View this email in your browser

Just News

for July 15, 2021

News and views from the National Community Reinvestment Coalition. Find more at ncrc.org. For continuous updates, follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

Reminder


Member Benefits Webinar
July 21, 1:00 pm ET - 2:00 pm ET
Join NCRC to learn what resources, services, content, and networking opportunities your membership includes and how being an NCRC member can help you in your fight for a #JustEconomy. [Register now]

Not a member? Join now

News


NCRC Applauds Biden’s Executive Order Targeting Bank Mergers
President Biden’s directive could help stem the tide of bank consolidations around the country. We have long urged the nation’s regulators to strengthen their anti-competitive review of these transactions. [Read more]

National Community Reinvestment Coalition, Equivico By NCRC, and The Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) Announce Recipients of Inaugural Small Business Grant Program
The program awarded $1.3 million to 65 small businesses through grants of up to $20,000 each to fund projects that will help businesses across the U.S. pivot, drive innovation, and grow in a challenging economic landscape. [Read more]

Field Notes


The Mental Health of Women Entrepreneurs: Challenges and Solutions
By Monti Taylor
Adessa Barker, a well-being practitioner and the host of the popular podcast, Attitude Changes Everything, spoke about the mental health of women entrepreneurs. [Read more]

Policy


NCRC Comment on HUD’s AFFH Interim Final Rule
HUD’s 2015 AFFH rule was a vital step in fighting segregation and in fulfilling the AFFH obligation for jurisdictions to take affirmative steps to integrate communities. [Read more]

Consumer and Community Groups Urge Federal Reserve Board to Ensure that Financial Institutions Benefiting from the Payments System Serve the Public Interest
We acknowledge that setting clear guidelines for admitting financial institutions to the Federal Reserve payments services and providing other financial services is necessary given the proliferation of novel charters available at the state level and continued efforts of non-depositories to gain national banking charters. [Read more]

Research


The COVID Pandemic and Its Impacts on Culturally-Significant Businesses: Baltimore, MD, Washington, D.C.
By Sabiyha Prince, Jad Edlebi, Bruce C. Mitchell, Ph.D., Jason Richardson
This report examines the overlooked cultural role of small businesses. These businesses have a central place in establishing and maintaining the cultural vibrancy of their communities. [Read more]

Addressing the Needs of Black-Owned Businesses and Entrepreneurs
By Jamie Buell, Dedrick Asante-Muhammad, Talib Graves-Manns, Wilson Lester, Napoleon Wallace
Despite growth of Black entrepreneurship over the last decade, existing disparities between Black businesses and non-Black businesses is narrowing the pathway to greater employee and revenue growth for these firms. [Read more]

Resources


Forum & Hub
NCRC members: Don't forget you have access to our forum and member hubLearn more about membership here. You can join as an organization or an individual.

2021 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]

NCRC COVID-19 Resource Page
We've compiled and are updating an index of COVID-19 resources for communities, small businesses, individuals and organizations that serve them, such as housing counseling agencies. [Read more]

Events


NCRC #Treasure CRA Campaign Call 
July 19, 2:00 pm ET
NCRC invites you to join this meeting where, among other topics, we will share an update on CRA modernization efforts, as well as an update on the 2020 HMDA release from the FFEIC. [Zoom link]

Member Benefits Webinar
July 21, 1:00 pm ET - 2:00 pm ET
Join NCRC to learn what resources, services, content, and networking opportunities your membership includes and how being an NCRC member can help you in your fight for a #JustEconomy. [Register now]

In the News


White House to Target Bank Mergers, Financial Data with Competition Order
By Nandita Bose and Michelle Price, Reuters
President Joe Biden's planned executive order to promote greater U.S. competition will target bank mergers by pushing the Federal Reserve and the Department of Justice to update merger guidelines and increase scrutiny of deals, according to a source familiar with the matter. [Read more]

Biden’s New Dilemma: How to Slash Housing Costs for Low-Income Borrowers
By Katy O'Donnell, Politico
A long-awaited Supreme Court decision last month gave President Joe Biden the ability to remove the Trump-era leader of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, and he wasted no time. [Read more]
 
Building a More Just Economy: Systemic Racism and Economic Inequality
By Pastor S J Munson, Podcast: Majoring in the Majors
Since the COVID pandemic, issues of economic inequality in the U.S. have received increasing attention in the media, along with our current national debates on race and systemic racism. Here to talk about those issues and how we can build a more just economy for all is Dedrick Asante-Muhammed of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition. [Watch now]

How to Evaluate a Bank’s Community Reinvestment Act Evaluation
By Oscar Perry Abello, NextCity
The National Community Reinvestment Coalition has long advocated for “more nuance” in CRA ratings — and you can see in the chart above how regulators have started nodding to the need for more nuance, given the five performance levels for the different areas examined within the evaluation. [Read more]

On Our Radar


The Era of Diversity Disclosure in Asset Management Has Begun. Will Actual Diversity Follow? 
By Dennis Price, ImpactAlpha
“The asset management industry has a lot of work to do to increase racial and gender diversity,” says Gary Gensler, head of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. [Read more]

Top Fed Official Warns the COVID Delta Variant is a Threat to the US Economy and Says the Central Bank Will Keep Supporting Growth
By Harry Robertson, Markets Insider
A top policymaker at the Federal Reserve has said the fast-spreading delta COVID-19 variant poses a risk to the rebound in global growth, and said the central bank should be patient in supporting the U.S. recovery. [Read more]

Digital Rivals? Central Bank E-Cash Plans Prompt Lenders to Wade in
By Anna Irrera, Tom Wilson, Reuters
As central banks dabble with digital currencies, commercial lenders are ramping up efforts to influence policy and technical plans, according to more than half a dozen industry executives and public filings. [Read more]
     
Support our work

Join the Just Economy Club, the network for individuals who support NCRC’s research, publishing, investigations, training, advocacy and programs.
Join Here
     
Jobs

We are always looking for talented  people.
Click here to see job openings.
 
Twitter
Facebook
LinkedIn
Instagram
Website
Copyright © 2021 NCRC, All rights reserved.
We send email updates to NCRC members, contacts and people who opt in via our web site.

Our mailing address is:
NCRC
740 15th St. NW Suite 400
Washington, DC 20306

Add us to your address book


Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.