Over ONE MILLION Signatures!!! Now what?

Late last night, the petition in support of H.R. 4170, The Student Loan Forgiveness Act of 2012, surpassed ONE MILLION SIGNATURES!  This amazing feat could not have been accomplished without the active support and participation of every one of you.  I am absolutely elated, incredibly proud and forever thankful to each and every supporter of this movement for your hard work and dedication to something we all truly believe in.

Now that we've surpassed our goal of ONE MILLION SIGNATURES, I'm sure you're wondering "What's next?"  So, let me share with you a little bit of what's on the horizon:

• In the coming weeks, I plan to print-out and deliver the petition with over one million signatures to the Chairman of the House Committee on Education and Labor, Rep. John Kline.  I'm hoping to work with partner organizations to put together a major press conference around this event, where I hope to be joined by Rep. Hansen Clarke, in an effort to draw even greater attention to this initiative;
• Continue the process of incorporating as a 501(c)(3) Non-Profit so as to accept tax-deductable donations to the new organization, allowing us to expand the reach of our message through a variety of ways (stay tuned!);
• Keep the pressure on lawmakers to address the demands of the middle class.  Whether Congress chooses to take up H.R. 4170, or continue to play partisan games while the economy continues to sputter, will demonstrate once and for all who's truly on the side of the middle class and who's only concerned with winning elections. 

We are over ONE MILLION VOICES STRONG and those in power cannot continue to ignore us.  Student loan debt has reached crippling proportions and the situation is only growing worse by the day.  H.R. 4170 is exactly the type of legislation we need to begin to restore sanity to the way in which higher education is funded in America.  But that's only the beginning.  In addition to passing The Student Loan Forgiveness Act of 2012, several other goals are in the works:

• A Student Loan Borrower Bill of Rights, which will include many different reforms to the student lending system, including the restoration of bankruptcy and other consumer protections to student loan debt;
• Making student loan debt a major issue of the 2012 Presidential and Congressional campaigns by continuing to petition lawmakers to address this ever-growing crisis;
• Broadening the message of FSLD from the singular solution of student loan forgiveness to one of equality and fairness in higher education.  This will likely involve a re-branding effort and a name change for the newly-incorporated non-profit organization; and
• Educating the public about the perils of student loan debt so as to, hopefully, stem the crisis by not adding to it.

These are just a few of the goals we have in mind for the new non-profit.  Feel free to submit your own ideas for what the new organization should focus on by clicking here.

Thank you again for your continued support and incredible efforts to make this initiative such a huge success. 

Onward!

-Rob

P.S. Very special thanks Steven Biel, Stefanie Faucher and the rest of the folks at SignOn.org for their unwavering support of my petition and their heavy promotion thereof. Additional thanks to Rep. Hansen Clarke, Choi Palms-Cohen, Kim Bowman and the rest of the outstanding "Team Clarke." And, my heartfelt gratitude and appreciation for: Kyle McCarthy, RaeAnn Roca, Aaron Calafato, Aurora Meneghello, Serge Bakalian, Natalia Abrahms, Joan Frisina-Bowles, Denise Smith, Kasey Oliver, Joshua Cohen, Adam Minksy, Charlie Kent, Anthony Ceranno, Anthony Cosentino, Ryan Jacobi, and the rest of the FSLD team!  Sorry if I missed anyone, but please know that I appreciate the help of each and every person who contributed to making this petition such a huge success!