Celebrate California Reinvestment

The California Reinvestment Coalition is celebrating community heroes and enjoying good food and company at the Lake Merrit Hotel.  For more information, go to www.calreinvest.org.

Screaming Eagle Awards - 2008

Lori Gay
Lori Gay is President and CEO of Los Angeles Neighborhood Housing Services which normally helps first time homebuyers but has increasingly been assisting families in trouble with their mortgages.  Lori has done an outstanding job bringing together counseling organizations, private industry and public agencies from across the Los Angeles region to collaborate and expand assistance to borrowers in response to the mortgage foreclosure crisis devastating LA neighborhoods.

Ed Kussman
Mr. Kussman spent more than seven decades fighting to end racial and other forms of discrimination and to improve opportunities in education, housing and employment in Pacoima and the San Fernando Valley.  He was a leader of the Fair Housing Council of the San Fernando Valley, San Fernando Valley NAACP, Pacoima Chamber of Commerce, and San Fernando Valley Neighborhood Legal Services.  His fight for equal rights was instrumental in the state of California’s passing the historic Rumford Act prohibiting discrimination in housing

Ken McCormick
Ken W. McCormick is a Deputy District Attorney in Contra Costa County. He has been protecting homeowners in Contra Costa County from real estate fraud through criminal prosecutions.  Moreover, he created an innovative foreclosure program which directly contacts thousands of homeowners advising them to seek help from mortgage counselors or attorneys.  The goal is to protect homeowners from being victims of foreclosure fraud. He also regularly contacts companies who send out deceptive mailers to warn them to comply with state law.

Tony Young
Tony Young is a member of the San Diego City Council and Co Chair of the City/County Reinvestment Task Force. Tony has taken the lead in policy efforts to investigate the foreclosure crisis and develop concrete policy solutions to mitigate impact on local neighborhoods. He has also directed the Task Force to examine the feasibility of a regional land bank to purchase foreclosed properties for the purpose of establishing a first time affordable homebuyers initiative.


Observant Giraffe Award
Carolyn Said
Carolyn Said is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. In her work, she seeks to interweave people's personal stories with statistical analyses to illuminate sweeping economic trends, such as the current subprime mortgage meltdown. During 10 years at The Chronicle, she has covered the
dot-com rise and fall, the California energy crisis, the corporate malfeasance scandals, and the human fallout from the economic downturn.

Special Recognition

Hector Fernandez
Gail Hillebrand
Mary Scott Knoll
Meg McGraw-Scherer