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Just News

for February 18, 2022

News and views from the National Community Reinvestment Coalition. Find more at ncrc.org.

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Announcements


2022 Just Economy Conference 
The Just Economy Conference is back, live in DC June 13-15. Don't miss it. [Register here]

News


Study: Banks Doubled the Pace of Branch Closures During the Pandemic
More than 4,000 physical bank branch locations have closed since March 2020, a new analysis from the NCRC found. In the 20 months after COVID-19 reached US shores, banks closed about 200 branches per month on average – double the rate of the 20 prior months. [Read more]

Lend Us A Paw: Ask The FDIC To Close The Rent-A-Bank Loophole
By Adam Rust
Banks help other lenders get around state laws to facilitate abusive puppy mills and trap pet owners in predatory loans. Federal regulators can put a stop to it. We are asking the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to close the “rent-a-bank” loophole and put an end to these predatory puppy partnerships. [Read more/Sign our petition].

Video: A Conversation With OCC Acting Comptroller Hsu
By NCRC: An Online Event Archive, Recorded Monday, February 14, 2022
NCRC hosted an online conversation with Acting Comptroller of the Currency Michael Hsu and NCRC President and CEO Jesse Van Tol. They talked about the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) and the importance of banks meeting the needs of their communities, the racial wealth divide, adapting to digitalization and other topics. [Watch here]

Views


Robust Section 1071 Small Business Data Needed: Data Drives the Movement for Economic Justice
By Josh Silver
Section 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act may seem like an obscure and arcane provision of a complex financial industry reform law. In fact, it has the potential to dramatically increase access to credit for small women-owned businesses and businesses owned by people of color. [Read more]

Gender and Same-Sex Status in Home Mortgage Lending
By NCRC
Very little is understood about the way age, gender, sexual orientation and race intersect with the mortgage market. Each of these variables, along with the location of the property, brings a complex history of privilege and exclusion that is deserving of additional research. [Read more]

Research


The Great Consolidation of Banks and Acceleration of Branch Closures Across the Country: Branch Closure Rate Doubled During the Pandemic
By Jad Edlebi, Bruce C. Mitchell, Jason Richardson
At the publication of last year’s update, NCRC anticipated a continuation of the branch closure trend. What we did not expect was that there would be an acceleration of closures exacerbated by the pandemic. Larger financial institutions drove that acceleration in 2021, as the biggest banks closed branches more rapidly than before the start of the pandemic. [Read more]

Racial Wealth Snapshot: Native Americans
By Dedrick Asante-Muhammad, Esha Kamra, Connor Sanchez, Kathy Ramirez and Rogelio Tec
This report pulls together the best and most current information we could find. However, it is still incomplete. Native Americans continue to be disenfranchised through a racial wealth divide like Latinos and African Americans. Yet despite this ongoing inequality, it is also true that Native Americans have made socioeconomic progress. Native Americans have seen decreased poverty and unemployment rates, and increased income and educational attainment over the last 25 years. [Read more]
 

Events


Fast-Track To Certification
February 21 , 9:00 Am EST – February 25 , 2:30 Pm EST
NCRC’s National Training Academy is offering a training designed for the seasoned housing counselor who needs a refresher before taking the exam. This course does not go fully in-depth into topics, but rather uses a fun interactive approach to reinforce knowledge of the six core topics covered in the HUD Housing Counseling Certification exam. 
[Register here]

Horasis USA Meeting 2022
March 4, 3:30 pm ET - 4:15 pm ET
Join NCRC’s Chief Communications and Marketing Officer Andrew Nachison at Horasis USA Meeting 2022 for a panel discussion: Governments are Supposed to Discuss, Not Totally Oppose.
[Register here]

NCRC’s Dedrick Asante-Muhammad to Present: Closing the Racial Wealth Gap
March 6, 1:00 pm ET - 2:15 pm ET
Dedrick Asante-Muhammad – NCRC’s Membership Policy, and Equity Chief – will join Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated for its 33rd Annual “Delta Days in the Nation’s Capital,” to serve as a workshop presenter for the workshop entitled: Closing the Wealth Gap.
[Register here]

2022 Just Economy Conference
June 13-15, 8:00 am ET 
Join us in person for our annual conference centering around the pillars of fair housing and lending, workforce and community development, healthcare, business education, civil and human rights, and much more.
[Register here]

Resources


A DC Hub for Nonprofits, Events and Work
For nonprofits and social sector ventures in DC: Do your work and meetings at the new Just Economy Club in DC. It’s hosted by NCRC in the historic Union Trust building at 15th and H Streets, just around the corner from The White House. [Read more]

New Learning & Training Hub
Our new learning management system is live! It is designed with you in mind, offering a more robust experience for every kind of learner. [Learn more]

Browse Our Collection of Research and Reports
We have an extensive library of research and reports that dates back many years; now available in one convenient location! [View all]

Browse Our Collection of Racial Wealth Snapshots
Over the past two years, NCRC has put together a catalog of Racial Wealth Snapshots. [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 the pledge and share it to help us expand the movement for a Just Economy. [Sign and Share]

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

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 Page
CRA will be essential for COVID-19 economic recovery in the communities hardest hit by the pandemic. Use the tools on this page to reach your friends and local leaders. [Read more]

In the News


Bank Branch Closure Rate Doubled During Pandemic
By Melissa Hellmann, The Center for Public Integrity
A new report by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition found that the monthly closure rate of bank branches doubled during the pandemic, resulting in the disappearance of over 4,000 branches from March 2020 to October 2021. Those closures hit low-to-moderate income and communities of color hard, the report’s authors found. [Read more]

Philadelphia's Redlining Legacy Persists
By Taylor Allen, Axios
Philadelphia is among seven cities that account for almost half of all gentrification in the country, according to a 2019 study from the National Community Reinvestment Coalition. [Read more]

The Fed's Sleeper Risk
By Kate Davidson and Aubree Eliza Weaver, Politico
A new analysis from the National Community Reinvestment Coalition found that more than 4,000 bank branch locations have closed since the onset of the pandemic in March 2020. That’s about 200 per month on average, which is double the rate of the previous 20 months. [Read more]

On Our Radar


Biden's Fed Nominees in Limbo After Republican Vote Boycott
By David Morgan, Pete Schroeder and Lindsay Dunsmuir, Reuters
US Senate action on President Joe Biden's five nominees to the Federal Reserve stalled Tuesday after Republicans boycotted a key vote over objections to Sarah Bloom Raskin, the White House's pick to be the central bank's Wall Street regulator. [Read more]

US Consumers Stand to Save Billions from Banks' Overdraft Reforms
By Allissa Kline, American Banker
In one of the first efforts to tally the impact of recent overdraft fee reforms, a new analysis finds that changes under way at just five banks could save consumers more than $2 billion annually. [Read more]

More Cities Seek to Redress Widespread 20th-Century Destruction of Black Neighborhoods
By Troy McMullen, The Washington Post
More than 50 years ago, Santa Monica, Calif., used eminent domain to build the Interstate 10 highway, slicing an east-west swath to the Pacific Ocean that destroyed homes, businesses and churches and displaced more than 600 mostly Black families in the thriving Pico neighborhood. Now residents affected by the construction project are set to get financial compensation. The city recently announced that it is offering affordable housing to those forced out by the freeway. [Read more]
     
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