SOUL - Southsiders Organized for Unity and Liberation

"Occupy the Dream"

2011-12-20T00:23:00.009-06:00

Today, the “Occupy” movement has helped focus America on the fact that our economy and our government is working on behalf of the wealthiest 1%, and at the expense of all the rest of us.

We agree and boldly state that the answer is the Beloved Community preached and acted upon by Dr. King.

Please join us for a day of ACTION the most fitting way of honoring Dr. King and his vision for the world.

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration and Action Assembly will be held Sunday, January 15, 2012. Registration and Music will start at 2:30 until 3:00 pm. Our celebration program and action will begin at 3:00 until 4:30 pm.

Join us at The People’s Church located at 941 W. Lawrence Avenue in Chicago, Illinois

Free Parking available at the Aragon Ballroom Lot 2 blocks away: 1106 W. Lawrence Avenue

Sponsored by: IIRON Education Fund, NFP (IIRON) Northside P.O.W.E.R. (People Organized to Work, Educate and Restore), Northwest Indiana Federation, and Southsiders Organized for Unity & Liberation (SOUL). Visit us at iironblog.org.

RSVP on Facebook or For more information call Will Tanzman 312.402.0572

Chicagoland Religious Leaders Support the Occupy Movement!

2011-11-28T14:19:00.005-06:00

SOUL in protest against proposed Super Committee cuts

2011-11-09T01:01:00.001-06:00

On Monday, November 7, SOUL joined the Jane Addams Senior Caucus and a number of other groups to protest proposed cuts to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and HUD. The protest featured powerful testimony from people of diverse backgrounds, 43 seniors and allies being ticketed for an act of civil disobedience, and this powerful moment of accountability between SOUL's Rev. Patrick Daymond and Senator Dick Durbin (from an NBC Chicago article):

In front of more than 400 seniors rallying with Occupy Chicago, Illinois Senator Dick Durbin slammed the Tea Party, the Republican Party and said it's no time to mess with Medicare and Medicaid.

But for at least one Occupy Chicago organizer, that wasn't good enough.

Reverend Patrick Daymond, who helped organize the Monday march, asked Senator Durbin reaffirm a list of liberal values by signing a values document.

Durbin declined.

"I have to go to the airport," Durbin said, trying to avoid the confrontation. "I don't sign pledges."

Durbin returned moments later to voice an endorsement for the values statement, pledging his support to oppose cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

See more of the encounter in the following video:

See also additional coverage from the Tribune and Huffington Post.

A week of actions

2011-10-21T01:24:00.002-05:00

This is an exciting time for those of us who believe a better Chicago and a better world are possible! As Occupy actions spread throughout the U.S. and the world with much the same message as our bank and corporate accountability campaign, SOUL has upped the ante in several exciting actions:

Mass mobilization at the MBA Convention

On Monday, October 10, 150 SOUL members and leaders joined with thousands of other Chicagoans in holding the Mortgage Bankers Association of America accountable at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, where the MBA was holding their national convention. The action was widely covered in the news media, including this NBC story quoting SOUL leader Marissa Brown-Johnson, and this Fox story quoting SOUL leader Toby Chow. Our allies in National People's Action have compiled this video featuring a number of speakers at our rally at the Hyatt, including SOUL's Rev. Patrick Daymond and Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky.

Civil disobedience at the MBA Convention

On Tuesday, October 11, as the MBA convention continued, SOUL organized an occupation within the Hyatt Regency, sending the message that if the banks are going to continue to take our homes, we are going to have to move in with them. 16 people were arrested as 100s of others protested in solidarity outside. This was SOUL's first civil disobedience action and a significant step forward in stopping business as usual for banks and forcing them to confront the crisis which they have created for the rest of the country as they continue to foreclose on millions of people and fail to pay their fair share in taxes.

We were featured in this opinion piece printed on the front page of the Business section of the Chicago Tribune, as well as an article in The Nation, a national progressive magazine. We also have a video of the action via National People's Action, and another including some footage from the inside.

