Just Economy Regional: Mountain West Summit Is Sold Out!
September 26-27, 9 am ET - 6 pm ET
Tickets are gone for the 2023 Just Economy Regional: Mountain West Summit! But you can join our waitlist, and we will be in contact with you when a space is available! [Join waitlist]
Views
Special Purpose Credit Programs Remain On Solid Legal Ground Despite Supreme Court’s Affirmative Action Decision
By Brad Blower, NCRC
After the Supreme Court issued its decision in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc., some in the lending community began to ask whether they should continue to develop and implement Special Purpose Credit Programs (SPCPs) to facilitate access to credit for persons who would otherwise not receive it. These lenders appear to be concerned that the Supreme Court decision striking down affirmative action programs in education would provide a legal basis for challenging SPCPs as unconstitutional because these lending programs could consider an applicant’s race and other protected class characteristics in determining eligibility. [Read more]
Press Releases
NCRC Statement On Erroneous Ruling Against CFPB Discrimination Authority
In response to a US District Court ruling that would stymie important new anti-discrimination enforcement work at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) President and CEO Jesse Van Tol released the following statement: “There are only three certainties in life: Death, taxes and erroneous lower-court rulings in bad-faith lawsuits against the CFPB. Congress instructed the CFPB to combat both discrimination and unfair and deceptive practices – and there’s just no good logical or legal reason for the courts to say the agency can’t do both together." [Read more]
Katy Crosby Joins NCRC Staff As Chief Of Community Engagement & Institutional Accountability
Catherine “Katy” Crosby has joined the staff of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) as Chief of Community Engagement & Institutional Accountability, after helping guide the organization as a board member since 2014, and since 2021 as the board chairperson. [Read more]
Bob Dickerson Appointed Chairperson Of NCRC Board
Robert “Bob” Dickerson, Jr., has been appointed Chairperson of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition’s (NCRC) Board of Directors, resuming a post he previously held from 2014 to 2021.“Bob Dickerson is leadership personified, as every person who’s lived or worked in Birmingham knows very well, and I’m grateful he’s agreed to resume leadership of NCRC’s board,” NCRC President and CEO Jesse Van Tol said. [Read more]
Call for 2024 Just Economy Conference Session Ideas
Add your voice and expertise to the 2024 Just Economy Conference. The conference takes place April 3-4 in Washington, DC, and is preceded by NCRC’s member-only Hill Day on April 2. This is the national event for community, business, foundation, policy and government leaders who want a nation that not only promises but delivers opportunities for all Americans to build wealth and live well. National and local leaders, visionaries and changemakers gather to learn, ask hard questions, network and share ideas on how to make a Just Economy a national priority and a local reality. [Read more]
Events
Climate Group: Climate Week NYC
September 17, 8 am ET – September 24, 5 pm ET
Join NCRC Senior Policy Advisor Kevin Hill at Climate Week NYC, the largest annual climate event of its kind, bringing together some 400 events and activities across the City of New York – in person, hybrid and online. [Register]
FPC 2023 Fall Member Meeting
September 26-27, 12:30 pm ET – September 24, 3:30 pm ET
Join NCRC’s Senior Policy Advisory Adam Rust at the Faster Payment Council’s 2023 Fall Member Meeting. This in-person event will take place on September 26-27, 2023, at the Hyatt Centric Beale Street Memphis in Memphis, TN.[Register]
In the News
Banks Discriminate Against Black And Latino Small Businesses, Report Shows
By Roshan Abraham, Next City
A new report by National Community Reinvestment Coalition shows widespread discrimination in small business lending. The coalition sent testers to 34 New York City bank branches to evaluate disparities in small business lending and found that “bank staff were more cordial, affirming and helpful to white customers than to Black or Hispanic ones.” White testers were encouraged to apply for a small business loan more often than Black or Hispanic testers, “by a statistically significant margin.” [Read more]
On Our Radar
Bayard Rustin Challenged Progressive Orthodoxies
By James Kirchick, The New York Times
Bayard Rustin, a trusted adviser to Martin Luther King Jr. and chief organizer of the 1963 March on Washington, was a towering figure in the fight for racial equality. Remarkably for a man of his generation and public standing, he was also openly gay. When Mr. Rustin died in 1987, obituaries downplayed or elided this fact. Whereas remembrances of Mr. Rustin once evaded the issue of his sexual orientation, today, in accordance with our growing acceptance of gay people and awareness of the discrimination they have faced, such tributes are likely to center it. [Read more]
End of Pandemic-Era Expanded Federal Tax Programs Results in Lower Income, Higher Poverty
By John Creamer and Matt Unrath, U.S. Census
Providence Village, an 8,400-resident town, made headlines because of the local HOA prohibition’s disproportionate impact on Black residents, and has since reversed the policy. But other HOAs in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex have been quietly introducing and maintaining their own bans on renters with Section 8 vouchers, according to a Bloomberg CityLab investigation. The practice has been more widespread than previously known: At least 15 HOAs comprising thousands of homes in the Dallas area have at one point restricted voucher users. [Read more]
SBA Program Upended In Wake Of Supreme Court Affirmative Action Ruling
By Julian Mark, The Washington Post
Thousands of Black, Latino and other minority business owners are scrambling to prove that their races put them at a “social disadvantage” after a federal judge declared a key provision of a popular federal program unconstitutional, extending the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent retreat from affirmative action. The Small Business Administration’s 8(a) Business Development program was meant to open a pipeline to billions in government contracting dollars for historically disadvantaged groups. But in July, a federal judge in Tennessee struck down a provision of the program that equated race with social disadvantage. [Read more]
Resources
Work And Meet At The Just Economy Club It's aDC hubfor nonprofits and the social sector, around the corner from the White House. Move your team into a private office or host your meetings and events or hang out in the lounge. [Read more]
Learning & Training Hub Register for NCRC's catalog of professional development courses for community development leaders. [Learn more]
Research And Reports We have an extensive library of research and reports that dates back many years! [View all]
Sign And Share The Just Economy Pledge America should not only promise but deliver to all Americans opportunities to build wealth and live well. Sign and share the pledge to help us expand the movement for a Just Economy. [Sign and Share]
Fair Lending Tool Use our interactive tool to produce a report on mortgages, small business lending and bank branch networks for any city, county or metro area in the nation. [Access the tool here]
TreasureCRA Keep up and catch up on plans to strengthen the Community Reinvestment Act. [Read more]
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