‘This is how you serve your community’: Oakland churches get grant to put housing on their land

Faith-based housing

The Bay Area Local Initiatives Support Corp., a community development nonprofit based in Oakland, announced on Tuesday that it has received a $500,000 grant from Wells Fargo to help churches develop affordable housing units on their properties. The grant will be used for LISC’s Faith and Housing program, which centers on faith-based organizations serving communities…

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Homeowners confront Wells Fargo over foreclosures

Since California’s Homeowner Bill of Rights, a new law limiting the power of banks to foreclose, came into effect on January 1, homeowners in Richmond and Oakland have taken a more proactive stance in resisting foreclosures, protesting inside banking halls at Wells Fargo’s braches across the East Bay and forcing the bank to reschedule home sales.

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Despite cancelled meeting, councilmembers discuss changing city’s banking contract

For the second consecutive time, the Oakland City Council’s finance and management committee failed to meet because not enough members showed up. The lack of a quorum—only Councilmembers Jane Brunner (District 1) and Patricia Kernighan (District 2) were present—shelved a resolution that would have taken away the power of the City Administrator’s Office to extend the city’s banking contract with Wells Fargo past this year, instead giving the power to the city council to negotiate a new deal.

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Credit unions see a boost in membership after Bank Transfer Day

Bank Transfer Day was an initiative started by a Los Angeles art gallery owner that urged people to move their money from commercial banks to credit union accounts by Saturday, November 5. According to the Credit Union National Association (CUNA), a Washington D.C.-based coalition of state-chartered credit unions, 650,000 people have joined its member institutions since September 29, one week after the launch of the Occupy Wall Street protests.

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Oakland teachers ask banks for “bailout”

About 30 teachers gathered Thursday to demonstrate in front of three banks at the Rockridge shopping center at 51st Street and Broadway. McClymonds Teacher Craig Gordon explained the group was there to “demand that schools and public services be bailed out” the same way that banks were bailed out during the mortgage crisis.

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