NEDAP - Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project

This interactive workshop will address the explosion of high-cost, exploitative consumer credit and its impact on low income neighborhoods and communities of color. Facilitators will engage participants in exercises and discussions that illustrate how bank disinvestment, government deregulation and other policies led to the flooding of neighborhoods with predatory and destabilizing credit -- from fee-harvesting credit cards and usurious payday loans to subprime mortgages. The resulting debt burdens on families and communities have eroded financial gains, fueled displacement and segregation, and perpetuated inequality and poverty. The workshop will explore short- and long-term effects, including the pernicious use of credit reports to deny people housing, jobs and other fundamental social and economic rights. Participants will discuss organizing strategies to press for change and hear from groups engaged in financial justice campaigns in their communities.

This interactive workshop will address the explosion of high-cost, exploitative consumer credit and its impact on low income neighborhoods and communities of color. Facilitators will engage participants in exercises and discussions that illustrate how bank disinvestment, government deregulation and other policies led to the flooding of neighborhoods with predatory and destabilizing credit -- from fee-harvesting credit cards and usurious payday loans to subprime mortgages. The resulting debt burdens on families and communities have eroded financial gains, fueled displacement and segregation, and perpetuated inequality and poverty. The workshop will explore short- and long-term effects, including the pernicious use of credit reports to deny people housing, jobs and other fundamental social and economic rights. Participants will discuss organizing strategies to press for change and hear from groups engaged in financial justice campaigns in their communities.