| 22 June 2009
Since April, I have been following the philanthropic efforts of Christopher Meek. The city resident organized two foreclosure events in Stamford that managed to lower the mortgage payments of more than 50 homeowners by substantial amounts. Meek, a Goldman Sachs trader, operated under the conviction that distressed borrowers needed to meet face to face with their banks. The experiment and its relatively successful outcome underlined a criticism that has been made about federal efforts at tackling the mortgage crisis-that banks haven't had enough incentive to help borrowers and that the mediation between them have been ineffective and fraught with bureaucracy.Meek has since started a nonprofit called START Now! and his next mission is to start a job placement initiative for workers that have been laid off. Like his foreclosure events, he wants to bring together two groups that have a common interest-skilled workers and companies looking to hire. The event will be held at the Yerwood Center in late August or early September. He is asking those interested in participating to e-mail questions or resumes to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
To learn more about Meek's work with the foreclosure crisis, he will be interviewed on CPTV at 8 p.m. tonight.