How to Support the #J21 Week of Action Against PNC
Social Media Blitz
-Share meme photo on facebook
-Encourage people sign the petition to amp up pressure to meeting with PNC Bank CEO:
-Tweet on hashtags #J21 and #CruzHome and follow @occupyhomesmn
Flood PNC & Freddie Mac with Calls/Emails
Click here to send PR execs emails and call them about the Cruz family
Report Actions
-Share your photos and video with us on the liveblog or email updates to occupyhomesmn@gmail.com
-Post live updates/photos to twitter on #J21 & #CruzHome
Earn Media
-Fill in and send out press advisory (attached below) to local news outlets by Wednesday, then send updated release with photos attached after the action is completed.
Use materials
-Media advisory, Flyer, How to Support and FAQ below
FLIERS/PRINTED MATERIALS:
#J21 Cruz Flier Black and White
PRESS MATERIALS:
ONLINE/SOCIAL MEDIA ASSETS:
Youtube Video: Alejandra and David Cruz: Facing Foreclosure
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June 19-21: Cruz Family Caravan & National Day of Action!
Click here for links to all currently planned #J21 actions
Despite acknowledging that the Cruzes foreclosure was due to a bank error and repeated claims that they are working “behind the scenes” to get the Cruz family back in their home, PNC Bank has refused to accept the documents necessary for the loan to be modified. So Alejandra and David Cruz, along with several supporters, are going to make a hand-delivery to PNC’s headquarters in Pittsburgh, PA!
TUESDAY: Minneapolis
Send-off: We will be having a send-off rally in front of the Cruz home, 4044 Cedar Ave S, at 5PM this Tuesday to support the Cruzes battle for justice. Bring signs, messages of support, and your wonderful self!
Facebook Event: http://www.facebook.com/events/310205149071280/
WEDNESDAY: Chicago
Action on Freddie Mac: the Cruz family will make a stop at Freddie Mac’s regional headquarters in Chicago on Wednesday to demand they stop tearing up our neighborhoods with their eviction profiteering.
THURSDAY: EVERYWHERE!
NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION: Across the country, while Alejandra and David arrive at PNC headquarters, people will be demanding that PNC live up to their word and work with the Cruz family!
Actions being planned in:
- Atlanta
- Baltimore
- Chicago
- Cincinnati
- Detroit
- Gainsville, FL
- Greensboro, NC
- Kansas City
- Milwaukee
- Minneapolis
- New York
- Newark, NJ
- Philadelphia
- Pittsburgh
- St. Louis
- Tampa, FL
- Virginia Beach, VA
- Washington, DC
- And many more to come! Please, organize an event in your city! Email occupyHomesMN@gmail.com and let us know if you want to help!
MORE ON THE CRUZ FAMILY:
Since April 30, Occupy Homes MN has been working with the Cruz family, whose home went into foreclosure when PNC Bank mishandled an online payment. Although PNC executives have acknowledged their error and repeatedly told Cruz supporters that they are working on a solution, their actions have shown the opposite. They have refused to work with the family, instead working with Freddie Mac and the city of Minneapolis to launch a series of costly police raids against home, resulting in 23 arrests in less than a week. Despite ongoing protests, PNC still thinks we’ll go away if they ignore us long enough. It’s time to show them otherwise: on June 19, Alejandra and David Cruz will be travelling along with a team of supporters to PNC’s Pittsburgh headquarters to hand-deliver their modification documents and demand a meeting with CEO Jim Rohr! Occupy Homes MN is calling for a national day of action on PNC to coincide with the Cruz’s arrival on Thursday, June 21.
The Cruz family home in Minneapolis, Minnesota, went into foreclosure in 2011 when PNC failed to withdraw an online mortgage payment and then demanded two months’ payment as punishment. Unable to pay more than the current month’s installment, the family home fell into foreclosure.
After their home fell into foreclosure, the Cruzes began working with a local nonprofit that was supposed to be working out a loan modification. In February, without warning an agent of the bank came to the house and told them they had 48 hours to leave the property, shocking the family and ignoring their right to a legal process.
Alejandra and David Cruz have been active community members in the Twin Cities who have tirelessly advocated for the DREAM Act and educational equity for immigrant students.
