Part 1

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Part 2

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Part 3

Labels: Cheri Honkala, Economic Justice, Eviction, Foreclosure, GMAC, Hennepin County, Hennepin County Sheriff's Office, Jordan Kushner, MN Coalition for a Peoples Bailout states, MN PPEHRC, PPEHRC, Rosemary Williams

Embattled homeowner needs to post a $49,940 bond by Monday. Her supporters may try to block the eviction.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE: http://www.startribune.com/local/49133962.html?page=1&c=y

By ABBY SIMONS, Star Tribune

Last update: June 26, 2009 - 6:01 AM

A Minneapolis woman who has battled eviction could be forced out of her house as early as next week unless she can post a $50,000 bond.

Although negotiations between Rosemary Williams and GMAC Mortgage still are underway, Hennepin County District Judge Lloyd Zimmerman ruled Thursday that Williams must post a bond of $49,940 by Monday.

Public plea for donations

If Williams does not come up with the money, GMAC could obtain an eviction notice as soon as Tuesday. Williams and her supporters made a public plea for donations. Meanwhile, they vow to try to physically block the eviction and face arrest.

"We are absolutely outraged and think this is a violation of all her rights as a citizen," said Cheri Honkala, an activist for the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign and a friend of Williams. "This $49,000 determines whether she has a right to due process."

Honkala said "hundreds" would show up at the home to protest and try to prevent an eviction. Williams' home in the 3100 block of Clinton Avenue S. was sold in September as part of a foreclosure begun after she fell behind on payments on a second, adjustable-rate mortgage.

'Nuisance property' suit

After Williams, 60, failed to leave the house by March 30, GMAC went to court to have her evicted. Williams' attorneys fought the eviction, but on June 18 Judge Zimmerman granted GMAC summary judgment.

Separately, last month, the Central Area Neighborhood Development Organization (CANDO) and 17 of Williams' neighbors filed a lawsuit contending that if Williams is forced out, her home will become another nuisance property in the neighborhood.

Zimmerman dismissed the suit, saying that because Williams lives at the property, all allegations of nuisances are hypothetical and that the plaintiffs failed to prove any "wrongful conduct" by GMAC.

In a statement, GMAC spokeswoman Jeannine Bruin said because Williams intends to appeal, she cannot discuss the ongoing court matter.

"GMAC Mortgage continues to be open to reaching an agreeable settlement with Ms. Williams in this matter," she wrote.

Williams' attorney, Jordan Kushner, said he expected the judge to require a bond but didn't expect it to be so high.

"GMAC Mortgage continues to be open to reaching an agreeable settlement with Ms. Williams in this matter," she wrote.

Williams' attorney, Jordan Kushner, said he expected the judge to require a bond but didn't expect it to be so high.

Abby Simons • 612-673-4921

Labels: CANDO, Cheri Honkala, Economic Justice, Eviction, Foreclosure, GMAC, Hennepin County, Hennepin County Sheriff's Office, Jordan Kushner, MN Coalition for a Peoples Bailout states, MN PPEHRC, PPEHRC, Rosemary Williams, Star Tribune

Today, in Minneapolis, Judge Zimmerman ruled for that Rosemary Williams would need to post a bond of $49,000 in order to appeal the foreclosure of her home. She can be evicted anytime beginning on Monday. PPEHRC members will speak about their response and plans at 2PM today at Rosemary Williams' home at 3138 Clinton Avenue South.

FOR MORE INFO: Call Cheri Honkala at 267-439-8419 or Ann Patterson at 612-940-1040

Labels: Cheri Honkala, Economic Justice, Eviction, Foreclosure, GMAC, Hennepin County Sheriff's Office, MN Coalition for a Peoples Bailout states, MN PPEHRC, PPEHRC, Rosemary Williams

Labels: Ann Patterson, Eviction, Foreclosure, Hennepin County Sheriff's Office, MN PPEHRC, Ona Kingbird, Rosemary Williams

_______________________________________________
NPC mailing list
NPC@ussf2007.org
http://ussf2007.org/mailman/listinfo/npc_ussf2007.org



--
Arun Prabhakaran
t: 215.888.0889
e: prabhakaran.arun@gmail.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/aprabhakaran
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/arunprabhakaran
Twitter: http://twitter.com/aruntis

PLEASE TAKE A MINUTE TO LOOK AT THE LINK BELOW AND TAKE ACTION ON BEHALF OF POOR, RURAL FAMILIES AND INDIVIDUALS FACING HOMELESSNESS!!!!!

At the end of May, 285 recipients of Section 8 rental assistance in Clatsop, Columbia and Tillamook counties were notified that as of July 1, they would be terminated from the program. The recipients include families and individuals, the poor, disabled and elderly.
 
This is not an isolated case.
 
Walla Walla Housing Authority in Washington is reporting that it may have to cut up to 150 recipients because of a shortage in HUD funding.
 
The Brevard Family of Housing Authorities in Florida is reporting that it might have to cut 200 to 250 families from the Section 8 program because of the funding shortfall.
 
