In the News

During the National Community Reinvestment Coalition’s Just Economy conference, City Councilors learned the importance of implementing local legislation in order to make sure those capital gains stay in Birmingham’s communities.

Representatives of the DC Board of Education, Bread for the City nonprofit organization, and Movement Mortgage bank discuss the pros and cons of gentrification as response to a study conducted by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition that named Washington D.C. the city with the highest intensity of gentrification.

As wealthy white people moved into these D.C. neighborhoods, 20,000 African American residents were displaced – more than any other city in the nation, according to the report by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition.Researchers defined the problem in D.C. and other U.S. cities as ‘intensive gentrification,’ or when more than 10 Census tracts within a city underwent gentrification from 2000-2013.

A greater number of Hispanics, on average, are being displaced from the most rapidly gentrifying Denver neighborhoods than in any other major U.S. city. That’s among the takeaways from “Shifting Neighborhoods,” a new report from the National Community Reinvestment Coalition.

The Birmingham City Council released a statement reflecting on their participation in the National Community Reinvestment Coalition’s Just Economy Conference, saying that the conference provided helpful information about opportunity zones — federal program incentivizing the investment of new businesses and commercial projects in low-moderate income communities — and how to apply local legislation to benefit Birmingham communities.

The National Community Reinvestment Coalition published a study about gentrification in American noting that Washington, D.C. had the highest rates of forced displacement due to gentrification. In 1970, black people made up 71.1 percent of D.C.’s population. Today, that number is under 50 percent.

The gentrification study released by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) shed light on the ongoing downside of gentrification, forced displacement. Washington D.C, had the highest rates of forced displacement — more than 20,000 black residents — due to gentrification from the years 2000-2013.

“What stands out with Baltimore compared to other areas is that most of what gentrified … was mostly areas that were already white,” Director or Research for the National Community Reinvestment Coalition Jason Richardson said. “There was a very limited amount of black displacement just because black neighborhoods weren’t gentrified.”

A gentrification study conducted by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) revealed that over 20,000 black Washington, D.C. residents have been displaced due to gentrification between the years of 2000 and 2013. This makes D.C. the highest gentrified city; following is Philadelphia and New York City. “You feel it and you see it,” said Jesse Van Tol, chief executive of NCRC, a research and advocacy coalition of 600 community organizations that promote economic and racial justice. “It’s the visibility and the pace of it.”

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell concluded his 72 hour optimistic outlook of the economy by addressing the National Community Reinvestment Coalition at its Just Economy Conference about how the, although strong, economy is not improving the lives of low-moderate income people.

Michael Innis-Thompson has been appointed to Senior Vice President of the Head of National Community Lending for the bank’s Residential Lending businesses. Innis-Thompson serves the National Community Reinvestment Coalition as well as other community and culture-oriented organizations.

Federal Reserve Board governor Lael Brainard in her keynote address at the National Community Reinvestment Coalition’s Just Economy Conference offered possible changes that might take place in the Community Reinvestment Act reform such as creating separate assessment areas for retail and community development activities and new comprehensive tests for community development.

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System Lael Brainard, one of the keynote speakers at the National Community Reinvestment Coalition’s Just Economy Conference, said during her keynote address that strengthening the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) is a priority as well as making changes that allow banks to serve the credit needs of rural communities.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell delivered a video message at the National Community Reinvestment’s annual Just Economy conference where he said that the low-moderate income (LMI) communities are hit the hardest when property values drop. He also said that the struggles of the LMI community are being overshadowed by the current successful state of the U.S. economy according to the Washington Post.

Councilman Peter Ujvagi had planned on attending Democracy Day in Toledo, OH, but instead decided to attend the National Community Reinvestment Coalition’s Just Economy Conference in Washington, DC.