Kansas

Please contact Sulma sulma@npa-us.org or Louis Louis@sunfloweract.org from Sunflower Community Action for information on local actions

For information about the national campaign contact Enlace at info@enlaceintl.org or 213-284-3802.

Sign up and Join the national Divestment Campaign here.

Did you know?

Anti-immigrant laws are plaguing our communities and our state.

Who profits from it?

Private prisons are profiting from people’s misery and our tax dollars.

The laws that CCA and GEO group lobby for are destroying our families for profit.

What can we do about it?

Come to our public meeting!

Find out who profits from deportation, incarceration, displacement and separation of families

When: Saturday October 29

Where: Horace Mann School

1243 North Market Street

SCA and Organizations Accross the Country Call on Wells Fargo to Cut Ties with Private Prisons 

Press Release

PRESS CONFERENCE

Friday, July 1^st

12:00pm

Wells Fargo

300 South Main Street

KANSANS TO DELIVER MESSAGE TO WELLS FARGO “PEOPLE OVER PROFITS!”

Wichita KS – Sunflower Community Action, and organizations nationwide, will take action from coast to coast this Friday. The organizations, affiliated with the Enlace network, are calling on Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf to withdraw his bank’s financial support of private prisons. SCA is also calling on Wells’ Kansas-Nebraska Regional President, Kirk Kellner, to arrange a meeting locally to discuss the company’s involvement in private prisons and payday lending, and what the corporation can do to make positive contributions to the well being of our community.

Wells Fargo, who received billions in bailout money, invests hundreds of millions of dollars into two industries that put tax payers at risk; private prisons and predatory lenders 

Private Prisons

According to the most recent Securities and Exchange Commission statistics, Wells Fargo has over 4 million shares in Geo Group and 50 thousand shares in Corrections Corporation of America (CCA). Their combined prison holdings are valued upwards of $120 million. CCA owns or manages 46 % of the private prison space in the US. Geo owns or manages 34 % of the private prison space in the US.

Although the number of crimes committed in the US has dropped every year for nearly 2 decades, the number of prisoners has greatly increased, creating huge profits for stockholders of prison companies at the taxpayer’s expense. Private prisons receive an average of $122 dollars daily per person in detention; the average daily number of people in detention is 30,000, costing tax payers $3.7 million every day.

As private companies, these prisons must remain profitable and therefore must remain occupied. The number of prisoners has grown out of control largely because hedge funds, pension investors, and mega banks, such as Wells Fargo, have financed private prison companies to lobby federal and state governments to arrest and detain non-criminals, immigrants in particular.

The recent wave of harsh anti-immigrant legislation, such as Arizona’s SB1070 and its many copycats including Georgia’s HB87 and Kansas’ attempted HB2372, has been a direct result of the combined lobbying power of the financial industry and the private prison industry. In fact, the Podesta Group, one of Washington’s most powerful lobby firms, is employed by both Geo and Wells Fargo.

Payday Lending

Wells Fargo has invested hundreds of millions of dollars into payday lenders who have long plagued our community. ACE Cash Express, Advance America Cash Advance, EZ Corp Inc., and Check into Cash are among the list of predatory lenders backed by Wells Fargo. In fact, Wells Fargo is the single largest supporter of payday lending, financing 1/3 of the industry. These payday lenders, all headquartered outside of Kansas, drain our local economy by trapping consumers in a debt trap by charging an average of 390% interest.

Thanks to the support of major financial institutions, the number of payday lending storefronts has surpassed that of McDonalds and Starbucks combined. This rampant rate of growth has ravaged communities across Kansas, and the nation. The widespread damage inflicted by this industry has moved law makers to make attempts at regulation.

A national interest rate cap of 36% was proposed, but such a cap failed to gain traction during the financial reform process due to the clout of the financial industry’s lobby. Similar attempts at capping the industry have been introduced, and then defeated by the powerful payday lobby here in Kansas.

Action

Sunflower Community Action and the Enlace network will take action this Friday to demand that Wells Fargo divest its money from these harmful industries. Wells Fargo’s business involvement with these predatory practices and the advocacy they provide them in their lobbying efforts undermine the well being of our communities and our ability to make positive changes through our democratic institutions.  It is our hope that this action will open the door for productive dialogue between grassroots leaders and national and regional leaders of Wells Fargo, so that we may find solutions that are right for our community.

Please reference attachments and the below links for additional information.

Immigrants For Sale: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuGE1VxVsYo

Thank you for your time and consideration                                

For more information or comments please use the below contacts

Press Contacts: Louis Goseland, Sunflower Community Action

Cell: 316-204-4315 – Email: louis@sunfloweract.org