And in testimony before the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity on June 4, Tony Bazzie, executive director of the Raleigh County Housing Authority in Beckley, W. Va., said that his agency is faced with possibly cutting 156 families from the program for the remainder of 2009, starting next month.

Tell HUD, the Congress and the White House that "These families are too big too fail"

http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5474/t/3276/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=1738

We have made it very easy for your voices to be heard....Please give it a minute and pass this notice around!!!!!!!

peace

Paul Boden
Western Regional Advocacy Project
2940 16th St., Ste. 200-2
San Francisco, CA 94103
415-621-2533
http://wraphome.org

by Madeleine Baran, Minnesota Public Radio
June 18, 2009

Rosemary Williams at a May 26 protest outside the Hennepin County Government Center. Williams and supporters gathered to protest her pending eviction from her foreclosed home. (MPR Photo / Madeleine Baran)





St. Paul, Minn. — A Minneapolis woman who has resisted eviction from her foreclosed home for months needs to vacate it within seven days, a Hennepin County judge ruled Wednesday.

Rosemary Williams has attracted widespread attention in recent months, as she partnered with local activists to fight eviction from the south Minneapolis home where she has lived for 26 years.

"This case is not just about me ... This is about our whole country."
- Rosemary Williams Negotiations with lender GMAC Mortgage will continue, but if a settlement is not reached, Williams, 60, will likely have no further legal recourse.

A separate lawsuit filed by her neighbors against her mortgage company was dismissed on Wednesday. The suit alleged that allowing foreclosed homes to sit vacant creates a public nuisance.

When Williams' mother died six years ago, Williams refinanced twice into an adjustable rate mortgage. The monthly payments shot up from $1,200 to $2,200. Her home was sold at a sheriff's auction in September.

Since April, activists have packed Williams' court hearings and held several rallies to call attention to the effect of foreclosures on low-income homeowners.

"This case is not just about me," Williams said before an April hearing. "This is about our whole country. We're here today to say the evictions have to stop."

Williams could not be reached for comment today.

In a statement released yesterday, GMAC spokesperson Jeannine Bruin stressed that efforts to negotiate with Williams will continue. "Even with the favorable judgment, our legal counsel met with the judge and Ms. Williams today to try to reach agreeable arrangements in this matter, as we did with Ms. Williams prior to the foreclosure and which we continue to do throughout these court proceedings," Bruin said.

Williams' supporters vow to engage in non-violent civil disobedience to prevent her eviction if a settlement is not reached. Activists say they are also prepared to conduct an emergency fundraising effort to help Williams pay any settlement costs.

"Right now, we're just crossing our fingers and praying," Cheri Honkala, an activist for the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign, said.

Labels: Cheri Honkala, Demonstration, Economic Justice, Eviction, Foreclosure, GMAC, Hennepin County Sheriff's Office, MN Coalition for a Peoples Bailout states, MN PPEHRC, PPEHRC, Rosemary Williams

Please join members of the homeless community in front of City Hall as they protest and eat lunch to demonstrate their anger and frustration at the continued harassment of the homeless by the police and City of St. Petersburg. Just today, the police harassed every homeless person around mirror lake and made them stand up and prove they could carry their belongings and not have too many belongings. In one case, 2 persons belonging were taken without them being there. And, one of the people had heart medicine in their belongings! Police were called and they returned the medicine. But, this should not happen!! We are not in a facist country, are we?

This event will take place in front of City Hall at noon tommorrow, Friday, June 19th. Lunch will be served to the homeless community.

Please join us in solidarity! Human rights for all!! Housing for all!! Health care for all! And jobs for all!

 Call 727 278 1547 or 424 1088 for details.

This event is sponsored by For The Homeless, By The Homeless, the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign, and The Refuge.

Labels: Anne Braden Institute for Social Justice Research, Harvey Finkle, PPEHRC, SWAA, WIT

See attacheded doc: Letter to HUD from Rep. Franks, Chairman of Committee on Financial Services and Rep. Waters, Committee on Financial Services, Chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity

Labels: CPPH, Demolition, HUD, Moratorium

David Brewster, Star Tribune

Rosemary Williams, left, at her south Minneapolis house on March 30. Her friend, Cheri Honkala, was helping her put signs on her front fence. Williams lost her home at a foreclosure sale in September.


Original Article: http://www.startribune.com/local/48295597.html?page=1&c=y
The mortgage company followed foreclosure rules and a south Minneapolis woman must move out, judge ruled. But GMAC and the homeowner are still negotiating.

By ABBY SIMONS, Star Tribune

Last update: June 17, 2009 - 11:46 PM
A woman who has battled eviction from her south Minneapolis house has seven days to vacate it, a Hennepin County judge ruled Wednesday, while a lawsuit filed by her neighbors and activists against her mortgage company to prevent her ouster has been dismissed.

However, Judge Lloyd Zimmerman's order does not mean the end of Rosemary Williams' legal battle against GMAC Mortgage, after the two sides met behind closed doors to discuss a potential settlement. No agreement was reached Wednesday evening, but talks will continue, said Jordan Kushner, one of Williams' attorneys.