Over the past month, hundreds of neighbors and community members have mobilized to defend the Cruz family home and support a 24/7 physical occupation of the house against repeated attempts at eviction by the Minneapolis police and sheriff’s department. These efforts have brought the Cruz’s struggle to the attention of national media and into the offices of PNC Banks across the country.
However, despite repeated claims from PNC Executives that they are working “to help and rectify the situation,” the bank has yet to take the necessary steps to sit down and negotiate with the family. At today’s action activists urged PNC to keep its word to the Cruz family and keep communities intact. Once again PNC representatives accepted the letter and information about their error and the wrongful foreclosure of the Cruz family’s home; however, unable to provide a substantive plan for resolving the situation, PNC officials ceded the branch to protesters who rallied and chanted for over an hour.
“This family can afford the mortgage. All they need is for PNC to take a look at their documents and verify the facts. At this point we’re happy to hand deliver the docs to their front door.” said Anthony Newby with NOC. “This foreclosure process has been botched and bungled from the very beginning and PNC needs to fix it. The family can pay and deserves to stay.”
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11th Hour Victory!: Citibank Cancels Foreclosure Auction of Minneapolis Mom’s Home; Commits to Loan Modification With Reduced Payments
Minneapolis, MN — After a several month campaign pressuring Citibank to negotiate with Colleen Mckee Espinosa and a last minute blitz of social media, petition signatures, and calls to the office of CEO Vikram Pandit, Citibank canceled a scheduled sheriff’s sale and approved a loan modification for the Espinosa’s home. An official with CitiMortgage’s Executive Response Unit contacted the Espinosa family with news that Citibank had approved a loan modification that would keep the family in their home and reduce their payments by one-third on a 7.5 year payment plan. The dramatic news came less than 24 hours before the house was to be sold at auction on Wednesday, June 13.
“I’m so relieved that my family’s home of 16 years will not be on the auction block tomorrow,” said Colleen McKee Espinosa, a nurse and single mother who received widespread support after she pledged not to leave her home without a good faith negotiation. “We are grateful that Citibank has decided to accept my payments, and we look forward to signing the final paperwork.”
Allies from around the country, including OccupyOurHomes.org and Occupy Wall Street, as well as Mckee Espinosa’s union the Minnesota Nurses Association, helped to rally support for the family.
“I am deeply grateful to everyone from across the country who stood with our family as we fought our foreclosure,” said Nick Espinosa, Colleen’s son, and an organizer with Occupy Homes MN. “I’m inspired by the outpouring of community support, and it renews my commitment to stand with other families who are struggling to stay in their homes.”
“I’m incredibly proud of what this family has accomplished,” said Anthony Newby of Neighborhoods Organizing for Change. “They’ve managed to rally hundreds of community members to stand with them to save their home. Their campaign will undoubtedly empower other families to stand up and do the same.”
Colleen Mckee Espinosa continued, “When I first learned we were in foreclosure, I felt ashamed and isolated, and sure we were going to lose our home. As I resolved to fight, I realized I had nothing to be ashamed of. If anyone should be ashamed, it’s the banks for tearing apart our communities after we bailed them out with our tax dollars. When we stand together we can win, and I believe thousands more will.”
Nick Espinosa continued, “This negotiation represents a victory not just for our family, but for millions of families facing foreclosures across the country. Countless families could stay in their homes if banks simply modified their loans based on the actual market value and reduced their principal, instead of the price to which banks inflated them before they crashed our economy. As with Monique White and Bobby Hull here in Minneapolis, and others standing up across the nation, we see that when a community stands behind a family and draws attention to their case, the banks are more than capable of solving it. If they can fix it for our family, they can fix it for millions of others.”
Occupy Homes MN is organizing to support other homeowners in situations similar to Colleen Espinosa. They continue to work toward a solution for the Cruz family in South Minneapolis as well as suburban homeowners like John Vinje & Lucinda Vinje-Adams, and Frank & Kristina Clark. To learn more about their work, visit occupyhomesmn.org or call 612-460-STAY.
Supporters will hold BBQ Celebration at 6pm at the home of Gerardo Cajamarca at 5613 Standish Ave S who is fighting an imminent eviction.
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