Organizing Around Consumer Finance Complaints, Advocacy, and Products: Who and What You Need to Know

This session is for invited guests only.

The current financial crisis is fueled by a lack of consumer financial protections in low-income and minority communities. While vulnerable communities need to organize and advocate for new policies to provide them relief and protection, they can also turn to existing institutions that offer new hope.

At this session on Friday, June 10th, we will learn about:

• Benefits the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and Federal Reserve Board Consumer Advisory Council already offer to low-income and marginalized communities in the Bay Area
• State level foreclosure prevention work
• New tools for financial education

Connect with other community organizations about ways to strengthen consumer financial protection and develop new strategies to protect low-income families. Share your goals, strategies, challenges, and successes. Begin developing a common direction among organizations seeking to change the financial landscape for marginalized communities in the Bay Area.

Speakers include:

• Norma Garcia of Consumers Union
• Nancy Andrews of the Low Income Investment Fund
• Kevin Stein of the California Reinvestment Coalition
  
• Preeti Vissa of the Greenlining Institute
• Daniela Salas of the Mission Asset Fund

Download the agenda [PDF] here.

RSVP to Abony Holmes Alexander at aalexander@sff.org or 415.733.8528.

About the Speakers

Norma P. Garcia is a senior attorney at the West Coast office of Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports magazine. Since joining Consumers Union’s staff in 1992, Ms. Garcia has become a recognized national expert in mortgage lending, credit, finance, and insurance regulatory law and policy. She has served as expert advisor and witness on technical matters for legislators and legislative staff, and has negotiated and successfully lobbied for the passage of significant consumer protection legislation. Ms. Garcia is the author of several publications on topics including the usage of credit scores in insurance, reverse mortgages, and predatory mortgage lending. Ms. Garcia served on the award-winning litigation team successfully defending Consumers Union against a multi-million dollar First Amendment lawsuit - Isuzu Motors, Ltd. v. Consumers Union of United States, Inc. and on the litigation team that preserved landmark insurance regulations protecting consumers from discriminatory practices. Ms. Garcia earned her law degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, and her B.A. from the University of California at Irvine. Ms. Garcia’s undergraduate studies include one year abroad at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) in México City.

Nancy O. Andrews is the president and chief executive officer of the Low Income Investment Fund (LIIF), a $600 million Community Development Financial Institution. She serves on numerous community development and environmental boards and committees, including Housing Partnership Network, Center for Housing Policy Advisory Council, Bank of America’s National Community Advisory Council, Federal Reserve Consumer Advisory Council, National Housing Law Project, and the Center for International Forestry Research. Ms. Andrews’ 30 years in community development include positions as deputy director of the Ford Foundation’s Office of Program Related Investments and chief financial officer of the International Water Management Institute, a World Bank-supported development organization. Ms. Andrews also consulted for the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Treasury during the Clinton administration. She received an M.S. in Urban Planning with a concentration in real estate finance from Columbia University.

Kevin Stein is the associate director of the California Reinvestment Coalition. At CRC, Mr. Stein works primarily on housing issues, including efforts to fight predatory mortgage lending. He was the primary author of CRC’s reports, “Stolen Wealth: Inequities in California’s Subprime Mortgage Market,” which investigated subprime and predatory lending practices in the state, and “Who Really Gets Home Loans? Years Ten and Eleven" and “Who Really Gets Higher Cost Home Loans,” analyses of home lending that explore the relationship between race and the cost of credit. Before coming to CRC, Mr. Stein was supervising attorney at the East Palo Alto Community Law Project and lecturer in law at Stanford Law School, working on community economic development issues. Prior to that, he worked at HomeBase, a law and social policy center on homelessness. Mr. Stein is a graduate of the Georgetown University Law Center and Stanford University. He currently sits on the board of directors of the Mission Economic Development Association (MEDA).

Preeti Vissa is the director of Greenlining’s Community Reinvestment Program that focuses on building wealth and economic sustainability in communities of color. Ms. Vissa works on a holistic set of wealth building issues including homeownership, small business development, supplier diversity, financial services, and job creation. She also leads Greenlining’s efforts to ensure that the country’s largest financial institutions serve the needs of diverse communities. In this capacity, she meets regularly with CEOs from major Fortune 100 companies. In addition, she works closely with over 40 grassroots leaders to ensure that the economic needs and solutions for communities of color are amplified to powerful stakeholders. In this capacity, she regularly leads delegations of community leaders in meetings with the nation’s leading financial regulators including Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke, FDIC Chair Bair, and Financial Services Chairman Frank. Ms. Vissa has published reports on issues of homeownership, small business entrepreneurship, supplier diversity, and regulatory reform. She has presented and testified in numerous panels and hearings. She is a graduate of Greenlining’s Leadership Academy.

Daniela Salas is the associate director of the Mission Asset Fund. Ms. Salas' expertise is in the use of technology to create innovative solutions for socio-economic development and asset-building strategies. At the San Francisco-based Mission Asset Fund (MAF), she manages a team that leads MAF’s innovative programs: Lending Circles (Cestas Populares), Match-Savings Accounts, and Resources Match (online matching and referral system). Her previous experience includes working for Operation Hope, a worldwide nonprofit focused on financial education and empowerment. Prior to this, managed grant portfolios for Lions and Rotary foundations in Africa, Middle East, and Latin America. A native speaker of Spanish and Portuguese, she has lived internationally for more than 17 years.