FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 18, 2011

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SECOND ANNUAL COMMUNITY RESPONSES TO THE FORECLOSURE CRISIS CONFERENCE DRAWS MORE THAN 150 PARTICIPANTS FROM 20 STATES

Experts, Activists, and Students Convene to Develop Strategies that Protect Families and Communities from Foreclosure

Cambridge, MA: For the second year in a row, the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau and Project No One Leaves hosted a national conference of students, activists, attorneys, and organizers to discuss innovative, community-based responses to the foreclosure crisis. This year’s conference drew more than 150 participants, including representatives from twenty states, eight law schools, and three chapters of Project No One Leaves.

The conference combined panels led by national experts, intensive workshops and trainings, presentations by artists and filmmakers, and an opportunity for participants to take part in a citywide canvass to provide information and advice to Bostonians in foreclosure. City Life/Vida Urbana also led participants in an impromptu rally for economic justice in Harvard Square.

The conference was organized by the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau and Project No One Leaves. The Harvard Legal Aid Bureau is a student-run legal services center that offers free civil legal services to low-income people throughout greater Boston. Project No One Leaves is a national organization of students and activists that aims to empower citizens in foreclosed properties to protect their homes and communities through grassroots organizing, legal education, and civic engagement. These organizations work in a coalition with Greater Boston Legal Services, the Legal Services Center, City Life/Vida Urbana and Boston Community Capital to protect families and communities throughout greater Boston from the devastating effects of foreclosure.

The efforts of the Boston coalition to protect homes and communities from foreclosure have been featured in The Nation, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, PBS and the CBS Evening News. This year’s conference will also be featured in an upcoming documentary about grassroots efforts to fight eviction.