Metra action

On Friday, October 14, SOUL leaders showed up at Metra's monthly board meeting as part of our ongoing campaign against Metra's proposed fare increases, which disproportionately target riders within the city. We were featured in a front-page story in the Chicago Tribune, and Metra significantly scaled back the fare increases on city riders.

South Side Metra Fare Hikes

2011-10-06T14:42:00.008-05:00

Metra will vote on proposed fare hikes in their monthly board meeting in November, but they have their October board meeting next Friday, October 14 at 9:00 AM at 547 W Jackson, on the thirteenth floor. We will meet there to show Metra that they can't raise their fares on our backs. We hope to see you there!

Background:

Recently, the board of Metra announced that it was considering fare increases for the upcoming year. In a September 2011 special edition Metra newsletter (PDF) Metra CEO Alex Clifford announced that the average fare increase would be 28 percent. What he didn't mention, but what our research has found, is that fares for City of Chicago residents, especially those on the South Side on the Metra Electric line, are being unfairly hit.

Metra Electric riders in Zone B, which comprises all the stations on the University Park branch between 47th and 79th, as well as the whole South Chicago branch, currently pay $63.45 for a 30-day pass. Riders on the Union Pacific North line's much farther Zone D stations currently pay $102.60. Yet fares are not being increased uniformly, or even proportionally: Zone B riders will be paying $42.30 more per month, a 66 percent increase, while the riders from Winnetka, Kenilworth, Winnetka, and Glencoe are only paying $31.40 more per month, a 31 percent increase. SOUL opposes this inequitable re-distribution of wealth, which further increases the burden on residents of the South Side and is sure to push more commuters onto the already crowded CTA.

In response, this morning from 7:00 to 8:30, students from Southside Solidarity Network, a member organization of SOUL, passed out fliers to commuters at Zone B stations alerting them to the inequitable nature of the fare hikes and telling them to call the Metra board. Many of our local officials, including State Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie and Alderman Will Burns are standing with us. Join us for our action on Metra's October board meeting next Friday to show Metra that they need to make a plan that works for all of us.

Tell the Super Congress to Make Wall Street Pay!

2011-09-11T10:44:00.016-05:00

Sign The Petition Today!

The Raw Deal that America got from the debt ceiling debate led to the creation of a twelve-member Super Congress who are charged with cutting 1.5 trillion dollars from the American economy.

We can’t cut our way out of this crisis – revenue has to be part of the solution. Cuts to Medicare, our social safety net or allowing our infrastructure to continue to crumble are not the answer. The real solution is to make Wall Street, wealthy CEOs and big corporations pay their fair share.

Will you stand with us, and demand the Super Congress abide by the following principles?

Sign the Petition Today!

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SOUL featured in Streetwise

2011-08-05T03:10:00.003-05:00

An article on our July 21 Make Wall Street Pay rally to save Social Security and other entitlements ("Activists rally to save Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security") appears in the current (August 3) issue of Streetwise. The article features SOUL leader Shani Smith:

Shani Smith of Southside [sic] Organizing for Unity and Liberation (SOUL) said big banks crashed the U.S. economy through predatory lending and were bailed out with $100 billion in taxpayers' money, yet they are directing their lobbyists to cut entitlements in order to lower the deficit.

Smith said there are five to seven foreclosed homes on any block of her neighborhood and none of them is secured or maintained by banks. Instead, neighbors cut the grass and shovel the snow.

The rally was organized by SOUL and our IIRON allies Northside POWER, as well as the Lakeview Action Coalition, the Jane Addams Senior Caucus, and others.

As the article notes, our message was well-received:

Downtown crowds can be indifferent to rallies, but drivers on Jackson honked appreciatively at signs like "Grandma pays, corporate tax cheats play" and "They got bailed out, we got sold out."

...

Separate contingents brought the fair-share message to the offices of Sen. Dick Durbin (D), Sen. Mark Kirk (R), and JP Morgan Chase Bank.

The article is not available online, but you can check it out and support the work of Streetwise by picking up a copy of the August 3 issue.

