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Karl Westerhof left a comment for Jonathan Bradford May 15
Jonathan Bradford is a member of CRC Justice Seekers. May 15

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Church/School/Organization:
Inner City Christian Federation (ICCF)
Justice issues I'm interested in:
Housing and Community Development
Economic Empowerment
Traditional Neighborhood Design
Sustainable Development
Website:
http://ICCF.org
About me:
I have lived and worked in cities my entire life; I am a confirmed urbanist. For the last 27+ years, I worked at ICCF and have had the thrilling experience of seeing God work thru his people to bring profoundly effective solutions to bear against some huge community development issues that have festered for too long.
I hold a Master's degree in Social Policy and Planning from the University of Michigan. My study concentrated on housing and community development matters. I am also a licensed residential builder. Along the way I have had particular fulfillment in learning the intricacies of residential mortgage financing. Four years ago ICCF launched its own for profit mortgage brokerage, Providence Home Mortgage, Inc. We did so as a response to the proliferation of bottom-feeder predatory lenders that were strangling the poor and vulnerable of our city. We also did it to serve the mortgage finance needs of people in the community at-large, and in doing so to earn funds to bring back to our not-for-profit efforts. About a year ago apparently my efforts won the attention of the current occupant (NOT FOR LONG!) of the White House. The current occupant saw fit to appoint me to the board of directors of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Indianapolis. Now every month I go from worrying about $500 invoices at ICCF to making decisions about a $60+Billion banking intermediary that satisfies a substantial percentage of the liquidity needs of the residential mortgage lenders in Indiana and Michigan. All I can say is that God surely must have a sense of humor!
My inner gladness comes from finding ways to make the system stop and pay attention to the voiceless and powerless. If God thought enough of them to make them in his image, how can our systems of planning, design, and finance do anything short of serving them as if they were presidents and CEOs? I am delighted to join with you in finding new and better ways to do that.

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At 4:10pm on May 15th, 2008, Karl Westerhof said…
Hey, JB, a couple days ago we had a one day retreat for crwrc folk, and it was led by laura Smit, who talked about the relationship between justice and beauty. and what do you know - she used ICCF as an example and mentioned your name as someone who "gets it" that there are both esthetic AND financial reasons to build beautiful houses. Then, this noon, I'm having lunch with my pastor, Jack Kooreman, and he mentions your name as we are talking about Grace's neighborhood!!! and now here you are on justiceseekers!!!!!!!!! how cool is that? I would absolutely love to have lunch with you and talk about Grace's parish and what you see in your crystal ball, and how you are liking ICCF and whether you are still having fun, and what's up in your life. I'll buy. Interested?
Karl
 
 

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