Williams, 60, lost her home in the 3100 block of Clinton Avenue S. at a foreclosure sale in September after she fell behind on payments on a second, adjustable rate mortgage.

After Williams failed to leave the house by March 30, GMAC went to court to have her evicted by sheriff's deputies. Williams' attorneys asked for a trial on the issues. Separately, last month, the Central Area Neighborhood Development Organization (CANDO) and 17 of Williams' neighbors filed a civil lawsuit contending that if Williams was forced to leave, her home would become another nuisance property in the neighborhood.

Williams was scheduled for trial next week in the housing court action, but Zimmerman granted GMAC's request for summary judgment, writing that GMAC acted within the law. He dismissed the lawsuit, saying that because Williams lives at the property, all allegations of nuisances are hypothetical, and that the plaintiffs failed to prove any "wrongful conduct" by GMAC.

"Were the court to create a new legal principle based upon the argument of Ms. Williams and her supporters, no bank or mortgage company would ever lend to people living in economically distressed neighborhoods because financial institutions could not rely on courts to honor contracts freely entered into between consenting adults," Zimmerman wrote.

A call to Williams was not returned. A GMAC representative also could not be reached.

Cheri Honkala, an activist for the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign and a friend of Williams', said neighbors are hoping for a resolution that will allow Williams to remain in her home. If not, they will plan civil disobedience to remain in the home, she said.

Abby Simons • 612-673-4921

Labels: Cheri Honkala, Economic Justice, Eviction, Foreclosure, GMAC, Hennepin County Sheriff's Office, MN Coalition for a Peoples Bailout states, MN PPEHRC, PPEHRC, Rosemary Williams

--
Arun Prabhakaran
t: 215.888.0889
e: prabhakaran.arun@gmail.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/aprabhakaran
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/arunprabhakaran
Twitter: http://twitter.com/aruntis

Labels: Cheri Honkala, Economic Justice, Eviction, Foreclosure, GMAC, Hennepin County Sheriff's Office, MN Coalition for a Peoples Bailout states, MN PPEHRC, PPEHRC, Rosemary Williams

Labels: Cheri Honkala, MN PPEHRC, Ona Kingbird

To Everyone,

By JAMES ELI SHIFFER, Star Tribune
Last update: June 8, 2009 - 8:10 AM
http://www.startribune.com/local/47167767.html?elr=KArks:DCiUHc3E7_V_nDaycUiacyKUnciaec8O7EyUr

In many ways, Ted Poetsch's experience is emblematic of the forces that have fastened plywood over so much of the North Side and urban neighborhoods across America.
On May 12, the day the city inspector came to board up his house, Ted Poetsch was eating lunch. After living all of his 53 years at 823 Penn Av. N., Poetsch had an hour left to pack his stuff and get out.

Cane in hand, he lurched around, throwing a few things in bags, putting Kitty in the carrier. He heard the contractor outside starting to drill into the door frame.

Poetsch made his way down his narrow stairway, resigned to the end he had resisted for three years, through personal financial missteps, the false promise of a foreclosure "rescue" and a court victory that gave him short-lived hope.

He came to the door and realized that he was too late. A truck had driven away from the house, prompting those outside to think the tenants were gone. Poetsch had been boarded up inside his house.

City officials say Poetsch had ample warning that they were coming that day, but they say his brief incarceration was an unprecedented mistake. In many ways, Poetsch's experience is emblematic of the forces that have fastened plywood over so much of the North Side and urban neighborhoods across America.

The house at 823 Penn, vacant and already a target for thieves, is now owned by Fannie Mae. In September, the federal government took over the mortgage giant in a multibillion-dollar bailout after it was brought to the brink of collapse by the housing meltdown.

Poetsch got no such assistance. The city determined that the house was potentially unsafe and that Poetsch was essentially a squatter in the only home he had ever known. Now this North Side neighborhood has one fewer neighbor and one more boarded house.

"Everybody loses," said Poetsch's onetime attorney, Josh DuBois, who helped Poetsch get out of his boarded house that day in May.

A Fannie Mae spokeswoman said that it intends to renovate and sell the house, one of more than 62,000 foreclosed homes it owns nationwide. Poetsch, who is disabled, has found an apartment in Mound. But he's still trying to understand how it came to this.

"They kicked me out on the street," Poetsch said. "A handicapped person ain't got no rights."

The family homestead

In 1945, the Poetsch family moved into the elegant, gabled Victorian at 823 Penn. The youngest of four, Poetsch was born with a hip problem. A later knee injury left him totally disabled and unable to work.

Those limitations never interfered with his lifelong passion: building model cars. He spent hours in his second-floor workshop, parking dozens of the miniature hot rods and muscle cars in display cases.

When his mother died in 1990, she left him the house. In the easy credit days that followed, Poetsch, living on disability income, took out a home loan to pay for a new roof, credit card debts and other expenses. Now he calls it "that stupid loan," which started all the trouble. In 2006, he was missing payments. The lender gave notice that it would foreclose.