Victory on Vacant Property Ordinance Amendment

2011-08-01T21:43:00.004-05:00

As a result of a sustained campaign by SOUL and our allies in the Foreclosure Convening, on July 28 City Council voted unanimously to pass a key amendment to Chicago's Vacant Property Ordinance. This amendment will increase accountability for vacant properties on the part of banks which choose to initiate foreclosure instead of renegotiating mortgages—mortgages which are all too often the result of the predatory lending practices which ran rampant during the subprime mortgage bubble.

This amendment will hold lenders responsible for vacant properties which are still in the midst of the foreclosure process. Prior to this amendment, many lenders have been in the habit of initiating the foreclosure process on a property, and waiting until the occupants resign themselves to the loss of their home and move out—only to neglect to complete the foreclosure proceedings. When this happens, lenders do not take ownership of such properties, and so they have avoided legal accountability for their upkeep, despite being in fact responsible for their vacant status.

When the lender is not held accountable for these vacant properties, they become severe sources of blight. In some cases neighbors have found it necessary to take it upon themselves to mow the lawn and shovel the snow off sidewalks. These properties can become a fire hazard and a magnet for crime. In some cases they are transformed into drug houses, or worse.

This amendment will help remedy these situations, and encourage lenders to think twice about initiating the foreclosure process rather than negotiating in good faith with homeowners.

As those who attended this year's MLK Day Public Meeting may recall, SOUL was responsible for gaining support from a number of Southside Aldermen. SOUL was also instrumental in pushing for a decision on the amendment, which had been gathering support for months without coming to a vote.

Thanks to all the leaders and organizers in SOUL and the Foreclosure Convening who worked on this issue. Thanks also to the 800 community members who showed their support at our MLK Day Public Meeting: together we clearly demonstrated how important this issue is to the Southside.

It is worth noting that the amendment passed despite stiff opposition from the financial industry. That is to say, this is a victory of organized people against the organized money of Wall Street. We were able to push the amendment through because this campaign confronted our elected officials with a clear choice between the interests of the financial industry and interests of the people—people who were organized in large numbers. Let us keep this in mind as we march towards the many battles with Wall Street and other corporate interests which still lie ahead of us.

People's City Council

2011-07-18T16:20:00.007-05:00

On July 7, SOUL was part a coalition of 20 labor, advocacy, and community groups from across Chicago, which came together to convene a meeting of the "People's City Council". 1600 Chicago residents filled the UIC Forum and invited the members of Chicago's new City Council to commit to serve the interests of neighborhoods, schools, and disadvantaged segments of the population across Chicago, rather than the interests of corporations and the very rich.

Speakers at the event included SOUL leader Marissa Brown, who spoke on the issue of education. 15 out of 50 Aldermen were in attendance (including Will Burns, Michelle Harris, and Pat Dowell), and 20 have signed a pledge to uphold the principles of the People's City Council.

The event drew local media attention from Fox and CBS. Further coverage and commentary at The Gate and Progress Illinois.

Fare transferability bill: footage

2011-07-14T17:33:00.002-05:00

Some footage from the signing of the fare transferability bill: SOUL leader Lamarr Scruggs explains why fare transferability is so important, and Ald. Will Burns and Gov. Quinn thank SOUL for taking leadership on this issue.

(Thanks to SOUL leader Kelvin Ho for this video.)

Gold Line Win on Fare Transferability

2011-07-08T00:18:00.010-05:00

A key component of SOUL's Gold Line proposal is on the way, now that Governor Quinn has signed our transit bill mandating a universal fare card for Metra, CTA, and PACE. The signing took place at a press conference with SOUL Leaders, state officials, and transit agency heads (see coverage at the Tribune, NBC, and Fox).

As Governor Quinn noted at the press conference, "It's long been talked about, it's long been hoped for, but today we're going to begin to make it a reality." And it is finally becoming a reality as a result of SOUL's leadership on this issue, which was recognized by the Governor and other state officials.

Congratulations to all SOUL leaders and organizers who have been working on this campaign, and thanks to SOUL allies Will Burns and Kwame Raoul who were instrumental in moving this bill through Springfield!

UPDATE: A WBEZ story on the press conferencec quotes SOUL leader Lamar Scruggs and links to SOUL's website.

