Founded in 1972 by Methodist minister Shel Trapp (1935-2010) and activist Gale Cincotta (1929-2001), National People's Action (NPA), also known as National People’s Campaign, is a Chicago-based Alinskyite community-organizing group dedicated to "progressive social change" and "economic and racial justice." NPA serves as an umbrella organization for 24 groups in 13 states and Washington, DC.
One of NPA's top initiatives is its Immigrant Justice campaign, calling for “comprehensive immigration reform” that “includes broad legalization of immigrants” and “strong civil liberties” protections for illegals. Also advocating “strong worker protections,” NPA condemns “the cruelty of immigration raids.” Further, the organization supports “equal access” to taxpayer-funded “quality education” for immigrants regardless of their legal status, and is a steering-committee member for the Fair Immigration Reform Movement.
NPA co-founders Trapp and Cincotta are widely credited with having authored the 1977 Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), landmark legislation that ranks high among the primary causes of the 2008 financial crisis. Blaming banks rather than the CRA for that crisis, NPA sometimes uses terms such as “credit segregation” to imply that bank lending practices are based on racism rather than on objective financial considerations. NPA proudly takes credit for having forced banks to invest “over $4.7 trillion … in low and moderate income communities.”
As part of its “Showdown in America” campaign, NPA in 2009 demanded that Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke “exhibit the same resolve toward helping families facing foreclosures that he displayed in helping bail out large financial firms.” Toward that end, NPA staged numerous protests – some involving hundreds of people – not only at financial institutions across the United States, but also at the private homes of some bank executives. Their latest protest was interrupting the debt ceiling vote.
NATIONAL PEOPLE'S ACTION (NPA)
who was Shel Trapp?
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