Then Poetsch got a phone call. A company in Bloomington, Unified Home Solutions, could keep Poetsch in his house. All he had to do is sell it to an investor, rent from the new owner for a year and then, with his credit restored and his money saved, repurchase the house.

He signed the papers. But it didn't work out as planned. The man who bought 823 Penn, a real estate investor named James Stellman, blamed Poetsch for frittering away his money instead of saving enough to buy the house back.

Poetsch said he was scammed. In early 2008, facing eviction threats, Poetsch sued Unified Home Solutions; its president, Scott Spady; Stellman and Stellman's wife, Beverly, alleging they violated laws regulating companies that act as "foreclosure consultants."

In July 2008, Fannie Mae foreclosed. That same month, the parties in Poetsch's lawsuit reached a confidential settlement that gave him some compensation. As part of the deal, Poetsch would be allowed to stay in the house for six months, when a state-mandated redemption period expired.

Foreclosures had become a national crisis, and the federal takeover of Fannie Mae put pressure on the lender to slow evictions displacing thousands of Americans. In November, Fannie Mae imposed a moratorium on evictions, including anyone living in its property at 823 Penn Av. N.

But the city of Minneapolis had its own concerns.

A potentially unsafe property

On April 1, the city posted a notice on the door of 823 Penn, saying it was unlawfully occupied because no one had a license to rent it. That followed nearly a year of warnings, said JoAnn Velde, deputy director of city housing inspections.

"We've got occupants living in a building where nobody's responsible for the maintenance," she said, which is potentially unsafe.

Poetsch knew the end was near. Yet he didn't get his affairs in order. On May 12, a housing inspector, a police officer and a contractor interrupted his last lunch at 823 Penn.

Monica Castrejon, a representative of the contractor, Castrejon Inc., said her company was directed to board the front and back doors.

"We do the job," she said. "We don't make the decisions."

It's the city's job to ensure the place is empty when the boards go on, she said.

Velde said the contractor typically yells into the house before the boards go on. It isn't standard practice to walk through, she said, because it's sometimes unsafe.

"There was a truck that left," she said. "The officer believed all of the occupants were out of the property at that point."

Unable to climb out a window, Poetsch called DuBois, his attorney. DuBois called the city, which told him to dial 911 if someone was trapped in a house. Then he went to 823 Penn with an electric drill. But the city uses screws that require a special screwdriver to remove them.

"What the city did was board him inside a house they said was unsafe," DuBois said.

By 3 p.m., the police officer and Castrejon worker returned, removing a board long enough for Poetsch and Kitty, his 12-year-old cat, to get out.

Velde said she had never heard of another case of someone accidentally boarded inside a house. "Absolutely, it was a mistake," she said.

The last visit

Last week, Poetsch got permission from the city to retrieve his belongings. But the city wasn't going to remove the boards.

Poetsch brought along a friend who climbed in a window and with a few powerful kicks sent the board over the back door flying.

The television, his DVD collection and some of Poetsch's cherished bar lights were gone. Dust clouds flew as model cars were packed in boxes, shopping bags, recycling bins.

At 10:30 p.m., Poetsch decided he couldn't take any more. He locked the upstairs unit and left the empty home at 823 Penn Av. N., its doors gaping open.

Labels: Memphis, National Civil Rights Museum, Poor People's Campaign, Public Hearing

Gathering of Hearts



Contact: Antoinette Harrell FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tel: 985.229.8001

Cell Phone: 504.858.4658

Email: afrigenah@yahoo.com



Community leaders organize "The Poor People's Campaign" and March

Calling on President Obama to "Deliver on Change"

in the

Delta of Mississippi: America's Third World



Lambert, Ms---The Gathering of Hearts Organization is calling a Public Hearing and March on the crisis of poverty in the Delta of Mississippi on Friday 19, 2009.



Delivering on Dr. King's 1968 planned "Poor People's Campaign" in Washington, D.C. to demand President Lyndon and Congress' in help addressing the need for jobs, decent homes, health care and education in rural America; Gathering of Hearts has planned a Poverty Tour, assessing the living conditions in the Delta on Friday June 19, followed by the Poor People's Public Hearing at Quitman County Elementary School in Lambert, MS.



"Someone has to help shed light on the living conditions in places like Louisiana and Mississippi. No one should have to live like this, no where in the world and especially not in America," said Antoinette Harrell, Founder of Gathering of Hearts, who has organized Poverty Tours for the last six months in both Louisiana and Mississippi.



According to the 2009 Mississippi Human Development Report, a new county-by-county assessment that examines disparities by county, race and gender, "a black male born in Mississippi can expect a shorter life span than the average American in 1960. A black woman in Mississippi earns less today than the typical American in 1960. The overall infant mortality rate for nonwhites in Mississippi is more than 18 per 1,000 births, about the same as Libya and Thailand. Overall, black Mississippian are worse off than other black Americans, ranking second to last on the health and income index (just ahead of Louisiana) but dead last in education."