SOUL and the New Bottom Line meet with state AGs

2011-06-27T01:44:00.005-05:00

Last Tuesday, SOUL came together with community leaders and organizers from across the country under the New Bottom Line coalition. Together we went to the meeting of the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) in Chicago to speak to our state AGs concerning their ongoing investigation into the robo-signing scandal.

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan joined us for a press conference led by SOUL's Rev. Booker Vance, with SOUL's Shani Smith giving her personal testimony. After the press conference we met with Madigan and a number of other AGs, including Iowa's Tom Miller, the senior-most state AG leading the investigation.

At the press conference and the meeting, AG Madigan called for mandatory principal write-downs on underwater mortgages (WBEZ), which we consider an essential component of any satisfactory settlement. In addition, she threatened litigation should negotiations around the settlement break down (Bloomberg). It should also be noted that AG Madigan was instrumental in setting up our meeting with the AGs.

In addition to mandatory principal reductions, we are also calling for a minimum of 12 months of forbearance for the unemployed and underemployed; no amnesty from criminal prosecution for banks and bankers; restitution for those wrongly foreclosed upon; no foreclosure proceedings for those in the modification process; and a strict system to enforce the penalties and requirements of the settlement.

Fight for a Fair Economy at CFO Summit

2011-06-18T03:42:00.000-05:00

On Tuesday, June 14, the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce held a Summit for the CFOs (Chief Financial Officers) and other executives of the top corporations in the country. SOUL and a number of allied community organizations, along with labor groups, to take Corporate America to task for their role in three of the major problems currently facing people in Chicago (and beyond): cuts to education budgets, unemployment, and foreclosures. Two dozen protesters engaged in civil disobedience and were arrested, including SOUL leader Shani Smith (no charges were laid).

Photos of Shani and other SOUL leaders can be seen in this Huffington Post photo gallery. Mainstream media coverage included TV spots on WGN, ABC, NBC, and Fox. Progress Illinois provides further footage and some commentary.

SOUL at JPMorgan Chase shareholders meeting!

2011-05-25T20:11:00.003-05:00

On May 16-17, SOUL leaders joined 1,000 other people in Columbus, Ohio to disrupt and protest JPMorgan Chase's annual shareholders meeting. Chase is the largest and most profitable bank in the country, but the company is foreclosing on hundreds of thousands of homes. Check out this video of some of the actions and check out these pictures (May 16 and May 17) from SOUL leader Shani Smith. To get involved in SOUL's bank and corporate accountability work, call Will Tanzman at (312) 402-0572 or e-mail wtanzman@soulinchicago.org.

Make Wall Street Pay!

2011-04-11T23:00:00.000-05:00

Join SOUL and a coalition of community groups in an action on Bank of America and Senator Mark Kirk. Hold them accountable for their roles in bankrupting vital social services so that banks and the rich can avoid paying taxes.

What: Action on Bank of America and Senator Mark Kirk
When: Tuesday, April 12, from 3:45 – 5:15 p.m.
Where: We will meet at Bank of America, 135 S. LaSalle, and then march to Senator Kirk’s office, 230 S. Dearborn

Why these targets?

Senator Mark Kirk voted for the Tea Party-inspired budget passed by the U.S. House of Representatives that cuts $61 billion from vital government services, including green jobs, road repair, public transit, and public housing. Meanwhile, Bank of America and other banks crashed the economy, received trillions in taxpayer bailout money, continue to foreclose on people’s homes. In addition, for the last two years, Bank of America has paid nothing in corporate income taxes, despite bringing in billions in revenue and paying out billions in bonuses. (They have done this by claiming to lose money through a variety of accounting tricks.) Senator Kirk has taken millions of dollars in contributions from banks and other corporations and is now acting as their puppet.

Please join us and bring as many other people as you can. Contact Will Tanzman at (312) 402-0572 to RSVP or for more information.

Better to be an American bank than an American?

2011-04-11T21:36:00.009-05:00

If you are a human being in America, when you do something wrong, you get punished. And if you make money, you pay taxes. But if you are one of America's big banks, you never have to worry about punishment for your wrongdoing, or taxes on your income.

