"Lost Values: A Study of Predatory Lending in Philadelphia" Released

I rarely write directly about the non-technical part of what we do here at my work. The one real mention I've made of our mission here was in hate. where I decided that the one best way to handle the problem of homeless guys on the street screaming at me for smiling was to do my job as well as I could-- building opportunity allows more people to live lives with dignity.

I work for The Reinvestment Fund. We're a non-profit financial services organization. We fund a lot of stuff-- under-privileged housing, sustainable energy, charter schools... stuff I'm proud to be a part of. I hold together the databases that help make our work possible, and help folks get their hands on usable data so we can do our job better.

TRF put out a publication today called Lost Values: A Study of Predatory Lending in Philadelphia. It is a study of predatory lending practices. It explains its concepts at both a macro and personal level. It also points to solutions that may lead to the regulation of the sub-prime lending market. In the right hands, this information may lead to more opportunity for people who need it. I'm proud that an organization I'm a part of does things like this.

Incidentally, the author of the study is Ira Goldstein, the husband of Linda from How We Evacuated from Hurricane Katrina. Small world.