The report, "A Portrait of Mississippi," produced by the American Human Development Project, draws on the internationally-recognized framework established by the United Nations Human Development Report. For almost two decades "the U.N. has used the Human Development Index to examine poorer nations in health, education, and income; but in 2008 American Human Development Project produced "The Measure of America", the first-ever study of human development in the U.S. and first time the HDI had been used to examine any of the world's eighth wealthiest nations."



"Mississippi ranks last in overall human development, said Harrell. Two years ago, President Obama, talked about Bobby Kennedy's visit to the Mississippi Delta over four decades ago, and how Kennedy, with tears in his eyes, asked a single question about poverty in America: "How can a country like this allow it?" Forty years later, President Obama answered, 'We can't.' So we are calling on President Obama and lawmakers act now to address the crisis in Mississippi. We can't wait." Said Harrell.



The Gathering of Hearts are also calling on national leaders, organizations, influencers, and the young people to join them at the public hearing on Friday, June 19, 2009.



If you'd like more information about the Poor People Campaign March and Public Hearing or to schedule an interview with Antoinette Harrell, please contact 985.229.8001 or email Antoinette Harrell at afrigenah@yahoo.com





ABOUT The Human Development Report
A Portrait of Mississippi, the first-ever human development report at the state level, was commissioned by Oxfam American and the Mississippi State Conference of the NAACP as a follow-up to the state's extremely low ranking on the national index. While many of the Gulf states have some of the country's lowest levels of educational attainment, income, and life expectancy, Mississippi ranks last in the nation on overall human development.



Among the Mississippi report's findings:
Whites in Mississippi today have a human development level comparable to that of the average American circa 1997. African Americans in the state, on average, experience the level of access to choices and opportunities of the average American in 1974--a 23-year gap between the two groups.

· When geography and race are combined, the gap nearly triples. White Mississippians living in Hinds County have a human development level roughly comparable to that of top-ranked Connecticut. African-Americans living in Pike-Adams have human development level of the average American circa 1960.

· While the range of earnings for whites in all county groups spans from $22,000 to $38,000, for African Americans, the earnings range is $13,000 to $25,000. In other words, whites who are worst off in the state in terms of income are still better off than the majority of African Americans.

· The median earnings of African American men, $20,368, are comparable to those of the typical American in 1970. African American women have median earnings of $ 14,915 - less than the earnings of the typical American in 1960.

· Although whites have higher well-being scores than African Americans in every U.S. state, Mississippi is among the four states with the largest disparities between the two groups. (The others are Louisiana, Nebraska, and Alabama.)

· Though whites are doing better than African Americans in Mississippi, they are doing less well than whites in other states. On the overall Index, whites in Mississippi rank 48th on the state list. They are 46th in education and are tied for last with West Virginia whites in terms of health. They perform somewhat better on the income index, ranking 40th on the list. A white resident of Washington D.C., which has the country's highest score for whites, lives eight years longer, earns 2.4 times more, and is five times more likely to have a college degree than a white resident of Mississippi.

· African Americans in Mississippi, on average, are worse off than African Americans in most other states. Of the 39 states with an African American population sufficiently large to be included in this analysis, Mississippi ranks second-to-last on the overall state index as well as on the health index and income index (Louisiana is last) and last on the education index. Compared to an African American from Mississippi, an African American living in Maryland lives four years longer, earns twice as much, and is twice as likely to have a college degree.

· The average cost per year of keeping an inmate in prison in Mississippi in 2006 was $15,000; the average expenditure per pupil for elementary and junior high school in the state that same year was just over $7,000. Thus the state is spending twice as much per prisoner as it is on education per schoolchild.

· An African-American baby boy born today in Mississippi can expect to have a lifespan shorter than that of the average American in 1960.



The report recommends calls on lawmakers to push for policy to help the poor -- earned income tax credits, state minimum wages, affordable housing, affordable health care and subsidized child care. The study also calls for improving education (about half the Mississippi males do not graduate on time, and a third of black males over 25 do not have a high school diploma). Better education opportunities for black youth could help curb the high levels of incarceration rates facing black males in the state.





Supporters:



South Haven Muhammad Study Group

Tonja Styles of The Political Swagger Foundation and Political Swagger.com " Where Hip Hop Meeting Politics"

Southern Christian Leadership Conference, New Orleans, LA Chapter

Union Grove Pantry Food Ministry

Poor People's Campaign Inc,

The Poor People's Campaign, Trenton, NJ

Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign

Dewayne Rudd-Former NFL Player-Cleveland Brown and the Minnesota Vikings

Dr. Ava Muhammad-National Spokeswoman of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan

The Nation of Islam

Union Grove Ministry Food Pantry

The Honorable Mayor Reginald Griffin, The Town Lambert

The Honorable Mayor Johnny Thomas, Glendora, Ms

The Honorable Mayor Arthur Marble, Indianola, Ms

The Honorable Senator Robert Jackson

Rev. Dr. Al Sampson

Al Sharpton-National Action Network

African American Male and Female Institute, Inc.

