ABC News Nightline Story Looks at NACA's Save the Dream Tour

Last night, the incredible success of the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America (NACA) was featured on Nightline on ABC News. Entitled “The Financial Terrorist,” the story went on the frontlines to Cleveland, Ohio, with NACA CEO Bruce Marks, “a man trying to restore the American Dream.”

It’s worth noting that Marks is a self-proclaimed “bank terrorist,” according to a recent interview in The Boston Globe entitled, “Taking bank chiefs to task to save homes.” Marks explained, “Bank terrorism is a nonviolent way we personalize the consequences of CEOs’ actions. When someone loses their home, they lose their neighbors, they lose their community, and their kids lose their friends and their schools. It’s personal. Lives have been devastated. We go to the CEOs’ homes, usually on Sunday morning, which is family time, in their gated communities.”

I featured NACA’s Save the Dream Tour in a case study that I presented at SES San Jose 2009 during the session entitled, “How to Optimize for Search & Engage the Community.” I also presented excerpts of NACA’s Save The Dream tour documentary produced by DigiNovations at Social Media & Video Strategies during the session entitled, “What Works: Best Practices / Case Studies for Online Video.”

NACA’s Save The Dream tour documentary – excerpts (produced by DigiNovations)

NACA’s “Save the Dream” tour has already helped thousands of homeowners avoid foreclosure, restructure home loans, and reduce mortgage rates. It has used 9 optimized press releases, blog outreach, have a dozen YouTube videos, social media marketing and old fashioned media relations to generate 29 local TV stories, 18 articles in daily newspapers, 272 blog posts, and 246 Twitter tweets. The combined coverage helped to attract over 35,000 participants in Cleveland, 45,000 in Chicago, 40,000 in St. Louis, and 60,000 in Atlanta. But, as I mentioned back at SES San Jose 2009 and Social Media & Video Strategies, NACA’s Save the Dream Tour isn’t over.

It will continue at upcoming events in Phoenix, AZ, at the Phoenix Convention Center from Sept. 25 to 28; Los Angeles, CA, at the LA Convention Center from Oct. 2 to 5; Las Vegas, NV, at the Thomas and Mack Center from Oct, 9 to 12; and San Francisco, CA, at the Cow Palance from Oct. 16 to 20, 2009.

NACA projects that they will be able to help 80% of those who apply. NACA can do this because it has secured legally binding agreements with most of the major lenders and servicers, which covers 90% of the at-risk homeowners.

But, to achieve an affordable solution, participants also need to bring the following documents to one of NACA’s Save the Dream events:
a) Pay Stubs (most recent available 30 days)
b) Monthly Mortgage Statement (most recent available)
c) Property Tax Bill (most recent available)
d) Homeowners Insurance Bill (most recent available)

It also helps to register for the event. At the first four events this summer, NACA had over 500 staff and volunteers who put in long hours and lots of hard work to help homeowners save their dream. Nevertheless, the turnout has been unprecidented.

As Chris Camp of WSB News in Atlanta reported, “Over four days, 60,000 people have been standing in the hot Georgia sun… hoping for salvation in the midst of America’s money crisis. Now it comes down to this. A woman sobs uncontrollably, comforted by friends and her mother….When she lost one of her jobs, her entire world teetered on the edge of disaster. Instead, she came to the Georgia World Congress Center, hoping for a miracle. She found one: the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America.”