The AFL-CIO has chosen five cities for major joint labor and community actions to hold the banks accountable for the foreclosure epidemic and demand investment that creates jobs. Atlanta is the lead city! And the Atlanta Fighting Foreclosure Coalition is the lead community partner. AFL-CIO Vice President Arlene Holt Baker will moderate the hearing.
Atlanta Fighting Foreclosure Coalition, representing over 40 progressive and civil rights organizations, will join with the national and North Georgia AFL-CIO to hold a hearing and rally on the foreclosure crisis which has hit Atlanta’s communities.
The hearing will feature Atlanta-area witnesses who have experienced foreclosure first hand as well as experts from the community and across the country who will talk about the devastating impacts of foreclosure on American families.
Immediately after the hearing participants will head to the Wachovia/Wells Fargo downtown Atlanta branch to demand that the bank modify home loans, inform tenants in foreclosed homes of their rights, and expand access to affordable interest loans to communities.
As of May 2010, Wells Fargo had only permanently modified 40,579 mortgages while an estimated 182,067 mortgages are eligible for the federal Home Affordable Modification Program. Wachovia has an estimated 31,084 eligible mortgages but had only permanently modified 1,211 or 4%.
Here is what they are planning:
- HEARING – 10 am, First Iconium Baptist Church, 542 Moreland Ave. Atlantans who have been foreclosed on or threatened with foreclosure will testify to a panel including Rev. Timothy MacDonald; Fulton County Commission Chair John Eaves: President of the Alliance for Retired Americans Barbara Easterling; and Senator Vincent Fort. The panelists will ask a few questions, then audience members can contribute their questions or comments. The hearing will be moderated by AFL-CIO Executive Vice-President Arlene Holt Baker.
- RALLY – After the hearing, we’ll get on buses and head for the Wachovia/Wells Fargo office at 171 17th St. NW (Atlantic Station) to rally outside and demand a meeting with a bank executive so we can present our list of demands for fair treatment of people facing foreclosure, including loan modifications that reduce principal and interest, and for the banks to make low interest loans available to our communities.
Atlanta Fighting Foreclosures Coalition: ACLU of Georgia, American Friends Service Committee, Amnesty International Southeastern Office, Atlanta-North Georgia Labor Council, Atlantans Building Leadership for Empowerment (ABLE), Concerned Black Clergy, CWA Local 3204, Eco-Action, Fifty Artists, Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials, Georgia Citizens Coalition on Hunger, Georgia Coalition for a Peoples’ Agenda, Georgia District of Workers United (SEIU), Georgia Equality, Georgia for Democracy, Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights (GLAHR), Georgia Living Wage Coalition, Georgia NAACP, Georgia Peace and Justice Coalition-Atlanta, Georgia Rural Urban Summit, Georgia Stand-Up, Georgia State AFL-CIO, Georgia WAND, International Action Center, Latino American and Caribbean Community Center, Open Door Community, Metro Atlanta Democratic Socialists of America, Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, 9 to 5- Atlanta Working Women, Phacts-People’s History Collective, Project South, Rainbow Push,Task Force for the Homeless, US Human Rights Network and WRFG-FM.