[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 1]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 568-569]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     IN HONOR OF INEZ KILLINGSWORTH

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. DENNIS J. KUCINICH

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, January 20, 2011

  Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of Ms. Inez 
Killingsworth, founder of Empowering and Strengthening Ohio's People 
(ESOP), as she is recognized by ESOP for her multitude of achievements. 
Ms. Killingsworth has a long history of standing up for the rights of 
the people of her community, refusing to let their needs be ignored.
  Ms. Killingsworth founded the East Side Organizing Project in 1993 as 
a means to address the unsafe conditions of her Union-Miles 
neighborhood. During the early 1990s, ESOP, under Ms. Killingsworth's 
leadership, began to rally against the lack of credit available to 
African Americans in the community. When predatory lending in the area 
increased and more and more community members were facing mortgage 
payments they could no longer afford, ESOP turned its focus to 
addressing this

[[Page 569]]

growing problem. ESOP became a statewide venture in 2008, when it 
opened 10 offices throughout the state of Ohio. The organization was 
then renamed Empowering and Strengthening Ohio's People. ESOP acts as a 
foreclosure counseling agency. Through tactics varying from protesting 
banks to negotiating agreements between lenders and borrowers to taking 
financial executives on tours of the collapsing neighborhoods that are 
in peril due to predatory lending, ESOP has helped thousands of 
families in Ohio avoid losing their homes. In 2009, 80% of ESOP clients 
received favorable loan modifications.
  In 2010, Ms. Killingsworth received a Purpose Prize from the San 
Francisco think tank Civic Ventures. This prize is awarded annually to 
ten Americans over the age of 60 who are changing the world in the 
second half of their lives. The award comes with a $100,000 prize, part 
of which Ms. Killingsworth intends to use to create a program to help 
newly released felons find work. She also intends to address problems 
in other areas, such as the lack of healthy food choices in poor, urban 
neighborhoods.
  Mr. Speaker and colleagues, please join me in honor of Ms. Inez 
Killingsworth for her unwavering dedication to solving difficult 
challenges faced by the people of Ohio. She has been a role model in 
her community, relentlessly fighting for justice. I wish Ms. 
Killingsworth peace, health and happiness in all her future endeavors.

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