Inner City Public Interest Law Project

To equalize the imbalance of power and knowledge.

Overview

Inner City Public Interest Law Project secured financial and banking resources for low income American families by providing advocacy and legal representation on banking issues affecting underserved and low to moderate income communities.The Inner City Public Interest Law Center advocates and provides legal representation on issues that impact low and moderate income communities community reinvestment (click here for weekly CRA news) insurance and telecommunications redlining environmental justice (click here for weekly EJ news) civil and human rights and constitutional law generally. In late 2003 the Center's founder filed suit in federal court asserting that the citizens only provision of Delaware's Freedom of Information Act violates the privileges and immunities clause of the U.S. Constitution click here for the Associated Press' coverage of the case c/o the First Amendment Center. See also the related book Predatory Bender available here. Also following September 11 2001 ICP began a Finance Watch on issues of money laundering and a Fair Finance Watch on fair lending globally. Government agencies are required to consider each of these issues generally in comment periods on particular applications for regulatory approval. Grassroots organizations of affected citizens do their best to keep track of the various comment periods and to effectively participate in these proceedings. But the corporate applicants are almost always represented by lawyers with years of experience often within the regulatory agency on the substantive and procedural issues which arise on protested applications. A mission of public interest law is to try to equalize as much as possible this imbalance of power and knowledge. To ensure that the statutory promises of public participation and transparency of government decision making are in fact fulfilled especially for lower income people and other too often excluded people. This along with appropriate enforcement of those laws which supposed to benefit and/or protect low and moderate income communities and consumers is the mission of the Inner City Public Interest Law Center.