Federal regulators are close to finalizing a deal with the banks in response to the robo-signing scandal and related accusations of systematic fraud. In the words of the New York Times editorial board, "prepare for a disappointment":

The draft does not call for tough new rules to end those abuses. Or for ramped-up loan modifications. Or for penalties for past violations. Instead, it requires banks to improve the management of their foreclosure processes....

But the gist of the terms is that from now on, banks - without admitting or denying wrongdoing - must abide by existing laws and current contracts. To clear up past violations, they are required to hire independent consultants to check a sample of recent foreclosures for evidence of improper evictions and impermissible fees.

The consultants will be chosen and paid by the banks, which will decide how the reviews are conducted. ...[I]f the consultants turn up problems, the banks are required to reimburse affected borrowers and investors as "appropriate." It is apparently up to the banks to decide what is appropriate.

It gets worse. Consumer advocates have warned that banks may try to assert that these legal agreements pre-empt actions by the states to correct and punish foreclosure abuses. Banks may also try to argue that any additional rules by the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to help borrowers would be excessive regulation.

Meanwhile, as you do your taxes, consider that you are almost certainly paying more in income tax than the majority of corporations.

A 2008 study by the Government Accountability Office showed that the majority of U.S. corporations did not pay federal income taxes in the period between 1998 and 2005.

I'm not aware of a more recent study, so I can't confirm that this is true for 2010. But there's no reason to think the trend has changed. If anything, corporations are getting ever more skilled at using offshore shelters and other tax dodges to avoid their obligations.

Among these tax-free corporations are big banks like Citigroup and Bank of America, which have not paid a cent in income tax between them for both 2009 and 2010, despite billions in profits.

After devastating the economy and kicking millions out of their homes, Wall Street continues to stand immune from discipline or even taxation. It's the best government Wall Street can buy. And it's time for that to change. Join SOUL and other community groups in a campaign to hold banks accountable, starting tomorrow afternoon in downtown Chicago with a march to Make Wall Street Pay!

"Obama Is Missing"

2011-04-11T00:39:00.004-05:00

According to Paul Krugman, "Obama Is Missing" from the budget debate:

More broadly, Mr. Obama is conspicuously failing to mount any kind of challenge to the philosophy now dominating Washington discussion — a philosophy that says the poor must accept big cuts in Medicaid and food stamps; the middle class must accept big cuts in Medicare (actually a dismantling of the whole program); and corporations and the rich must accept big cuts in the taxes they have to pay. Shared sacrifice!

I’m not exaggerating. The House budget proposal that was unveiled last week — and was praised as “bold” and “serious” by all of Washington’s Very Serious People — includes savage cuts in Medicaid and other programs that help the neediest, which would among other things deprive 34 million Americans of health insurance. It includes a plan to privatize and defund Medicare that would leave many if not most seniors unable to afford health care. And it includes a plan to sharply cut taxes on corporations and to bring the tax rate on high earners down to its lowest level since 1931.

Is Obama missing? If so, then let the American people stand up in his place. This Tuesday afternoon, come out to dowtown Chicago to Make Wall Street Pay!

America's progressive center

2011-04-08T22:59:00.004-05:00

From the severe austerity measures proposed by Republicans to the more moderate proposal from the White House, the current debate over the federal budget is mostly occurring far to the right of the real will of the American people. On issue after issue, polls show that the center of Main Street America is solidly progressive.

Jeffrey Sachs discusses the Progressive Congressional Caucus' "People's Budget" proposal, which attempts to capture some of the values of real Americans.

The Republicans often say that they want Congress to respect the voice of the people. The voice of the people is crystal clear. In one opinion survey after the next, the public says that the rich and the corporations should pay more taxes. The public says that we should tamp down runaway health care costs through a public option, one that would introduce competition to drive down bloated private health insurance costs. The public says that we should get out of Iraq and Afghanistan and reduce Pentagon spending.

Read the whole thing. Then head downtown on Tuesday to join SOUL and a coalition of other community organizations to call to Make Wall Street Pay. Let's start pushing the political scene back towards the American progressive center.

Jubilee Campaign in the news

2011-04-07T23:20:00.000-05:00

The kick-off training session of SOUL and IIRON's Bank Accountability and Jubilee campaign is featured in the front page story of the current Chicago Weekly.

