Announcements
A Film Screening For Barry Farm: Community, Land & Justice In Washington, DC
July 21, 6-9 pm ET
Please join NCRC's Just Economy Club, in partnership with The Bertelsmann Foundation and DC Legacy Project, on July 21, 2022, from 6 to 9 pm ET for a film screening of the documentary: Barry Farm: Community, Land & Justice in Washington, DC. [Register here]
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News
Destruction Of Abortion Rights Is An Attack On Lower-Income People
We know that the destruction of Roe means renewed economic and social repression for hundreds of millions of our fellow citizens. We also know that this decision could very well be the beginning of the end of other basic civil and human rights. [Read more]
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Videos
NCRC Members Discuss Community Benefits Agreement Process With U.S. Bancorp
The community benefits agreements which NCRC staff assist NCRC members in negotiating with banks form a substantial part of our impact on the ground. To help Just Economy Conference attendees gain insight into how these processes work, we asked representatives from both the membership side and the banks’ side to discuss their experiences with the process during the mainstage Just Economy Awards Gala on the first night of the 2022 Just Economy Conference. [Watch here]
Re-Centering CDFI Work On Its Civil Rights Origin
CDFIs, often assumed to have a race-blind mission to alleviate poverty and provide wealth opportunities in under-banked communities, in fact were formed specifically to address the racial wealth gap resulting from years of exclusionary, racist economic policies like redlining. In this session, we addressed the need to go back to the civil rights roots of CDFIs to address the persistent racial wealth gap. [Watch here]
2022 Just Economy Conference’s Advocacy Week
Nearly 200 members from 36 state delegations, including DC, took our Just Economy message to Capitol Hill for more than 120 virtual meetings with Members of Congress, two of the three federal CRA regulators, and the CFPB. Leading up to Advocacy Week, NCRC had dozens of meetings with state leads and their delegations, two Advocacy Week prep calls with participants, and an in-depth review of NCRC’s Advocacy Week Policy Agenda. [Watch here]
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Views
Initial Analysis Of 2021 HMDA Data: The Year That Homes Became ATMs Again
By Jason Richardson
Mortgage lending in 2021 saw a continuation of several long term trends, including more Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) borrowers and very high levels of refinance lending. The major difference in 2021 was that borrowers shifted to loans which allow them to access the equity in their homes, new national mortgage market data suggests. [Read more]
MAP: Here’s Where Changes To CRA Asset Thresholds Will Undermine Community Reinvestment
By Josh Silver
The recent Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPR) to update Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) rules includes a significant reduction in CRA responsibility for 20% of all banks...These banks would no longer have community development finance responsibilities, resulting in a loss of considerable amounts of community development finance. [Read more]
NCRC, Innovation Council Call For CFPB To Clarify Lender Demographic Data Guidance
By Adam Rust
Such clarity would help lenders to self-test for fair lending by soliciting such data. Federal fair lending laws allow such solicitation. In the statement, the IC makes the case that if the CFPB issued an interpretive rule clarifying how lenders can collect this data, they would be better able to self-test and reduce the risk of disparate impact in their use of Artificial Intelligence. [Read more]
What’s In The Community Reinvestment Act Notice Of Proposed Rulemaking On Healthcare?
By Amy Lieber
The agencies proposed important improvements in the CRA regulations including expansion of geographical areas on CRA exams, more data to scrutinize bank performance, and increased rigor on parts of CRA exams. But there are also areas where the proposal does not go far enough: not incorporating race into exams and lacking in transparent data on all banks. [Read more]
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In the News
Approaching A New Era In Banking Loyalty
By Justyna Piotrowicz, Business Inquirer
The pandemic has brought many negative effects on various industries. For banks, it has meant phasing out physical presence. According to an analysis by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, more than 4,000 branches have closed in the U.S. since March 2020. [Read more]
Financial Market Regulators Can Do More To Tackle Racial Economic Inequality
By Dennis Kelleher and Dedrick Asante Muhammad, American Banker
What many people may not fully appreciate is that financial regulators, who can promote access to lending, capital, and other financial services, have an important role to play — indeed, often an affirmative obligation to act — in addressing racial economic inequality. That inequality has become entrenched in our financial and economic systems through centuries of brutality and discrimination. Solving the problem will therefore require many different strategies. Among them are a number of important actions that financial regulators can take in the near term. [Read more]
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On Our Radar
As Inflation Soars, Black Americans Bear The Brunt Of Rising Grocery, Gas And Housing Prices
By Nicquel Terry Ellis, CNN
The disparity leaves many Black Americans without the funds to help offset the rising consumer prices and puts greater pressure on their monthly income, economists say. Some economists fear that if lawmakers don't act soon to combat inflation, Black families may be forced to go without necessities as the threat of another recession looms. [Read more]
Banks Weigh In On The Overturning Of Roe v. Wade
By Allissa Kline, Jim Dobbs, Jordan Stutts, and Polo Rocha, American Banker
JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs made it known that they are generally following the lead of Citigroup, which recently expanded its health benefits to cover out-of-state abortions. Meanwhile, the CEOs of a number of smaller banks in blue states expressed opposition to the court’s 6-3 ruling, which overturned a 49-year-old precedent. [Read more]
Where An Army Paycheck Is An Easy Target
By Ron Lieber, The New York Times
For soldiers sometimes still in their teens, the dozens of financial services operators that surround Fort Campbell and other military outposts are a gantlet to run every time they step off government property. The results are alarming: The post’s own newspaper reported that in recent years, 40 percent of its soldiers had at least one predatory loan. Often, they owe the loans to business owners who were once in the military themselves. [Read more]
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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 hub! Learn 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]
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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
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