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Home In the News GSDC news Front Page Blog News People Power makes partners of SWOP, GSDC, NHS, & BofA
People Power makes partners of SWOP, GSDC, NHS, & BofA PDF Print E-mail

by: John McCarron - reposted from www.newcommunities.org

They weren’t indoors at the negotiating table, but the 200 demonstrators praying and singing on the front lawn of St. Rita’s church rectory on a rainy Wednesday morning delivered a powerful message to the bankers inside.

“Bank of America!” they repeatedly inveighed. “Keep our families in their homes!”

Father Tony Pizzo announces a partnership agreement reached between Southwest Organizing Project and Bank of America on the steps of St. Rita of Cascia rectory.

PHOTO: JOHN MCCARRON

 

Maybe their prayers weren’t totally answered, but they did spur negotiation of a new partnership between a coalition led by Southwest Organizing Project (SWOP) and the nation’s largest commercial bank.

“We heard you. We heard your voices inside,” announced Father Tony Pizzo of St. Rita of Cascia Catholic Parish, who hosted the 90-minute sit-down July 8 between SWOP and BofA.

A three-part deal
When it was all over, Father Pizzo, the neighborhood leaders and the bank executives emerged to announce a partnership in which SWOP and BofA will:

• collaborate on developing a “proactive loan modification program” to make mortgages more affordable to families struggling with payments;
• jointly develop a “rental non-eviction program” that would allow tenants to remain in foreclosed apartment buildings; and
• work together on a plan to turn vacant buildings into community assets.

PHOTO: JOHN MCCARRON

Southwest Side residents keep vigil outside St. Rita of Cascia rectory; their upbeat presence encouraged the negotiation process rather than alienating bank officials.

The two sides further agreed to meet the following week at BofA’s Loop offices to iron out details of what both sides described alternately as a “partnership” and a “pilot project.”

“We are very committed to be as creative as we possibly can be to restore this community to health,” declared Andrew Plepler, who doubles as the North Carolina-based bank’s vice-president for corporate responsibility and as president of its charitable foundation. He was accompanied by Robert Grossinger, the bank’s Chicago-based senior vice president.

Why BofA?
Although Bank of America has been generous in its support of community revitalization efforts in Chicago -- including NCP -- it finds itself foreclosing on an outsized number of failed mortgages. Many of the bad loans it inherited via the takeover early last year of Countrywide Financial, which specialized in sub-prime, adjustable-rate loans.

Some questioned the wisdom of turning out hundreds of neighborhood residents as a foil for the parlay at St. Rita’s, 6243 S. Fairfield Ave., thinking it might alienate, rather than inspire, the bankers. But that’s not how it worked out.

PHOTO: JOHN MCCARRON

A coalition of Chicago Lawn community agencies will participate in the budding coalition to stave off avert foreclosures and evictions wherever possible.

For one thing, the crowd at the rectory — drawn mainly from a dozen nearby Catholic, Muslim, Jewish and Protestant congregations — was upbeat and cheerful despite the steady drizzle. Rather than taunts or catcalls, they filled the air with “Our Fathers” and hymns such as “Make me a channel of Your peace.”

For another, the neighborhood truly has been ravaged by foreclosures, with three or four boarded-up bungalows or two-flats on nearly every block. Since January 2008, more than 3,700 foreclosure actions have been filed on homes in the four Zip codes served by SWOP, about 10 percent of them by BofA, either as direct lender or as agent for another lender.

What makes BofA’s record more painful, explained SWOP Executive Director Jeff Bartow, is that the mega-bank, through a series of prior acquisitions, took over what was once the most socially responsible bank in a neighborhood – Talman Federal Savings. Even in the depth of the Great Depression, the locally-owned Talman had a policy against foreclosing on earnest homeowners.

“It’s about leadership”
“It’s a good start, a real step forward,” said Bartow after participating in the negotiation. “Now it has to move to implementation.”

“This is not about money. It’s about leadership,” echoed fellow negotiator James Capraro, executive director of Greater Southwest Development Corp. (GSDC), which, with SWOP, anchors the LISC/New Communities effort here. He said Plepler and Grossman have an opportunity now to make BofA a national leader in mortgage modification, tenant retention and housing renewal.

He also said this same approach – negotiating inside while supporters wait watchfully outside – soon will be applied to other major banks foreclosing on homes in the neighborhood. Stay tuned.
Last Updated on Tuesday, 19 January 2010 04:14