The Greater Tangipahoa Parish Branch NAACP

Temple of Divine Light B.C-Rev. Dr. Leon Tilton Jr. Pastor

John Perkins Foundation

The Women Lunch Place

Action Communication and Education Reform, Inc.

CHAM Deliverance Ministry has been organizing the homeless and their allies to fight for housing as a human right in Silicon Valley since 1990. We operated a family shelter at First Christian Church from 1997 to 2009. We have marched, demonstrated, studied, conducted classes and workshops, led economic human rights trainings, organized the homeless to testify, done housing takeovers, led civil disobedience, participated in coalitions, built alliances with unions and health care advocates, and led religious services. We believe our advocacy, along with others, has been responsible for construction of several hundred more extremely low-income housing units than would have been built otherwise in the San Jose area.

We recently collected over 1400 Letters to Obama that are visible on the internet (with photographs) at http://housingisahumanright.blogspot.com.

We have been affiliated with PPEHRC since 2002, and are active in California PPEHRC.

Labels: CHAM, Obama, Right to Housing, Sandy Perry

You are Invited!

Women In Transition's Book Release Reception

WIT has self-published their first book!  This book will tell the
stories of its members and highlight human rights violations in the
U.S.

Saturday,  June 13, 2009, 1:00 – 3:00 p.m.

(Book making process presentation at 2:00 p.m.)

Spalding University, Egan Leadership Center Atrium

(4th and Breckinridge Streets)

Purchase your own copy and have story authors sign your copy

Light Refreshments will be served

Please RSVP at witadmin@witky.com

Women In Transition is a grassroots organization run by and for poor
people working to create a world where everyone's economic human
rights are provided.

Women In Transition
219 West Ormsby Avenue
Louisville, Kentucky  40203
502.636.0160
witadmin@witky.com
www.witky.com
________________________________
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MN PPEHRC NEEDS YOUR HELP MOVING ON SATURDAY
 Another south Mpls resident to become Homeless

please forward far and wide

This Saturday, June 6, there is a call for help in packing up and
moving the residence of a recently evicted local elder.

Some needs on this day include;

Folks to help pack and/or move,
a truck for hauling or 50$ to rent a u-haul,
boxes, and
a place for temporary storage.

The packing will start at 9am.

If you can help in any of these ways, please call 612 850 4942 or
email flowalksfree@gmail.com for address and more information.

Thanks!

--Flo

--
http://www.lightstalkers.org/k__flo_razowsky

________________________________
Hotmail® has ever-growing storage! Don't worry about storage limits.
Check it out.

MN PPEHRC URGENT APPEAL!

We must collect $600 by 4pm Friday, June 5th! If Mr. Blair's water is
shut off on the 8th, he will be evicted BEFORE he has a chance to
resist foreclosure. If he's evicted, the SIXTY petitions signed by
neighbors to intervene on his behalf will go to waste...and he will be
unable to renegotiate his loan with Wells Fargo. We cannot let this
happen! His lawyer is on stand-by until Mr. Blair receives an order to
appear in court so the fight can begin.

PLEASE HELP! If you can write a check or money order in ANY amount, please:
1. Reply to this email, stating amount. THANK YOU!
2. Make it out to: City of Minneapolis Finance Department
3. In the memo, write: Re. James Blair's utility billing for 3221
Bloomington Ave. S.
4. Bring it (or cash with your name) to the home of Ann Patterson at
3756 10th ave. So. corner 38th Street. Someone is always home (best
enter via deck).
5. Call the office if you have questions 612-821-2364

OR if you need somebody to pick it up from you, just mention that in
your reply with the where, when, etc. and a volunteer will be right
over! There ARE enough of us. Timing is critical-we CANDO this!

Hope to see you at Lake and 4th Ave. this Friday at 4 (for our weekly
"Rosemary" picket) and celebrate pulling this off!

In Peace,
Lynette
PPEHRC
________________________________
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Labels: Cheri Honkala, Economic Justice, Eviction, Foreclosure, GMAC, Hennepin County Sheriff's Office, MN Coalition for a Peoples Bailout states, MN PPEHRC, PPEHRC, Rosemary Williams

June 3, 2009
by Jon Tevlin
Star Tribune

Original Article:
http://www.startribune.com/local/46769407.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUycaEacyU

She was the school's first teacher in 1972, and for 18 months she
worked for free in a basement classroom with no supplies, telling
stories passed down from her grandfather to eight students. When she
finally got a paycheck it was for $25, and she was happy to get it,
too.

For the next 35 years, Ona Kingbird taught the Indian kids how to
speak Ojibwa, how to make fry bread, how to hoop dance and, most
importantly, how to be proud of their heritage.

On Monday, Kingbird's former boss, Joel Pourier, was charged with
embezzling nearly $1.4 million from the Oh Day Aki/Heart of the Earth
school where Kingbird worked nearly half her life. He spent the money,
authorities say, on giant houses, a Hummer, a Cadillac Escalade and
even on dancing girls at strip bars. Meanwhile, school supplies
dwindled so much that Kingbird had to resort to selling tacos to pay
for them.

The school collapsed under the financial strain last year, and
Kingbird lost her job.

