Chris Vaeth
Sent: Tuesday, October 06, 2009 10:53 AM
To: ALL STAFF; All Academy
Subject: White House request for Latino/a contacts re: credit card
troubles - need them today!

Hi everyone,

The White House just called looking for some real people's stories re:
credit card debt for an event the President is doing here in DC this
Friday.  He'll be talking about the proposed Consumer Finance
Protection Agency, and how if it had already existed, it would have
protected them from their current situations.  They need as many as 10
names by the end of today (they're also calling a few other groups).
Can we get this out to the coalition immediately?

Here's what they need:  a Latino/a of any age (they said a recent
college graduate makes an especially good story) who has big credit
card trouble, feels comfortable talking about it publicly, and can fly
to DC for the Friday event.  Some of the individuals will be speaking
at the press conference, and others will stand in the background
without a speaking role, but their printed stories will be made
available to the media.  The WH will tell the person in advance if
s/he will have a speaking role, and if so, they will pay for
transportation to DC.  They can be from California or anywhere in the
US, so this can also go to our NY, FL, TX contacts, etc.

For anyone we can identify, they should call me TODAY at (202)
383-7709 or (917) 687-0431 and send me their basic story.  They'll
also need to provide their full name, soc. sec. #, date of birth, and
a few sentences describing their story - if they don't want to give me
their personal info, they can give it directly to the WH.

Of course, no guarantee that the people we identify will be invited to
DC.  They'll have a sizable pool of names and will do a policy vetting
for the most relevant and poignant stories in the next day or two.
They will also do a background and public records check - so, for
example, while bankruptcy is okay, a criminal record is not.  But
let's try to get Greenlining members, partners, and alumni on the
national stage!

Thanks,
Chris

--
Chris Vaeth
Legislative Director
The Greenlining Institute
727 15th Street, Suite 900
Washington, DC 20005
office (202) 383-7709
cell (917) 687-0431
chr...@greenlining.org