The oil industry: a case study in corporate power

2011-04-07T03:30:00.006-05:00

From an article in the Huffington Post, an important truth:

Clout in Washington isn't about winning legislative battles -- it's about making sure that they never happen at all.

We have seen this time and again in recent years, in the government response to the financial crisis and in the health care reform debate (where single payer insurance never got a hearing, and the public option was taken off the table in the backroom).

In this particular article, however, the topic is subsidies to the oil and gas industry. It is an informative case study.

Despite astronomical profits during what have been lean years for most everyone else, the oil and gas industry continues to benefit from massive, multi-billion dollar taxpayer subsidies. Opinion polling shows the American public overwhelmingly wants those subsidies eliminated. Meanwhile, both parties are hunting feverishly for ways to reduce the deficit.

So far, that sounds promising. But the contrast with the discourse in the halls of power is stark.

But when President Obama called on Congress to eliminate about $4 billion a year in tax breaks for Big Oil earlier this year, the response on the Hill was little more than a knowing chuckle. Even Obama's closest congressional allies don't think the president’s proposal has a shot.

"I would be surprised if it got a great deal of traction," Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.), chairman of the Senate energy committee, told reporters at the National Press Club a few days after Obama first announced his plan.

Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), co-author of a House bill that closely resembles Obama's proposal, nevertheless acknowledges that it has slim chances of passing. "It will be a challenge to get anything through the House that includes any tax increase for anyone under any circumstance," he told The Huffington Post.

The list goes on: "It's not on my radar," said Frank Maisano, a spokesman for Bracewell Giuliani, a lobbying firm with several oil and gas industry clients. "It's old news and it's never going to happen in this Congress. It couldn't even happen in the last [Democratic-controlled] Congress."

Here, as in so many other cases, we can predict that the oil and gas industry will see to it that the American people's "overwhelming" support for ending this piece of corporate welfare never even gets a hearing with decision-makers. Until, that is, those people organize and transform their shared values into collective action against corporate power.

Race and the financial industry

2011-04-05T12:20:00.002-05:00

This USA Today story lays out the institutionalized racism which pervades America's financial system. Some key quotes:

“Communities of color have received the worst treatment at a very high cost,” says Michael Calhoun, president of the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL). “We estimate 20% of African-American and Hispanic homeowners will lose their homes in this housing crisis,” more than twice as high as white households.

...

Those who live in minority neighborhoods — even middle-income families whose high credit scores could qualify them for a prime loan — are likely to be steered into a subprime loan, says Hilary Shelton, NAACP’s senior vice president for advocacy and policy.

...

Now, minorities face what is sometimes called reverse redlining, Taylor says. Instead of financial services companies avoiding minority neighborhoods, the industry targets them with more-expensive and more-abusive products.

Read the whole thing.

Bank Accountability Campaign

2011-04-02T00:17:00.001-05:00

Three years after the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression, Wall Street, other corporations, and the very rich enjoy enormous riches through record profits and bonuses, while evading taxes and other regulations with impunity. Meanwhile, for the rest of us, unemployment remains high, people continue to lose their homes by the millions, and budget crises at all levels of government result in vicious cuts to programs and services which are needed now more than ever.

Together with our organizing partners in IIRON and Make Wall Street Pay Illinois, SOUL is leading a multi-faceted campaign to address these core economic issues. Following the advent of Occupy Wall Street, we seek to build upon this movement moment, and take up the frame of "the 99% and the 1%" in ways that speak directly to the issues impacting people in our communities. We aim to bring debt relief to the 99%, to fight foreclosures and budget cuts, to tax the 1%, and to generally hold banks and other corporations accountable for the damage they continue to do to the 99% and the economy as a whole. Ultimately, we are working towards a fairer economy, where (in the words of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.) we as a society will no longer "take necessities from the many to give luxuries to the few".

