NCRC’s annual conference “Roadmap to a Financially Inclusive Society,” held in Washington, DC, featured a workshop that was a real eye-opener: “Reclaiming REO Properties: Avoiding Blight and Decay in Neighborhoods Afflicted With Foreclosures.” What I took away with me was that the acronym “REO” does not just refer to banking jargon –- but to our new social reality. A reality that calls for a bail out of the true champions of the foreclosure crisis: the housing counselors. Might you lend a hand to these champions?

The U.S. economy is unraveling at a pace not seen in decades. The more than 650,000 jobs lost last month has contributed to a growing concern that the unemployment rate could rise to 10 percent or higher before the economy rebounds. At the center of the economy’s instability is a foreclosure crisis that has claimed 3.5 million homes in the last year alone, and threatens the loss of an additional 8 to 10 million homes to foreclosure over the next five years.