For Immediate Release – June 24, 2016
Contact: Jamie Horwitz, jhdcpr@starpower.net, 202-549-4921, roger.kerson@gmail.com, 734-645-0535
Advisory for Cleveland, June 28, 6 p.m.
Field Hearing on U.S. Postal Service
Rep. Marcy Kaptur and Community Leaders to Call for New and Improved Postal Services at Cleveland Hearing
Legislators join community leaders to call for expanded services – including postal banking – in city neighborhoods; More than 40 percent of Cleveland households are “Unbanked” or “Underbanked”
CLEVELAND – Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) will join community leaders at a field hearing on the future of the U.S. Postal Service in Cleveland, Ohio on June 28.
Community, elected and business leaders will discuss the need for new and expanded services – including postal banking – in a city where more than 40 percent of have no checking accounts or are “underbanked.”
The Cleveland event is one of five hearings in cities across the United States organized by A Grand Alliance to Save Our Public Postal Service, a coalition of more than 130 civil rights, faith-based environmental, senior citizen, civic and labor organizations.
Who: Rep. Marcy Kaptur, (D-OH); Michael Nelson, president, Cleveland NAACP; Prof. Mark Cassell, Cleveland State University; Greg Coleridge, director, American Friends Service Committee, Ohio; William Maglosky,Vedda Printing; Chip Bromley, Fair Lending Director, Organize Ohio; William Burrus, President Emeritus and retired member, American Postal Workers Union; Earl Pike, writer and artist; Edith Rasell, United Church of Christ; Rev. Dr. Todd Davidson, Antioch Baptist Church; Joyce Goldstein, Esq.
What: Cleveland field hearing on the future of the U.S. Postal Service
When/ Where: Tuesday, June 28, 6:00 p.m., East Mt. Zion Baptist Church, 9990 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland
“The U.S. Postal Service is headed in the wrong direction, by closing facilities cutting back on service and downgrading delivery standards,” said Rep. Kaptur. “At a time when banks and other institutions are abandoning inner city communities, our public Postal Service should do the exact opposite, with more hours, expanded staffing and services. Postal banking should absolutely be on the agenda, especially in a city like Cleveland where so many are shut out of traditional financial services.”
According to the Assets and Opportunity Local Data Center, 18.6 percent of Cleveland households have no checking or savings account. An additional 24.1% of households are “underbanked.” having used non-bank financial services, such as currency exchanges, during the past year.
More than 35 percent of Cleveland’s 389,000 residents, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, are living below the federal poverty line.
“As a trusted institution with brick-and-mortar facilities in every corner of the United States, our public Postal Service is uniquely positioned to serve as a communications, finance and service hub for the 21st century,” said U.S. Rep. Marcia Fudge, who represents constituents in parts of Cleveland, Akron and surrounding communities. “Unfortunately, my colleagues in Congress have unfairly burdened the Postal Service with a costly, unfunded mandate to pre-pay health care for retirees. No other agency or business has to pay these costs in advance – and neither should the Postal Service.”
The pre-payment requirement, which costs billions each year, has distorted the financial performance of the USPS, which actually makes money each year on its core business: handling and delivery of the U.S. mail.
Witnesses at the June 28 Cleveland field hearing will discuss the choices now facing the USPS: To build on the heritage of universal, nationwide service and expand to meet the needs of diverse communities – or continue to shrink with reduced service, facility closings and job cuts.
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A Grand Alliance to Save Our Public Postal Service is a coalition of more than 130 local and national civil rights, environmental, faith-based and labor organizations united to advocate for a great public postal service, including non-profit postal banking and other financial services. For more information, please visit http://www.agrandalliance.org.