Dear NCRC Community,

We’re pleased to share with you these highlights from NCRC’s work and impact in 2023. As you’ll see, what we and our more than 700 member organizations achieved last year helped hundreds of people buy or sustain homeownership, reached and informed millions, and yielded $11.1 billion in commitments from banks for lending, investments and philanthropy that will strengthen entire communities across the nation. The collective force of our research, investigations, publishing and advocacy – shoulder to shoulder with our member organizations in 43 states and DC and Puerto Rico – also influenced critical changes to government policies and private sector practices that have sustained racial wealth inequality in America for far too long.

We celebrated two huge achievements in national policymaking, both of which reflected years of effort. Regulators finalized an update to the rules that banks must follow to comply with the Community Reinvestment Act. NCRC analysis, member comments, media visibility and leadership in public discourse on the enduring legacy of historic redlining all played a pivotal role in the final shape of the new CRA rules.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau also finalized its long-delayed rules to enforce Section 1071 small business lending data requirements first spelled out in the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. CFPB Director Rohit Chopra announced the new rules to a record crowd of more than 1,200 at NCRC’s Just Economy Conference. NCRC research, advocacy and member comments informed and were essential to the final shape of the rule.

In both cases, our work isn’t over. Both sets of rules – and the CFPB itself – face legal challenges from banking trade associations. No matter how those cases are resolved, NCRC and its members will be strong and visible advocates to ensure that lenders live up to their obligations to meet credit needs in the communities they serve – and that regulators fulfill their mandates to set and enforce the rules.

NCRC informed policymakers and the public about the urgent need for these and other financial system changes. We exposed the nearly complete absence of mortgage lending in and around Native lands in New Mexico and Arizona and revealed that it will take 500 years to close the nation’s racial wealth divide if current trends continue. We called out Keybank as the country’s worst major bank for Black borrowers and maintained pressure over those findings in various ways throughout the year. And our “mystery shopper” investigation team proved that small business borrowers get treated worse by bank staff if they aren’t White.

In 2023 we also looked inward. We reflected on what NCRC has achieved since it was founded in 1990 and considered the transformation and impact we aim to achieve in the next five years. The outcome of that effort with our board and staff was a new strategic plan, a clarified vision to solve America’s historic racial and socio-economic wealth, income and opportunity divides – and a mission that is both simple and daunting: Make a Just Economy a national priority and a local reality. That’s also the foundation of NCRC’s Just Economy Pledge.

The challenges are deep. We don’t win every battle. But we made real progress in 2023 and we’re excited for what we can accomplish together in the coming year. We are grateful for your support and commitment to building a just economy. With your continued support, we will keep fighting for a better future so that everyone has the opportunity to build wealth and live well.