NCRC ([link removed] )
Just News
for January 19, 2024
News and views from the National Community Reinvestment Coalition. Find more at ncrc.org ([link removed] ) .
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Announcements
NCRC Merch Store Now Open
By NCRC
NCRC’s new web shop offers T-shirts, hoodies, baseball caps, travel mugs and other items for the whole family – and a way for our friends and fans to show their support for a Just Economy. [Read more ([link removed] ) ]
News
NCRC, Old National Announce $1.2 Billion Addendum To Increase Community Growth Plan To $9.5 Billion
By NCRC
NCRC and Old National Bancorp today announced a $1.2 billion addendum to the bank’s existing $8.3 billion Community Growth Plan. The agreement builds on the bank’s long-standing commitment to supporting historically underserved and economically-disadvantaged individuals, families and communities, and on NCRC’s ongoing work to ensure all bank mergers feature a clear and specific benefit to those living in affected service areas. [Read more ([link removed] ) ]
NCRC Statement On CFPB Overdraft Rule
By NCRC
“Steep overdraft fees are effectively a penalty for not being rich enough to never worry about whether you moved enough money into your checking account before you swiped your debit card at the grocery. I’m glad to see the CFPB put forth this rule to curb the abusive excesses of what should be a much more modest guardrail for the industry," said NCRC President and CEO Jesse Van Tol. [Read more ([link removed] ) ]
Views
Analysis: How Community Groups Can Use The New FTC-DOJ Merger Guidelines To Advance The Just Economy
By Josh Silver, NCRC
In mid-December of 2023, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released updated merger guidelines concerning the agencies’ antitrust analysis. The agencies developed several guidelines that help them determine when mergers substantially lessen competition, create monopolies and harm consumer welfare by raising prices and decreasing the quality of service. The Sherman and Clayton Acts prohibit mergers with significant anti-competitive impacts. [Read more ([link removed] ) ]
MLK Would Have Been 95 This Year. Let’s Make His Dream A Reality.
By Dedrick Asante-Muhammad and Chuck Collins, NCRC
Just over 60 years ago, in his famous “I Have A Dream” speech at the 1963 March on Washington, King declared: “We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so we’ve come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.” [Read more ([link removed] ) ]
CRA Overhaul: Did The Agencies Do Enough To Cure Ratings Inflation?
By Josh Silver, NCRC
CRA exams were designed in that older era where banks were smaller and more plentiful. Thus, we need CRA exams that expect a smaller number of bigger banks to engage in more reinvestment activity. This intuitive connection is also borne out in the numbers: There is a clear pattern of CRA “grade inflation” in recent decades as modern megabanks were examined under the old and outmoded process. [Read more ([link removed] ) ]
Research
2023 Ends With A Strong Labor Market For Black Workers: Race, Jobs And The Economy Update For December 2023
By Joseph Dean and Dedrick Asante-Muhammad, NCRC
The labor market continues to show strengths not seen in decades, with unemployment rates below the 4% threshold defined as “full employment” for the past two years. This strong labor market has shrunk the historic racial disparities in topline jobless rates. The African American unemployment rate is now roughly 1.5 times that of Whites, down from a long-term trend of roughly doubling the White unemployment rate. [Read more ([link removed] ) ]
Events
2024 Just Economy Conference: Registration Now Open
By NCRC
We are so excited to invite you to join us in person from April 2-4 in Washington, DC. The super early bird tickets won't last much longer. Register today and save! [Register here ([link removed] ) ]
Habitat For Humanity’s 2024 Affiliate Conference
Habitat for Humanity’s 2024 Affiliate Conference is March 4-7 in Atlanta, Georgia. NCRC’s Senior Policy Advisor Kevin Hill will be speaking on the panel, “The Community Reinvestment Act (CRA): What is it? How Can Affiliates Use It to Increase Production?” [Regiter here ([link removed] ) ]
In The News
Consumer Bureau Proposes Overdraft Fee Limits For Large Banks
By Stacy Cowley, The New York Times
Jesse Van Tol, the chief executive of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, called overdraft fees, which many banks charge as often as three times per day, “a way of fleecing people who live paycheck to paycheck — a morally repugnant and economically indefensible practice which the C.F.P.B. is right to curb.” [Read more ([link removed] ) ]
How Redlining’s Legacies Demand New Policy Action
By Danielle Browne ([link removed] ) , Inequality
Just over 60 years ago, in his famous “I Have A Dream” speech at the 1963 March on Washington, King declared: “We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so we’ve come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.” [Read more ([link removed] ) ]
On Our Radar
The Culture War Tearing American Environmentalism Apart
By Jerusalem Demsas, The Atlantic
Back in 2018, Minneapolis generated national headlines for being the first major American city to eliminate single-family zoning. Under a plan called Minneapolis 2040, the city legalized duplexes and triplexes in all residential neighborhoods. The plan led to a frenzy of ambitious regulatory changes meant to yield denser, transit-accessible, and more affordable homes across the city. [Read more ([link removed] ) ]
State Program To Clear Homeless Encampments Show Signs Of Success, But Housing Remains Elusive
By Marisa Kendall, CalMatters
More than a year after the checks went out, nearly two-thirds of the $48 million awarded in the first round of statewide grants has been spent. The money has paid for everything from shelter beds to case workers to security deposits so people living in encampments could rent apartments. But so far, only three of the 19 jurisdictions that got funding reported completely clearing their targeted encampments. Nearly 750 people still lived in those camps as of the end of September, according to the latest data available from the state. [Read more ([link removed] ) ]
Resources
Work And Meet At The Just Economy Club
It's a DC hub for 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 ([link removed] ) ]
Learning & Training Hub
Register for NCRC's catalog of professional development courses for community development leaders. [Learn ([link removed] ) more ([link removed] ) ]
Research And Reports
We have an extensive library of research and reports that dates back many years! [View all ([link removed] ) ]
Racial Wealth Snapshots
Browse our catalog of socioeconomic briefs. [View all ([link removed] ) ]
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 ([link removed] ) ]
Member Hub
NCRC members: Don't forget you have access to our member hub ([link removed] ) ! Learn more about membership here ([link removed] ) . You can join as an organization or an individual ([link removed] ) .
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 ([link removed] ) ]
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