Sixty Common Ground leaders packed onto a bus and into cars for a trip to Madison, where we met with over 30 Assembly and Senate representatives and aides to:

1. Enlist support for Representative Richards’ bill that prohibits the State of Wisconsin from conducting business with a financial institution holding more than 100 foreclosed homes across the state
2. Ask the same legislators to send letters to the three banks in question requesting that bank officials meet with Common Ground
3. Develop relationships with these state legislators

We will continue to follow the status of the bill and build relationships with these state legislators in order to gain their support in this and future campaigns.

Common Ground Members – will you join us?

In support of CG’s Faces of Foreclosure campaign, Rep.  Jon Richards has introduced a bill in the state legislature that would prohibit the state from doing business with any bank that holds more than 100 homes that are in foreclosure in the state.

On Tuesday February 16th Common Ground will go to Madison to meet with our representatives and other state officials to ask for their support of this bill.

If you are CG member and are able to join us please send us an Email

We’ll meet at a central location by 9 a.m., (Location TBD) and take a bus together.  During the trip, we’ll be briefed on whom we’re meeting with and what we’re asking for.

Once again this month,  Common Ground received news coverage regarding the Faces of Foreclosure campaign. This time from WISN ABC 12 and WITI FOX 6.  Articles were also in the Marquette Tribune, Biz Times , Daily Reporter and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 1/27/2010.

On January 25, 2010 0ver 300 Common Ground leaders and members gathered to launch the Faces of Foreclosure Campaign at Marquette University in Milwaukee.

The goal is to work with 3 banks – Deutsche Bank, US Bank and Wells Fargo – and for them to clean up their part of the foreclosure crisis in South East Wisconsin.

Common Ground also launched a Web site specifically dedicated to this campaign.  www.FacesOfForeclosureWI.org

Common Ground is receiving a significant amount of media coverage from newspapers, radio and television with the release of it’s Foreclosure Research and Action Report.

Read the January 20th Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article by Georgia Pabst here

Listen to the January 20th radio broadcast on Milwaukee Public Radio’s WUWM here.

Watch the WITI Fox 6 story from January 19th here

Watch the WTMJ NBC Channel 4 story from January 19th here.

On January 19, 2010 Common Ground released it’s Foreclosure Research and Action Report. The report identifies the need for three banks – Deutsche Bank, US Bank, Wells Fargo – to take responsibility for their part in the foreclosure crisis and meet three demands:

Sell Responsibly:  Stop selling to speculators and work with us to develop a plan to sell to responsible owners.

Tear Down the Bad Ones: Pay for the demolition of the properties beyond rehabilitation and donate the land to a community trust for future residential construction.

Fix the Salvageable Ones: Each bank contributes $25 Million towards a $75 Million fund, which will be used to rehabilitate and sell these properties.

The report can be downloaded here:  CG_FOF_ResearchReport_web

Delegates’ Action

On January 25 in the Alumni Memorial Union at Marquette University we will be holding our Delegates’ Action to launch the Faces of Foreclosure campaign.  The Delegates’ Action will be from 7:00 P.M. to 8:30 P.M.

Health Care

The Health Care reform discussions in Washington are impacting our work on the Health Insurance Cooperative.  We expect to be able to roll out the Co-op in March with the insurance in effect in April.  The behind-the-scenes planning for the marketing and administration of the Co-op continues.  Whatever reforms are approved will take two or three years to implement so we expect the Co-op to be operative and strong by the time of implementation and perhaps play a part in whatever the future brings.  We thank everyone for their patience.  We get calls each week about the Co-op.  Small businesses and non-profits are getting 30% – 40% rate increases as Insurance Companies pile up cash.  We expect the next Health Care Team meeting to be in February.

Friends of Common Ground

We continue efforts to raise $300,000 over the next years in order to hire 1 1/2 new organizers to staff Common Ground.  To date we have 50 gift commitments totaling $156,832. There are a number of major gift requests we hope to hear about very soon. Thanks to those who have contributed.  We will be having a thank you gathering for current and future “friends” on February 3 from 5:00 to 7:00 P.M. at the Milwaukee Athletic Club.  If you would like to make a gift, contact our treasurer, Bob Connolly at 414-272-0101 or bconnolly@jamescompany.com. 

Georgia Pabst of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel brings exposure to the foreclosure battle in an article published November 24, 2009. Click the photo to link to the article.

On the evening of Thursday, November 19 2009, Common Ground conducted a hearing to learn about the foreclosure crisis and the impact of bank-owned foreclosed homes. Over 240 Common Ground members listened to testimony from a broad variety of sources. These included:

Alderman Michael Murphy, District 10, City of Milwaukee, Chair of the Council Finance Committee

Mr. Lew Ameel, Housing Counselor, HBC Services

Ms. Suzanne Dennik, Project Manager, Milwaukee Foreclosure Project Inititive

Ms. Catherine M. Doyle, Attorney, Legal Aid Society of Milwaukee

Ms. Margaret Henningsen, Founder and Vice President, Legacy Bank

In addition, a number of community members shared their experiences living near and trying to purchase these bank owned foreclosed homes.

Our Next Steps:

Common Ground will issue a ‘white paper’ with our research findings and recommendations on what we will do to address this problem by January.

on January 21, 2010 Common Ground will begin a campaign focused on outlining what we want the large national banks that own most of these properties to do.

If you would like more information or have questions please contact us here. Email

Housing

We have taken pictures of 450 foreclosed homes.  150 people participated in taking these pictures.  We have met with bankers, real estate agents, home rehabbers and community leaders.

We are holding a public hearing on Foreclosed Homes on November 19 at 7:00 pm at the Milwaukee County War Memorial.  Please plan to attend

Health Care

The Health Care reform discussions in Wisconsin are impacting our work on the Health Insurance Cooperative.  We expect to be able to “roll out” the Co-op in January with the insurance in effect in March or April.  The behind-the-scenes planning for the marketing and administration of the Co-op continues.  Whatever reforms are approved will take two or three years to implement so we expect the Co-op to be operative and strong and perhaps play a part in whatever the future brings.  We thank everyone for their patience.  We get calls each week about the Co-op.  Last week a lady called from a non-profit telling us that their rates are to be increased by 42%.  Believable and appalling.

Friends of Common Ground

We continue  efforts to raise $300,000 over the next years in order to hire 1 1/2 new organizers to staff Common Ground.  To date we have 38 gift commitments for $120,732.  There are a number of major gift requests we hope to hear about very soon.  Thanks to those who have contributed.  If you would like to make a gift contact our treasurer, Bob Connolly at 414-272-0101 or bconnolly@jamescompany.com

Youth Jobs

Common Ground leaders have been working closely with the Milwaukee Workforce Investment Board (MAWIB) to develop a strategic plan.  A planing meeting with 17 business and government leaders was held on October 21st to strategize as to how we might get more private sector participation for 2010 Summer Youth Jobs.  Some of the organizations attending were Wisconsin State Fair Park, Pearls for Teen Girls, Palermo’s Pizza, Johnson Controls, GRAEF, Summerfest, Marcus Corporation, and We Energies.

The next Youth Jobs team meeting is December 1 at 7:00 pm. If you are interested in attending please contact Denise Fried at 414-453-8025.

Sherman Park/North Milwaukee

The Sherman Park/North Milwaukee team continued to meet in October with the aldermen from the area to continue work on our list of items.  We are making significant progress with school signs erected, lighting fixed and replaced, and construction at an intersection.  Our next meeting will be with Aldermen Murphy and Hines on November 9th.