Occupy Long Beach To Hold Foreclosure Workshop

Occupy Long Beach, the local branch of the larger worldwide occupy movements, will hold a "home defense workshop" Saturday at the First Congregational Church in Long Beach with the goal of empowering local homeowners and their neighbors with the necessary tools to build community and stop home foreclosures.

"This is the right workshop for any friend, family member, activist, or person interested in learning more about stopping foreclosures, home defense, and the Occupy Homes movement" explained Occupy Long Beach Internal-Communications Committee member Heather Kern in a press release.

In the release, Occupy Long Beach pointed to research showing that nearly two million California homeowners now owe more on their homes than their homes are worth. In Long Beach alone, the occupy movement says there are nearly 2,000 homes under foreclosure.

Ben Fisher, an actions committee member with Occupy Long Beach, said that neighbors need to build a strong network of support within the community in order to prevent future foreclosures.  

"It is time for us to stand together as a community and proclaim 'enough is enough', much in the way that was done during the Great Depression," said Fisher.

Helping build that network of support, Occupy Long Beach has set up a text message alert system which will forward emergency texts from homeowners in trouble to anyone who subscribes to the system.  

Those interested in joining the alert network can subscribe to emergency text messages by texting "@HomeDefense" to the number 23559.  

"Recent home defense actions have made it clear that community and personal network support is a critical component of this campaign" said Fisher.

The Home Defense Workshop will take place on Saturday, February 18th from 3-5 p.m. at the First Congregational Church in Long Beach at 241 Cedar Ave. More information on the event can be found on the Occupy Long Beach website.