In the News

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.

Dedrick Asante-Muhammad, Chief of Equity and Inclusion at the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, discussed the 2018 predatory lending lawsuits against Wells Fargo and the ongoing racial wealth inequalities between Black and White Americans.

“Both Congress and the American people have a right to know — what is the articulated policy, what objectives are they trying to reach?” said Jesse Van Tol, chief executive of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition. “To the extent even that’s not clear, you sort of have to read between the lines.”

A study conducted by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition found that banks were twice as likely to offer white entrepreneurs help with their small business loan applications compared to Black entrepreneurs, and three times more likely to invite follow-up appointments with white borrowers than better-qualified Black borrowers.

“As banks grow and they hold more market share, they should produce more of a public benefit,” said Jesse Van Tol, chief executive of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, a fair-lending advocacy group. “A way of ensuring that accountability is to have the public involved in the oversight of what they’re doing.”

Caddo Assets Services Help Community Development, Inc., a nonprofit focusing on providing community and economic development for Indigenous People, is partnering with new programs that target drug addiction in rural areas of the United States. Some resources are expected come from the use of Community Benefits Agreements that mirror those of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition — such as the $30B CBA agreement with Fifth Third Bank.

Mayor Andrew J. Ginther of Columbus, Ohio sets his focus on investing millions of dollars into affordable housing in “opportunity neighborhoods” — identified as neighborhoods with the highest infant-mortality rate. The National Community Reinvestment Coalition is expected to contribute roughly $7.2 million dollars to help with the Mayor’s affordable housing initiatives.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Mike Crapo has a new plan for affordable housing that would replace the current goals. His plan includes a multi-guarantor system and giving the Federal Housing Finance Agency new responsibilities. The National Community Reinvestment Coalition has publicly criticized Chairman Crapo’s new plan ideas saying that the current affordable housing goals have been beneficial in home ownership.