In the News

Kennedy was the swing vote on a case that affirmed the Fair Housing Act protects against discrimination even if it isn’t explicit.

African American workers are disappearing at major U.S. banks, all while men who run the biggest firms preach the value of diversity.

New Legislation Would Restore Revoked Protections and Rules

West Virginia businesses are finding it increasingly hard to raise capital for investment. Nationally, each of the state’s 55 counties rank in the lowest quintile for loan access, leading the National Community Reinvestment Coalition to categorize the state as a “lending desert.”

The symposium featured three invited speakers: Phil Thompson, Deputy Mayor of New York City; the Honorable Philip Caroom, retired Judge of the Maryland Circuit Court and member of the Executive Committee of the Maryland Alliance for Justice Reform (MAJR), and Jesse Van Tol, Chief Operating Officer of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC).

“Many minority borrowers are looking for trusted financial advisors that reflect the diversity of the marketplace,” said Stella Adams, Chief of Equity and Inclusion at National Community Reinvestment Coalition, an organization that works to promote diversity in banking, housing and business.

Not accepting cash “means effectively that you’re not equally serving all people, and that has an impact in terms of race, income, and age,” says Jesse Van Tol, the CEO of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition.

Not accepting cash “means effectively that you’re not equally serving all people, and that has an impact in terms of race, income, and age,” says Jesse Van Tol, the CEO of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition. “Aside from a disproportionate impact on low income and younger people, immigrants are also less likely to have a credit card and more likely to use cash.”

Jesse Van Tol, chief executive of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, blasted the proposal over the changes to affordable housing.

“This new advance notice of proposed rulemaking appears to ask the kinds of questions that you might ask if you were trying to water down a rule,” says Jesse Van Tol, CEO of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, a nonprofit that promotes fair practices in lending and housing. “Are there loopholes that should be provided? Is the rule burdensome?”

National Community Reinvestment Coalition CEO Jesse Van Tol assailed the plan as an “assault on America’s working class” that shows the sway industry lobbyists have over the Trump administration.

National Community Reinvestment Coalition CEO Jesse Van Tol called the plan “an assault on America’s working class” based on the elimination of affordable housing goals.

“This new advance notice of proposed rulemaking appears to ask the kinds of questions that you might ask if you were trying to water down a rule,” says Jesse Van Tol, CEO of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, a nonprofit that promotes fair practices in lending and housing. “Are there loopholes that should be provided? Is the rule burdensome?”

“By eliminating affordable housing goals from the conventional mortgage market, lenders can choose to loan only to the well-heeled rich and ignore everybody still working their way up the economic ladder,”- Jesse Van Tol on Fannie, Freddie reform plan.

Jesse Van Tol, the CEO of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, said he’s worried that Otting appears to be trying to make it easier for banks to meet CRA requirements.