Tag Archives: Action

Jewish & Palestinian Students Unite to Answer Obama’s Call to Action in Cairo By Launching Site to Empower Middle East Entrepreneurs

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Philadelphia, PA (PRWEB) June 9, 2009

Speaking to the Muslim world from Cairo University, President Barack Obama recently challenged people of all nationalities to “turn dialogue into interfaith service so bridges between peoples lead to action.” A group of four University of Pennsylvania students and alumni have recently answered Obama’s call by launching LendforPeace.org, a grassroots organization that promotes economic opportunity and stability in the Middle East. The organization, founded by two Jews and two Palestinians, is a not-for-profit Internet platform that allows individuals to make small loans to specific micro-entrepreneurs in the West Bank. In doing so, LendforPeace.org allows one to help Palestinian micro-entrepreneurs lift themselves out of poverty by building sustainable businesses.

LendforPeace.org, which was recently showcased on Fox Business, has partnered with world-premier institutions to develop their international microfinance platform. The organization received grants from the Clinton Global Initiative and Ashoka, and has formalized relationships with a number of successful microfinance institutions in the Middle East. These microfinance institutions have been approved by the US Government’s humanitarian assistance agency, USAID. They are responsible for selecting creditworthy entrepreneurs, posting entrepreneur profiles to LendforPeace.org’s website, and delivering capital and support services throughout the duration of each loan. Lenders can contribute as little as $ 25 to a particular entrepreneur’s micro-loan and then receive updates as their entrepreneur’s business grows. Unlike a donation, lenders get their money back at the end of the pre-set loan period and can choose to withdraw their money or to re-loan it again and again.

LendforPeace.org aims to unite people from all parts of the political spectrum by focusing on the concrete business of economic development. The site creates financial and emotional bonds between the diverse set of lenders around the world and borrowers in the Middle East who participate. The founders of LendforPeace.org are sensitive to the power of interfaith dialogue as they themselves crossed ethnic and religious lines to bring the organization to life. “We have constant political disagreements,” said Co-Founder Sam Adelsberg, “but we recognize that in order to make progress we have to focus on the areas on which we can agree. One thing we all believe is that there is no winner in poverty.”

LendforPeace.org’s launch comes on the heels of a $ 5,000 pilot which yielded a 100% repayment rate. While the Middle East is more volatile than other regions, this success is in line with repayment rates worldwide: according to the Microcredit Summit Campaign, the average on-time repayment rate for microcredit is more than 97%. LendforPeace.org hopes to replicate the success of its pilot going forward. While economic development is central to the organization’s mission, LendforPeace.org believes the interaction facilitated on the site alone may have a positive impact. Said Co-Founder Allam Taj, “Part of our goal is to humanize the Palestinian experience, both through exposing lenders to specific individuals in the West Bank and by letting borrowers know that their loan was made possible by an organization started by young American Jews and Palestinians who care about their future.”

LendforPeace.org benefits from an accomplished Board of Advisors including Delphine Thizy, PlaNet Finance’s Director of the Palestinian Territories, and attorney Howard Finkelstein, one of the country’s pioneers in the securitization of microfinance-related obligations. LendforPeace.org is also being advised by Hanna Siniora, a member of the Palestine National Council and the chairperson of the Palestinian-American Chamber of Commerce, and David Gutelius, a Silicon Valley software entrepreneur and co-founder of Ishtirak, a technology and microeconomic development consultancy focused exclusively on the Middle East and Islamic Africa.

LendforPeace.org recently held its official launch in Philadelphia at the Wharton School’s Jon M. Huntsman Hall. The event included a presentation by the founders, an invocation from University Chaplain Chas Howard and a keynote address on active citizenship by Dr. John DiIulio, the first Director of the White House Office of Faith-Based Initiatives. The event culminated in a surprise video-conference with Salma Suleiman of Asala, one of LendforPeace.org’s microfinance partners in Ramallah. Salma stayed up until 3 AM local time to participate in the launch event and to encourage attendees to get involved. Said Salma, “LendforPeace.org will help us increase our microlending activities here in the West Bank. This in turn will enable us to shepherd more and more families out of poverty.”

In the words of President Obama, “Faith should bring us together. That’s why we’re forging service projects in America to bring together Christians, Muslims, and Jews.” LendforPeace.org is proud to be a part of this movement of interfaith dialogue and service.

For more information, please visit http://www.LendforPeace.org.

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Brookstone Law, PC: Obama Administrations Mortgage Deal Could Exclude Borrowers from Future Action Against Banks

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Newport Beach, CA (Vocus/PRWEB) March 02, 2011

Recent media reports that the Obama administration is trying to reach an agreement with banks over mortgage-servicing breakdowns highlights the need for homeowners facing foreclosure to have legal counsel prior to any settlement, according to Vito Torchia, Jr. managing attorney of Brookstone Law.

According to media reports, the Administration’s proposed settlement would require banks and loan servicers to bear the cost of write downs but gives banks the freedom to determine what those modifications will be. Those servicers would include mortgage-finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as well as investors in loans that were securitized by Wall Street firms. Settlement terms remain in development and regulators are looking at up to 14 servicers that could be a party to the settlement.

Brookstone Law, PC, has filed a mass joinder lawsuit against Bank of America, potentially the most significant and precedent setting legal action taken against lenders as a result of the national foreclosure crisis. The lawsuit alleges Bank of America (BOA) and its subsidiary Countrywide Financial Corporation (Countrywide) perpetrated a massive fraud, also constituting unfair competition upon borrowers that devastated the values of their residences, resulting in the loss of net worth, and that BOA and Countrywide intended to deprive numerous rights and remedies for the problems they caused the borrowers. The case is Wright et al. v. Bank of America, N.A. et al., case no.30-2011-00449059-CU-MT-CXC filed in Orange County Superior Court.

Now that the U.S. Government is discussing settlements that will defuse lawsuits against the banks that specifically challenge aspects of mortgage securitization, the broken chain of title or MERS, principal reduction is the most important aspect of any settlement, said Vito Torchia, Jr. Until banks and servicers fully embrace principal reductions, the thousands of homeowners who are underwater will continue to struggle and that will keep the housing market and our economy down for years.

According to media reports in the Wall Street Journal, Federal agencies have been scrutinizing the nation’s largest banks over breakdowns in foreclosure procedures that erupted last fall and last week, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency raised concerns over inadequate staffing and weak controls over foreclosure processes. In 2008, BOA settled claims worth more than $ 8.6 billion for loans allegedly involving predatory lending practices committed by Countrywide, which it acquired that year.

Any settlement could be among the largest ever against the mortgage industry especially since some are pushing for banks to pay billions or fund a comparable amount of loan workouts, said Vito Torchia, Jr. If a single settlement cannot be reached, it is likely different federal agencies will still seek smaller penalties through regular enforcement channels, so banks could face the prospect of lawsuits from state attorneys general, which means homeowners need for expert legal counsel will be just as great after any settlement as it is now.

ABOUT BROOKSTONE LAW, PC

Headquartered in Newport Beach, Calif., and with offices in Los Angeles, Calif., and Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., Brookstone Law, PC is a law firm comprised of attorneys with experience and success in business, corporate and personal finance, employment, entertainment and media, art and museum, intellectual property and real estate law. The firm has a network of more than 40 affiliate attorneys nationwide and employs highly trained specialists, paralegals, paraprofessionals and administrative staff dedicated to serving clients. For information, call (800) 946-8655 or visit Brookstone-Law.com (http://www.brookstone-law.com).

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