Occupy Atlanta and Rebuild the Dream Help Save Historic Church from Foreclosure
We’ve continued to highlight the creative ways that the Occupy movement has addressed corporate abuses that harm struggling families. This week we saw a huge success in Georgia, where Occupy Atlanta and other grassroots groups took an important stand against predatory banks and helped save a historic black church from foreclosure.
Higher Ground Empowerment Center is one of the oldest churches in Atlanta, located in the same neighborhood where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was raised—so when news that BB&T Bank planned to foreclose on the Center came in the weeks leading up to Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the community took immediate action.
Rebuild the Dream, an online organization working for labor rights and economic justice, launched a petition calling on BB&T to reverse their decision to foreclose on the church. The petition collected more than 65,000 signatures and inspired members of Occupy Atlanta, who have used the Center as a meeting place, to lend their voices to the cause. As Rebuild the Dream’s website points out, Occupy Atlanta’s local community action “brought valuable attention to this situation and the bank is showing that they’re paying attention.”
In an amazing victory for Rebuild the Dream and Occupy Atlanta, BB&T agreed to renegotiate the terms of Higher Ground Empowerment Center’s loan, thereby saving the 108-year-old church from impending foreclosure. We’re glad to see local actors working together for the common good, and it’s encouraging to see these positive steps toward an engaged community and a more just economy.