On Tuesday, Kingbird sat in the back yard of her house, which crumbles
at the foundation and has a couple of windows knocked out. Someone
recently cut the wires to her air conditioning unit. Signs out front
protest that the bank is foreclosing on her home, but she's fighting
it. Sometimes she sends the toddler who lives with her to stay with
family.

"You never know when the sheriffs will come," she said.

Kingbird moves gingerly to a plastic chair in the sun, walking on
stocking feet. She wears a purple T-shirt from the Red Lake
Reservation, where she was born. She has diabetes and a leg infection.
Kingbird seems fragile, but happy, as she talks about how the school
helped Indian kids who faced racism and neglect in public schools.

In the early days, the school moved frequently. "At one place the
bathroom didn't work so we had to take the kids to a bar to go to the
bathroom," Kingbird recalled. "We ate lunch at The Branch (for
homeless people). Baloney sandwiches."

"People called the kids savages," she said. "I told the kids don't
mind them, let's make them eat their words and do our best." While
some kids failed, "we had some lawyers, doctors, a receptionist," she
said. "They came back to see me."

Between 2003 and 2008, after Pourier became executive director, he
forged signatures on checks and put money in at least six bank
accounts, according to authorities. Pourier's lawyer, Tom Sieben, said
his client is not guilty.

Kingbird, who was on the board, noticed the Hummer and Escalade, the
nice clothes.

"I kept saying, something funny is going on," she said. "He said he
got the money from the Mdewakanton Tribe, but he wasn't even a
member." She shrugged. "Maybe he's not even Indian. Because how could
he do that to his people?

"I've learned over the years that if someone isn't telling the truth,
they won't look you in the eye," Kingbird said. "He never looked me in
the eye. Smooth talker, though."

Her home is ample proof that Kingbird was never compensated well. She
said charity groups have been helping her pay bills, bringing her
groceries and helping her fight off the bank.

When she lost her job at the school, "everything just went haywire. He
did this to me."

Kingbird knows Pourier is innocent until proven guilty, but if he's
convicted, "I hope he fries," she said.

She got up and hobbled back to the house to get dinner, but stopped and smiled.

"Well, I do know that if he goes to prison, he's going to miss his
strip joints," she said.

jtevlin@startribune.com • 612-673-1702

June 2, 2009

by Beau and Cheryl Kring
Co-Chairs, Mississippi PPEHRC /Wave watchers

Tonight at the City meeting we all came to an agreement and we get to
keep our cottages on our property's. We (8 Families) sued the City of
Waveland for the right to keep our cottages on our property. It has
been a long 6 months, but after a few court battles (Which we won) and
arguing at meetings, we finally got the answer tonight. At first they
wanted us to agree with their 16 counts on the 1st. MOU. If we had
NONE of us would have been able to keep our cottages on our own
property. They droped 15 of the counts and kept one in this new MOU.
We all agreed, and signed notarized paper stating that we would never
rent the cottage out to anyone and it has to be our primary resident.
We can sell our property or will it to a family member with the
stipulation that they can never rent it out and it has to be their
primary resident. I feel there are NO losers here. We are all winners.
We get to keep our homes on our own land, and the City gets to keep
their residents, and that means there tax base's. There's not many
people here in Waveland. Very few south of the tracks. There is only 5
houses on our street.
After the meeting was over, there were lots of hugging. We all went
home. I got home and cryed. The overwelming feeling I am having that
it is finally over. My GOD, to know this house is going to finally be
ours. Now the next step is to buy the cottage. Our elevation and
survey has already be done. All we need to do is sign papers and hand
over money. Then MEMA will raise us as high as we need to go. I want
to thank everyone who had a hand in helping all of us keep our homes.
But mainly I want to thank GOD, because without him we would have
never met Andrew Canter and the Mississippi Center for Justice. They
are a wonderful team with great hearts. Thank You, Thank You, Thank
You.

Labels: Beau Kring, Cheryl Kring, Cottage, FEMA, MEMA, Mississippi, MS PPEHRC, Waveland

Euclid agency assists the deaf in many ways
Sunday, May 31, 2009

By Janet Podolak
JPodolak@News-Herald.com

Heather Kendel has been fascinated with American Sign Language since
she was first exposed to it at age 10.

The lifelong Euclid resident learned of its existence from an ASL
interpreter in her Naumann Avenue neighborhood. After learning the ASL
alphabet, Kendel discovered that it's a complete, complex language
that employs signs made with the hands but also uses other movements,
including facial expressions and body postures.

Most people don't realize that ASL doesn't simply spell out names for
things in English, she said.

"American Sign Language is the third-most-used language in this
country," she said.

She studied ASL and at an early age embarked on what has become a
lifelong commitment toward becoming an advocate for the 50,000
Northeast Ohioans who are deaf and hard-of-hearing. As she began to
immerse herself into the culture of those who are without hearing, she
began to become aware of many human rights issues.

"When you go for medical treatment, the doctor's office should not
have to use a family member to communicate with you," she said.

