Welcome
The East Side Organizing Project (ESOP) was founded in 1993 to create organized leadership around issues impacting neighborhood life in the Cleveland area. In the late 1990s, ESOP began to shift its focus toward predatory lending and foreclosures.
ESOP in the News
- Office To Fight Foreclosures Opens In Warren, 4/13/08
- Strapped Homeowners Turn To Bad Loans, 4/12/08
- The Futile $100M Foreclosure Fix 4/8/08
- Home Foreclosure Meeting
- Kucinich Wins In OH10- Welcome To Pottersville, 3/5/08
Recent Events
- April 18, 2008: Countrywide loss mitigation representatives meet with ESOP homeowners and sign over a dozen loan modifications as the result of ESOP’s fair lending agreement.
- April 12-14, 2008: ESOP leaders attend National People’s Action in Washington, D.C. ESOP staff and member Michelle Fortson meet with FDIC chairman Sheila Bair to make recommendations for improved regulation of the mortgage industry.
- April 5, 2008: ESOP holds a community forum on payday lending at Holy Trinity Baptist Church, attracting legislators, community leaders, nonprofit representatives, and elected officials, including Congressman Dennis Kucinich, from around the state of Ohio.
- March 18, 2008: ESOP holds a community meeting and signs a Memorandum of Understanding with Cresthaven Development Corporation.
- February 27, 2008: ESOP testifies before chief policy advisors for the Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama presidential campaigns at a hearing hosted by Cleveland City Council.
- February 20, 2008: ESOP members launch a campaign for a fair lending agreement with Wells Fargo Home Mortgage.
Related Links
The Ohio Department of Commerce Forclosure Prevention Effort features ESOP!
See the video interview with Mark Seifert, Executive Director, of ESOP.