FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 1, 2009
VCU and VPLC Collaborate On Predatory Lending Visuals
Graphic design students will display work at reception on December 4th
Contact: Jay Speer
804-782-9430, Ext. 12
jay@vplc.org
Laura Chessin
lchessin@vcu.edu
RICHMOND - Graphic design students at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) have created posters on predatory lending as part of their senior seminar class. The posters were designed in order to stimulate a discussion on payday, car title and other types of predatory loans. Jay Speer, Executive Director of the Virginia Poverty Law Center (VPLC), and Dana Wiggins, Coordinator for the Virginia Partnership to Encourage Responsible Lending (VaPERL), provided the students with information and the many issues that arise from these types of loans. Laura Chessin, an Associate Professor at VCU's Graphic Design Department, teaches the senior seminar class and oversaw the project.
The public is invited to come see these posters on Friday, December 4th from 6-8 p.m. at Main Street Gallery on 1509 W. Main St. in Richmond. The free viewing is an opportunity for people to not only see the work done by these students, but to also engage in a dialogue on predatory lending in Virginia.
"This visual approach to predatory lending is a unique opportunity for those of us who work on this issue to look at it in a different way. The creativity that these students bring to showing the dangers of predatory lending definitely allows us to take a fresh approach to educating the public on this issue," said Jay Speer, Executive Director of the Virginia Poverty Law Center.
The posters will be on display on the evening of December 4th and then will be used by the Virginia Poverty Law Center as a means to bring about public awareness on the issue of predatory lending before the 2010 General Assembly session begins in January.
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