Massachusetts Community Organizer Uses "Sword & Shield" Approach To Stop Foreclosure Evictions

In Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, PBS' Bill Moyers Journal reports:

• [C]ommunity organizer Steve Meacham of City Life/Vida Urbana is fighting on the frontlines of the foreclosure crisis. Meacham and his colleagues at City Life employ a community organizing strategy they call the ["sword & shield".]

• The "shield" is a strategy of legal defense: teaching City Life members about their rights under the law, plus providing access to volunteer legal assistance. The "sword" is a public relations strategy, where City Life organizes protests in front of banks, and eviction blockades in front of people's homes.

• For these protests, City Life tries to attract as much media attention as possible, trying to draw public scrutiny towards what they argue are unfair banking and eviction practices in their community. "We find that the two [strategies] work extremely well in combination," says Meacham. He says that a strong legal defense often isn't enough to avoid eviction. "A legal defense is not enough because in Massachusetts the banks can evict you for no reason. And so for many people the strongest legal defense will simply slow the bank down. Slowing the bank down, however, can be very, very important because it gives us a chance to use the public protest to good benefit. If the bank is facing the prospect of a long, drawn-out legal procedure, even one that they might ultimately win.. and at the same time they're going through that, they're being regularly protested by City Life.. that is a public relations battle the bank loses every time. So faced with that combination of long, drawn-out legal defense and public protest, the banks are very often choosing to negotiate and settle with us." According to City Life, they've been able to prevent evictions for 95% of the people who've come to their door by employing the "sword and shield" strategy.

For more, see Steve Meacham: Fighting Foreclosure.

Go here for the accompanying video of the Bill Moyers' Journal program (approx. 23 minutes).