September
2018
4
On August 3, 2018, nearly two dozen people from NYC community organizing and cooperative development organizations packed into our conference room for an engaging lunch discussion with Álvaro Porro, Social Economy Commissioner for the City of Barcelona. Barcelona’s story presents a powerful model for New York City, and we were eager for this extended opportunity to hear about his work.
August
2018
7
One day, Kenneth Lovell went to a local electronics store to buy a transistor radio. He left the store more than $17,000 in debt, with three bank credit cards issued in his name. How did this happen? Listen to Kenneth and his brother Patrick Lovell tell their story.
August
2018
7
How did Brooklyn resident Kenneth Lovell, a retired janitor living on a fixed-income and with no credit history, find himself thousands of dollars in debt? It’s a refrain we’ve heard before on our NYC Financial Justice Hotline: Wall Street banks working in cahoots with retail stores, doctors’ offices, and others to exploit low-income New Yorkers. […]
August
2018
6
This spring, New Economy Project attended Encore Capital’s annual shareholder meeting at the Hyatt Hotel in midtown Manhattan. Three members of our legal team, Eve Weissman, Susan Shin, and Nick Loh, went to the shareholder meeting to call out ways that Encore, among the country’s largest debt buying companies, harms New Yorkers.
August
2018
3
New Economy Project was pleased to participate in New Economy Coalition’s CommonBound Conference, held this June in St. Louis, Missouri. CommonBound is a bi-annual gathering that brings together leaders from more than 200 groups across the US and Canada, working to build an economy grounded in shared values of democracy, justice, and ecological sustainability.
August
2018
2
Norwood News — Several proposals are under way to provide banking services, such as ATMs, paycheck cashing, bill payment, electronic money transfers and small-dollar loans, at Bronx post offices in hopes of making residents less reliant on alternative financial services.
July
2018
23
Crain’s New York Business — Esther Roman, a 60-year-old grandmother in Brooklyn, was alarmed when she noticed in January that her $300 weekly paycheck was $27.99 short. She called her employer, a home health care agency, which said her wages were being garnished after someone sued her, claiming she’d failed to pay an old credit-card bill.
July
2018
18
New York, NY — Today, leading New York organizations announced the New York Rise for Climate, Jobs, and Justice march on September 6 around the Global Climate Action Summit. At the Summit, state and local officials are expected to gather in San Francisco to make commitments and fill the void of climate leadership from the Trump administration. New Yorkers are urging Governor Andrew Cuomo, Mayor Bill de Blasio and elected officials at all levels to take bold and immediate action on climate change, create hundreds of thousands of good green jobs, and fight for justice for all New Yorkers.
July
2018
7
Our Staff Attorney Eve Weissman appears on the Season the Bitch podcast to break down some of the systemic forces contributing to our culture of debt and enumerate your options and rights when dealing with debt collectors. Listen below or here.
July
2018
5
The Nation — New Yorkers are known for speaking their minds, but can they put their money where their mouth is? A new campaign is underway to make one of the richest cities into the world reclaim local wealth and make the banking system work for people who actually live here, by putting people over profits.