News Archives » VOICE
Faith Based Community Organizers host Public Gathering on Foreclosure Crisis in Virginia October 6th, 2011
On October 30th VOICE (Virginians Organized for Interfaith Community Engagement) member institutions will hold a public gathering with more than 1,000 people to celebrate progress on their recent campaigns, especially their work to address the foreclosure crisis in Prince William County, Manassas, & Manassas Park. The Oblates have supported VOICE’s work on foreclosures by having given the organization access to company meetings and connecting them with other faith-based shareholder activists.
The upcoming action will be an opportunity to celebrate successes (in Prince William County and across Northern Virginia) and to announce next steps to address local reinvestment needs.
Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) and senior bank executives will be in attendance.
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ICCR and IAF Community Organizers Join Forces Against Foreclosures September 16th, 2011
Interfaith Center on Corporate responsibility (ICCR) members, including the Missionary Oblates, have been working with Metro Industrial Areas Foundation affiliates to get Bank of America & Wells Fargo to take action on foreclosure issues in Prince William County, VA and Milwaukee, WI. This collaboration has produced results:
- In Milwaukee, CommonGround, Metro IAF’s affiliate has organized successfully, forcing banks including Wells Fargo and Bank of America to commit $15.2 million to finance blight removal, a 100+ new Nehemiah homes development, and jobs in the Sherman Park neighborhood hard hit by foreclosure.
- In Prince William County, VA, Metro IAF’s affiliate, VOICE, organized and directly confronted Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan at the 2011 annual shareholders meeting. This resulted in Bank of America senior leadership requiring reform of loan modification practices that has resulted in 250 backlogged modifications being resolved. Bank executives also committed to negotiate on VOICE’s demands that Bank of America fund housing counselors and reinvest hundreds of millions of dollars to rebuild Prince William County neighborhoods devastated by foreclosures.
VOICE is organizing a 1,000 person public action on Sunday, October 30th with Senator Mark Warner (Senate Banking Committee) and bank officials.
Watch this moving video of an anti-foreclosure rally organized by VOICE in Northern Virginia last April:
