Cleveland NAACP, community activists to take testimony on foreclosures, abandoned homes on Monday, March 31, 2014, 5 pm, 3500 Loraine Avenue in Cleveland in basement of Fifth Third Bank Building, representatives of Congresswoman Fudge also to attend

By Kathy Wray Coleman,  Editor-in-Chief,

Cleveland Urban News. Com and The Cleveland Urban News.Com Blog,

Ohio's Most Read Online Black Newspaper and Newspaper Blog. Tel: 216-659-0473 

 (www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com)

Kathy Wray Coleman is  a community activist and 20 year investigative journalist

 who trained for 17 years at the Call and Post Newspaper, Ohio's Black press with 

print newspapers in Cleveland, Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio

CLEVELAND, Ohio- The housing committee of the

Cleveland Chapter NAACP will take testimony for the NAACP in efforts to promote state and federal legislation to address the problems of  housing discrimination, foreclosures, mortgage impropriety and the abundance of abandoned homes that draw crime and heightened violence against women of greater Cleveland and elsewhere. The open-to-the-public meeting in which all community members that want to listen in or testify are invited, particularly victims and their family members, is at 5:00 pm on Monday, March 31, 2014, at the west side Cleveland headquarters of The Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign at 3500 Loraine Ave at East 35th St and Fulton Road in Cleveland in the basement of the Fifth Third Bank Building. For more information contact the Cleveland Chapter NAACP at 216-231-6260, The Imperial Women Activists Group at 216-659-0473, The Northeast Ohio Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign at 216-651-2606, and Bright Star Missionary Baptist Church at 216-249-5213.

The meeting is a follow up to the Cleveland NAACP Housing Committee meeting earlier this year that drew nearly 60 people including John Hairston  as executive director from the office of Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge, Stephen Caviness, also from Fudge's office, and Nick Turner, a representative on mortgage and foreclosures from the office of Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur. Representatives of  Fudge will also be on hand at the testimony session, organizers said. Fudge and Kaptur, along with Congressman Dave Joyce, have proposed The Restore Our Neighborhoods Act of 2013 that provides federal monies to tear down blighted abandoned and foreclosed homes.

Monday's upcoming event marks the second time this year for the aforementioned testimony and will include victims of illegal foreclosures, community activists and Black elected officials. Also discussed will be the Cleveland Opportunity Corridor (city highway or thoroughfare) issue and tips on how to minimize foreclosure impropriety by Cuyahoga County officials and judges, and big banks and mortgage companies such as JPMorgan Chase Bank, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America.

A videographer secured by Cleveland NAACP will be present and everyone is invited said Cleveland NAACP Housing Committee Chairperson the Rev. Dr. David Hunter, senior pastor at Bright Star and president of the Baptist Ministers Alliance.

The Cleveland NAACP is led by the Rev Hilton Smith, an associate minister at Greater Abyssinia Baptist Church in Cleveland and a community relations vice president for Turner Construction Company. Sheila Wright is the local chapter's executive director. 

Participating grassroots activists groups or some of their group members include the Imperial Women Activists Group, the Carl Stokes Brigade, Communities United, and the Cleveland African-American Museum.

(www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com)