During the years since then, she's learned about many deaf people who
have had horrible things happen to them just because they could not
hear and communicate.

"One man had the wrong leg amputated when he was in the hospital," she
said. "In another case, a 12-year-old girl who knew sign language had
to tell her father he had cancer."

Kendel hasn't been able to confirm it, but there's a story about a
deaf man who was arrested and had his hands handcuffed behind his
back.

"He was struggling to sign and ended up hurt because he couldn't
understand or answer the questions he was being asked," she said.

Kendel recently opened an office for ASL Advocates at 494 E. 200th St.
in Euclid. The agency's objective is to facilitate effective and
respectful communications between the deaf, deaf-blind, and
hard-of-hearing with the hearing community.

"It's so great to have a young woman like Heather with such a passion
for a cause," said Ellen Spriestersbach of Parma, whose son, Austin,
12, is profoundly deaf and also has low vision.

"Heather has helped me get answers to so many questions I've had,"
Spriestersbach said.

Spriestersbach herself now serves the agency as something of a "mom
mentor" for other parents of deaf children.

"Ninety percent of deaf children are born to hearing parents, but
still only three percent of those parents know sign language," she
said.

Austin attends Ohio School for the Deaf in Columbus where he is
surrounded by people who communicate in American Sign Language.

"Even the janitor signs," she said. "It's one of the prerequisites for
employment there."

Recent years have brought much technology to the worlds of people who
are deaf and hard-of-hearing, so part of her goal is to help the
hearing world understand what can be done.

She is in the process of bringing Euclid City Council meetings to
those who cannot hear them.

"When I spoke to Council, they were fabulous," Kendel said.

"They sent someone to our office to see the video relay system that
can be hooked up at City Hall so that individuals at home can watch
the feed through the system and see the interpreter interpret what's
going on."

It's like a conference call, she said. Deaf people call in to a
number, and an interpreter pops up on the TV screen to tell what's
happening in real time.

Interpreters at the new agency have helped deaf people make vacation
plans, apply for jobs, negotiate home sales, work with the health care
system and vote.

"In the last election we went to the polls with a man who had never
voted before. We explained in ASL how to work the voting machine and
told him if there was something on the ballot he didn't understand we
would explain it to him," she recalled.

The interpreters turned their backs as the man voted.

Text messaging is a boon for the deaf and heard of hearing, she said.

"Although hearing people sometimes are puzzled at a deaf person with a
cell phone," she said.

Older people who are not computer savvy and others without high speed
internet still must rely on the TTY system in which the deaf person
uses a keyboard to communicate with a hearing person who relays the
message by voice and types in the response.

Kendel also is on a one-woman campaign to raise the sensitivity level
of hearing people toward those who cannot hear.

The stated goals of ASL Advocates include promoting independence,
tolerance and human rights for all.

"Believe it or not, some people still describe the deaf as deaf and
dumb, or deaf-mute," she said. "In reality, most deaf people have
vocal chords but choose not to speak."

It is embarrassing to them because they often can't successfully
duplicate sounds they've never heard, she said. In schools for the
deaf, children learn to speak by feeling teachers' vocal chords and
watching closely to learn lip reading.

"Sensitivity training should be mandatory," Kendel said. "It's not
that hearing people don't care.

"They are ignorant in that they have never had to deal with people who
are deaf or muddle through life without hearing," she said.

Interpreters like Kendel can be a lifeline for deaf people, but they
must adhere to a conduct code.

"When I interpret, I do not speak of what happened, not even to other
family members," she said. "As an interpreter I cannot interject my
personal opinion."

Those ethics have led to some sticky situations, she said.

"I was in court with a deaf individual and could see he was being
taken advantage of," she said. "I signed to him that he could speak up
for himself and I would interpret for him."

In public schools, an interpreter is assigned to a deaf child to help
pave the way for learning.

"But American Sign Language has a different sentence structure, so
it's sometimes hard to understand how to write a paper in English,"
she said.

For instance, a tone of voice signals a question in the spoken
language, while in American Sign Language a question is communicated
by raising the eyebrows and widening the eyes.

"In ASL, you are building concepts with your hands," Kendel said.

The English sentence "Do you want to go to the movies?" would be
"Go-to movies you want?" in ASL.

Different countries also have their own sign language versions, and
English Sign Language, although it would be somewhat familiar, would
not be immediately understood by a person fluent in American Sign
Language. Thus there are French, Spanish and even Chinese sign
language versions.

Like other languages, ASL evolves with regional differences.
Ethnicity, age and gender are just a few of the factors that affect
ASL usage and contribute to its variety.

Kendel is heartened at the number of people she's met who want to
learn American Sign Language, and regular classes, taught by deaf
members of the community, are part of her agency's offerings.

"People ask how long it takes to learn," she said. "There's no one
answer. It's a process, and it takes time."

Details

ASL Advocates

494 E. 200th St.

Euclid

Walk-in hours: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Thursday, by
appointment at other times

Details: 216-862-2978

Videophone: 216-370-7713; 866-845-2120

Text message: 216-240-2704

E-mail: asladvocates@live.com