In the News

Hudson Valley Press, August 30, 2023, New Press Report Six Decades After King’s Historic Speech Sixty years after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his iconic “I Have a Dream” speech during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, a groundbreaking new report has laid bare the stark truth of ongoing Black economic inequality […]

Yes!, August 30, 2023, How To Realize Dr. King’s Dream, 60 Years Later It’s been 60 years since Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his iconic “I Have a Dream” speech at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. King noted that Black Americans live “on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean

Northwest Indiana Business Magazine, September 1, 2023, First Financial Bank Receives National Stewardship Award First Financial Bank received a Corporate Partnership Award from the National Community Action Partnership. The Cincinnati, Ohio-based bank was one of two organizations to receive the award in 2023. First Financial exceeded its goal outlined in its Community Benefits Agreement with the

American Banker, August 31, 2023, Podcast – Banks, Buffalo And A Mass Shooting: How The Industry Can Help Heal A Targeted Community What is the role of banks in fixing deeply entrenched problems in segregated communities that banks’ past lending practices such as redlining helped create? What do banks owe a community like the East

Politico, August 31, 2023, How Biden’s Goal To Boost Black Homeownership Could Be Undone By A New Mortgage Rule The Federal Reserve is seeking to tighten the rules on the kind of cheap mortgages that sparked the 2008 housing meltdown, but its proposal could hit Black and Hispanic borrowers hardest — and civil rights advocates

Seattle Medium, August 22, 2023, Six Decades After King’s Historic Speech, Report Shows Black Economic Equality Is ‘Still A Dream’ Sixty years after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his iconic “I Have a Dream” speech during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, a groundbreaking new report has laid bare the stark truth

The US Sun, August 19, 2023, Major US Bank With More Than 1,000 Locations Nationwide Closing Branch as Frustrated Customers Directed Elsewhere Fifth Third Bank announced it will be closing one of its banking locations in Cincinnati, Ohio. There are 102 Fifth Third branches in Greater Cincinnati, the most of any bank. According to Oates, the

The Final Call, August 22, 2023, Six Decades After The March On Washington, America Still Failing Black Folks A new report titled, “Still A Dream: Over 500 Years to Black Economic Equality,” found that “60 years after the famed March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., gave his landmark

Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder, August 18, 2023, Six decades after King’s historic speech, report shows Black economic equality is ‘still a dream’ Titled “STILL A DREAM: Over 500 Years to Black Economic Equality,” the report, co-authored by prominent experts Dedrick Asante-Muhammad, Chuck Collins, Omar Ocampo, and Sally Sim, and published by the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) and National

Midlands Business Journal, August 11, 2023, Affordable Housing: Legacy of Redlining Stunts Healthy Growth The project, released in 2019, stems from a partnership from the University of Richmond’s Digital Scholarship Lab and the National Community Reinvestment Coalition where it digitized 200 HOLC grading maps from the 1930s. Using data from the 2018 U.S. Census’s American Community Survey

Top Class Action, August 8, 2023, Feds investigate HSBC over lending discrimination claims The US bank holding company for HSBC Bank disclosed earlier this week that its main retail banking unit has been under investigation by federal housing authorities over claims revolving around potential lending discrimination.  HSBC said it has been accused by the National Community Reinvestment

Baltimore Banner, August 5, 2023, Why aren’t people of color getting more home loans in Maryland? Advocates are pushing for changes Two advocacy groups are pushing for a state version of the federal Community Reinvestment Act to ensure more equitable treatment of people of color by home lenders. In Maryland, Black and Latino applicants were

American Banker, August 2, 2023, HSBC’s U.S. arm faces HUD probe over redlining allegations HSBC’s U.S. division is under federal investigation for potentially engaging in discrimination against minority borrowers in six metropolitan areas. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is reviewing the bank’s lending practices in majority Black and Hispanic neighborhoods within the

AIR, August 1, 2023, NCRC’S Van Tol On How Technology Can Change Consumer Finance As technology has transformed financial services in recent years, I think it’s fair to say that most consumer advocacy groups have focused on its downside risks, almost to the exclusion of upside opportunity. Today, there is of course continued concern about

Bloomberg Law, July 31, 2023, CFPB Small Business Loan Rule Partially Blocked Fair lending advocates blasted Crane’s reasoning and the banks’ challenge to the rule. “It’s a ludicrous and retrograde position to take, in effect asserting a right to discriminate in secret to illegally deprive marginalized communities of economic opportunity,” Jesse Van Tol, the president