended the event with information on how to avoid predatory lending and real estate practices, and resources available to homeowners facing foreclosure. The Forest Hills Ledger and Queens Courier cited NEDAP in articles reporting on the town hall event.
- Was recognized by NeighborWorks America, which presented NEDAP's executive director with an award at its Second Annual Northeast District Reception, for her leadership in foreclosure prevention and the fight against predatory lending in NYC.
- Made numerous community presentations on predatory lending practices and foreclosure prevention, including in:
- East New York, Brooklyn at a community meeting organized by CHANGER
- Sunset Park, Brooklyn, at a homeownership seminar held by Neighbors Helping Neighbors
- Wakefield, in the Bronx, as part of "Foreclosure Awareness Day," hosted by North Bronx NHS and Bronx Community Board 12
- The South Bronx, at a consumer banking forum convened by the NYC Comptroller's Office
- Made a presentation to directors of New Jersey's Community Action Agencies, in Trenton, NJ, on NEDAP's programs and how to design a fair lending outreach and education program that is responsive to community needs.
- Appeared in various media outlets, including:
NEDAP Receives Cy Pres Awards!
This month, NEDAP was honored to receive two cy pres awards from consumer attorney Brian Bromberg. The awards,
which consist of funds unclaimed in class action lawsuits brought under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, will help support NEDAP's Consumer Law Project. Thank you, Brian!
NEDAP welcomes your tax-deductible contribution, which may be made online or by mail.
NEDAP News is the monthly e-newsletter of the
Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project - www.nedap.org.
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