Philanthropic "Money Bags" Looking To Jump In & Provide Aid In Foreclosure Crisis

The Wall Street Journal recently reported:

• Some of the nation's wealthiest philanthropies are turning their attention to the growing foreclosure crisis, which some fear could usher in the type of urban blight that devastated pockets of American cities in the 1970s and 1980s. How to tackle it isn't clear. "Every big funder is out there trying to figure out how to participate in systemic responses," says George McCarthy, a senior program officer with the Ford Foundation. The problem, he says, is that "no one can figure out where the opportunity lies" and how philanthropic dollars can be spent most effectively.

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• The impact of foreclosures on other people who live in the neighborhoods is "the part of the story that gets lost in the whole mortgage discussion," says [chief executive officer Ben] Hecht of Living Cities [a consortium of major foundations and financial institutions working to revive inner cities]. "When I go to some of these communities, it breaks your heart. Not only are the buildings boarded and abandoned, but you have people who have these homes in blue-collar neighborhoods. ... They are hard-working people. They did nothing wrong. We would like to be able to help them."

For more, see Foundations Weigh How to Allay Foreclosures (subscription may be required; if no subscription, try here, then click link for the story - and then click your "refresh" button on your browser; or just go here).

Go here for other posts on vacant homes leaving its mark on neighborhoods. neighborhood destruction from foreclosures I