Components of the campaign include:

Publicly fighting for principal writedowns on underwater mortgages
Lobbying for ordinances and legislation at the municipal and state levels that would slow the wave of foreclosures
Pushing for the renegotiation of disadvantageous deals between governments and the banks
Fighting corporate tax breaks and other forms of corporate welfare
Publicly protesting irresponsible banks and the elected officials who are acting in their service

For more information on how you can help call SOUL at 773.363.0199.

Fair Economy Training and Leadership Summit

2011-03-26T07:00:00.000-05:00

Hold Banks Accountable!

Saturday, April 2

Sixth Grace Presbyterian Church,
600 E. 35th St. (35th and Cottage Grove)

9:00am-1:00pm

Light breakfast and sign-in from 9:00 – 9:30, program starts at 9:30

Almost half of Chicago-area homeowners owe more on their homes than their homes are worth, and vacant houses in disrepair are hurting communities across the South Side and South suburbs.

Banks took trillions in taxpayer bailout money, but they continue to foreclose on people’s homes and refuse to provide real loan modifications. Banks and other corporations crashed the economy but refuse to invest in job creation despite record profits.

Come to the Illinois Indiana Regional Organizing Network (IIRON) Fair Economy Training and Leadership Summit to learn how to stay in your home, help others in your community stay in their homes, and hold banks and corporations accountable.

Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? [Then] you shall be called The Repairer Of The Breach, The Restorer Of Streets To Live In. (Is.58:6,12)

For more information or to RSVP, contact Will Tanzman at (312) 402-0572 or wtanzman@soulinchicago.org.

Facebook event page.

2010: a record year for corporations and communities

2011-03-25T19:58:00.007-05:00

2010 was a "record" year for both corporations and our communities. But those records go in opposite directions.

First, here's how 2010 treated corporations:

Despite high unemployment and a largely languishing real estate market, U.S. businesses are more profitable than ever, according to federal figures released on Friday.

U.S. corporate profits hit an all-time high at the end of 2010, with financial firms showing some of the biggest gains, data from the federal Bureau of Economic Analysis show. Corporations reported an annualized $1.68 trillion in profit in the fourth quarter. The previous record, without being adjusted for inflation, was $1.65 trillion in the third quarter of 2006.

...

Corporate profits steadily increased last year as companies continued holding onto record amounts of cash and other liquid assets while cutting costs, laying off workers and wringing more productivity -- defined as the amount of output that comes from an hour of work -- from remaining staff, even as the recession eased.

2010 also saw another record: 2.9 million foreclosures in the US, with 151,304 filings in the state of Illinois.

Meanwhile:

To date, the policy response has not been commensurate with the foreclosure problem. The Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), the Obama administration's effort to prod lenders into voluntarily modifying distressed borrowers' home loans, has been a bust.

What to do about it?

Some helpful developments may be coming out of the Illinois state legislature. You can help SOUL move on these and other legislative initiatives. You can join in the March 29 Call-In Day, targeting all 50 Attorneys General, including our own Lisa Madigan, urging them to take a hard line in their joint lawsuit against the fraudulent foreclosure practices of the big banks.

And, above all, come to SOUL's Fair Economy Training and Leadership Summit on April 2, and join a campaign for bank accountability which will include the above actions, and much more.

Fighting foreclosures in Boston

2011-03-18T15:39:00.006-05:00

In These Times, recently interviewed Steve Meacham, an organizer at the Boston housing group City Life/Vida Urbana, concerning their response to the foreclosure crisis. In short:

Through public pressure, legal defense and eviction blockades, the organization helps keep hundreds of families in their homes.

...

City Life has a unique organizing model called “the sword and the shield.” Can you describe this strategy?

The shield is legal defense, and the sword is public protest and pressure. We use the two to stop banks from evicting people, and to get people’s homes back at the current real value.

And here is something Meacham mentions only in passing, but is perhaps worth dwelling on for a moment or two:

President Obama suggested two years ago that bankruptcy judges be able to reduce the principal on a first home. Currently, if you declare bankruptcy, the judge can reduce the principal you owe on your yacht or second home, but they can’t reduce it on your first. Simply extending it to the type of property most people have would seem obvious, but banks fought it fiercely, using terms like “moral hazard” to explain their opposition. After the initiative failed, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) observed, “The banks own the Senate.”