In the News

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.

“(W)e’re not headed in the right direction.”, said Asante-Muhammad, chief of equity and inclusion at the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, speaking on the increasing racial wealth gap that disproportionately impacts the Black and Hispanic community.

John Taylor, President and Founder of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, recently complemented BBVA Compass in light of its positive Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) performance ratings from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. BBVA Compass’ recognition stems from their dedication to servicing the credit needs in low-moderate income communities and their commitment to community development.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Mike Crapo unveiled a new housing that would undermine the current successful affordable housing goals that’s been in place since 1922. Civil Rights advocates, including the National Community Reinvestment Coalition released joint statement expressing their disapproval of the senator’s new plan.

The impact of redlining — in which lower-income families had been denied access to credit based on their race — stamps through New Orleans’ geography. It built the city’s modern-day housing market, and the areas defined by its lines still suffer from its invention.

Josh Silver, NCRC’s Senior Advisor, participated in a seminar with other experts in bank lending behaviors to discuss how banks impact the low and moderate income people and how changes in the CRA could help these communities.

NCRC has pushed banks to provide $84 billion in lending and philanthropy for low-to-moderate-income communities and communities of color.

The senator’s American Housing and Economic Mobility Act contains a provision that appears to address historic redlining policies. Just don’t call it “reparations,” experts say.