Cautious Optimism for Financial Reform

Last post, I shared the story of a woman in the Bronx who is struggling mightily due to the economic meltdown that continues to plague our neighborhoods and communities. I shared that I was in Washington chairing meetings for National People's Action/Illinois People's Action with regulatory agencies charged with safeguarding our nation's economy from failure. One year ago we met with the Fed Chairman Bernanke and shared that our communities had lost their confidence in the ability of our regulators to safeguard our economy. We called the regulators to account and demanded that they respond to the disaster in our neighborhoods that they had not prevented. Our direct actions, collaborative efforts, community organizing and courage to hold Big Banks accoutable for the economic disaster have produced results. Our meetings two weeks ago were productive and I am guardedly optimistic about the future outcomes from our conversations and agreements. I am hopeful for continued dialogue between local communities and the folks steering the rules and regulations for our economic future. I am looking forward to collaboratively building an economy for a new day that works for everyone. I am hopeful that through increased transparency our neighbors will have more opportunities to secure fair credit and that through renewed reinvestment into people and neighborhoods, our communities will flourish and become havens of opportunity. As our nation debates the roles of the Fed in protecting consumers and ensuring that fair and just practices are the rule, I am cautiously hopeful that the chairman will live up to his promise of making this a priority of the Fed. Soon, the US Senate will consider Financial Reform including the creation of an independent Consumer Finance Protection Bureau within the Federal Reserve. The bureau would be a voice for consumers within an institution that has historically taken most of its cues from Wall Street and Big Banks. Hopefully, the voices of neighborhoods and communities will be heard as rules and regulations that safeguard our economy. Here is a picture of our team that met with regulators in DC.

NPA/PICO TEAM 2010

The recent caustic debate over health care reform has revealed the ugly nature of the ideological rifts in our nation. We have seen the best and the worst of political discourse. And, we haven't seen anything yet. Financial Reform may boil blood, especially the blood of the privileged few who hold on to enormous amounts of wealth while others literally starve and die right here in our own neighborhoods! I only hope that those who stood with great courage to begin reforming our health care system will stand with the same courage to enact real financial reform and much needed immigration reform in the weeks and months ahead. And, I pray that the "better angels of humanity" will prevail as "the moral arc of the universe is long and it bends towards justice."
Peace & Joy!

Carrying Weight of the World on Your Back

‘Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.’ Matthew 11:28

I have been blessed to get to know my roomate for NPA's meetings with Federal regulators that I am chairing in our nation's capitol. Earlier today, Joseph, a community leader/organizer from the Bronx shared the story of a tenant in a building in his neighborhood that was bought by investors right before the housing bubble collapsed seeking to make a quick profit. The building went into foreclosure with Wells Fargo after the investors lost their money making game and several tenants were left in limbo, as the owners walked away from the property, including one woman with two sons who lives on the fifth floor. One of her sons who is 12yrs old uses a wheelchair for mobility. The building owners walked away from the property while allowing the utilities to be turned off, which means that the elevator no longer runs. The tenant, a single mom, carries her son on her back down the stairs to go to school and back up the stairs later in the day, making other trips to move the wheelchair. She is literally bearing the brunt of the economic crisis on her back. Her story is not however unique in its burdens as millions of families suffer from the mortage and unemployemnt crises that are plaguing our nation.
Grassroots leaders and organizers from communities in at least 30 states are working to lighten the burden that has been placed on the backs of many of our neighbors. We are demanding that the Federal regulatory agencies responsible for safeguarding our economy, specifically by regulating banks and lending, act on behalf of the consumers who have taken disastrous hits during the past two years. Today, we met with the Director of Consumer Protection with the Department of the Treasury and with reprsentatives from the FDIC to share our stories and to call on them to act with boldness within their authority to put people before profit, to keep families in their homes, to expand efforts to modify mortgages, to step up and protect consumers from predatory lending offered by the PayDay lending industry and to work in collaboration with our community groups as we build a new economy that works for everyone. While we received very few specific affirmative responses, we came away hopeful that the relationships we are building with Treasury and FDIC will stem the tide of foreclusres soon.
Tomorrow we will meet with Federal Resevere Chairman Ben Bernanke to ask for his commitment to work with our organizations to make real change in regulatory rules that will have a positive impact on the lives of consumers so desperately needing hope these days. We will ask the chairman to help us reduce the weight of the yoke of foreclosures and predatory lending practices through specific solutions that will provide for greater transparency of lending products to safeguard against the predators opening up more shops than McDonalds in our communities, and solutions that will provide for meanful reinvestment in our local commmunities.
I look forward to the opportunity to meet once again with Chairman Bernanke tomorrow and I hope that we will be able to work towards finishing the difficult work we began over one year ago. And that in our shared humility we may find rest for the weary of our communities and for our souls.