Foreclosure on the rise

I discovered some wonderful resources in researching high cost mortgage loans and foreclosure for a piece I wrote "Foreclosures on the Rise: Is the American Dream Possible for Immigrants Today?" published in The AFRIcan Magazine.

NCRC (National Community Reinvestment Coalition) was founded in 1990 to unite efforts around the nation to increase the flow of private capital into traditionally underserved communities. In July 2007 they published a report "Income is no shield against racial differences in lending: a comparison of high cost lending in metropolitan areas." Their website gives you access to a number of helpful resources on this subject and the prevailing racial disparities.

ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) also produced a report accessible from its website: "Foreclosure exposure: study reveals minorities receive a higher percentage of high-cost loans."

ACORN is the nation's largest community organization of low and moderate income families, working together for social justice and stronger communities. Since 1970, ACORN has grown to more than 350,000 member families, organized in 850 neighborhood chapters in over 100 cities across the U.S. and in cities in Argentina, Peru, Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Canada.

NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People)produced a very insightful piece on their website by Nikitra S. Bailey, Financial Apartheid: Subprime Mortgage Lending and the Failed Promise of Sustainable Homeownership for People of Color.

The mission of the NAACP is to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate racial hatred and racial discrimination.

Forbes.com is running a Special Report marking its 10th anniversary entitled The American Dream. Edited by David M. Ewalt and Michael Noer, the report begins by reminding us that "America is a land built by immigrants, a patchwork of different cultures and creeds." "But despite many differences, it's held together by a common thread: the promise of a better life," said Ewalt and Noer. "To kick off a yearlong celebration of the 10th anniversary of Forbes.com, we asked more than 60 great achievers, including actors, artists, politicians and executives, to answer the question "What is the American Dream?"

Center for Responsible Lending a resource for predatory lending opponents published an insightful article on its website entitled: African-American Homes at Risk.

Originally printed in The Christian Science Monitor, the article Credit: beyond predator and prey by Ruby Bennett now available on Spirituality.com offers an uplifting spiritual perspective to addressing this issue.

Women for Women International

Women for Women International is an amazing organization. WFWI is an international non profit organzation that works with women survivors of war. Based in Washington, D.C and London, WFWI works in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iraq, Kosovo, Nigeria, Rwanda and Sudan.

Check out my article Women for Women International: A Guiding light for Women Survivors in The AFRican Magazine to find out more about WFWI.

Working on this piece I learned that WFWI partners with a number of international organizations to further its mission of aiding women in conflict and post conflict communities and countries.

Doctors without Borders/Medicins Sans Frontieres an independent international medical humanitarian organization that delivers emergency aid to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, natural or man-made disasters, or exclusion from health care in more than 70 countries and Heifer International an international sustainable development organization whose mission is to end world hunger by donating a wide variety of animals (and trees) to families around the world to improve their standard of living, are two of the many organizations that partner with WFWI.

In researching WFWI I also learned about UNIFEM (United Nation's Development Fund for Women) portal on women, peace and security called WomenWarPeace.org. On its Welcome page, WomenWarPeace.org states that its intention is to address the lack of consolidated data on the impact of armed conflict on women and girls as noted by Security Council resolution 1325 (2000). The portal is meant to serve as a centralized hub of information from a wide variety of sources, with links to reports and data from the UN system to information and analysis from experts, academics, NGOs and media sources.