NEDAP News | Vol. 1 Issue 6 | June 2006

Welcome to the June edition of NEDAP News, the monthly

e-newsletter of the Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project.

• Immigrant Financial Justice Hits the Road
• NEDAP's Merger Watch Goes Public
• Community Trainings Round-Up
• NEDAP Interns Set to Burn Up the Summer
• Staff Departures: It's So Hard to Say Good-bye...

Immigrant Financial Justice Hits the Road

NEDAP's Immigrant Financial Justice Project covered national and international ground in the past month.  In May, project director Deyanira Del Rio presented on asset-building strategies in immigrant communities and the racial wealth gap at the National CAPACD conference in Houston, Texas.  In early June she made a presentation in Mexico City on challenges to building trust in banks, and opportunities for banks to provide equal financial services access in immigrant communities, at a seminar on financial access and remittances presented by the Federal Reserve, the Bank of Mexico, and the Institute for Mexicans Living Abroad.   From there, Dey represented NEDAP at the 4th Latino Credit Union Conference in Durham, NC, organized by the National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions, where she presented on policy issues and financial education strategies in Latino and immigrant communities.

NEDAP's Merger Watch Goes Public

NEDAP recently launched Merger Watch, an on-line publication that tracks selected mergers, acquisitions and other important developments in the financial services industry.  Merger Watch serves as a resource for neighborhood-based organizations and economic justice advocates working to hold financial institutions and their regulators accountable to communities.  The current issue outlines the potential neighborhood impact of JPMorgan Chase's proposed acquisition of The Bank of New York’s retail assets, which is currently under review by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

Community Trainings Round-Up

In the past month, NEDAP led workshops on how to identify and avoid predatory lending practices, at the Bushwick and DeKalb branches of the Brooklyn Public Library, and presented a homeownership information session in Spanish for members of a church in Staten Island's North Shore.  NEDAP also led trainings on identity theft and consumer credit issues at Star, Project Find, John Paul II and JASA senior citizen centers.

NEDAP Interns Set to Burn Up the Summer

NEDAP welcomes 3 new summer interns, who will be working side-by-side with NEDAP staff on economic justice issues affecting New Yorkers and their neighborhoods.

Cindy Cheung, a rising junior at Bryn Mawr College, will serve as an organizer with NEDAP's Immigrant Financial Justice Project.  Cindy's internship is made possible through a New York Foundation Summer Youth Organizing grant.

An upcoming sophomore at Wesleyan College, Hope Steinman-Iacullo will help organize NEDAP's community education and training activities throughout the city.

Eman Jamal, a recent graduate of Manchester College, will work with the NYC Financial Justice Hotline and the Immigrant Financial Justice Project.

It's Hard to Say Good-bye...

Long-time NEDAP employees Chris Keeley and Celeste Day Moore ended their tenure at NEDAP this month.  Chris will be moving to New Orleans to assist with the continuing relief efforts in the metropolitan area.  Celeste sets off for the Midwest where she will begin classes at the University of Chicago this fall in pursuit of a PhD in History.  Chris and Celeste's commitment to advancing economic justice has had a transformative effect on NEDAP and the work we do.  While they will be missed, we at NEDAP know they will be catalysts for social change wherever they go.