In the News

Journal Review, February 10, 2023, Slow March Towards Something Better, We Hope By the 90s, many of us had to read “A Raisin the Sun” for high school English and it was the first we learned of covenants, codes and redlining policies, but many Americans didn’t have to read about it. They lived it. All […]

CNBC, February 8, 2023, Communities Struggling with Banking Access Give Banks on Wheels a Spin Nearly 10% of all U.S. bank branches shut down between 2017 and 2021 – one-third of those closures were in majority-minority and low- to moderate-income neighborhoods, according to a report from the National Community Reinvestment Coalition. When the pandemic began in March

The Baltimore Banner, February 7, 2023, Report: ‘Creeping segregation’ in Columbia, originally envisioned as model of racial integration Columbia, envisioned as a model for racial and socioeconomic integration when it was founded more than 50 years ago, is experiencing “creeping segregation” and a shortage of affordable housing, according to a new study. The report, published

The Washington Post, February 6, 2023, White people have flocked back to city centers — and transformed them According to a 2019 study published by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, Denver has seen more displacement of its Hispanic residents, on average, than any other major U.S. city. As Denver it has grown more populous and

Olean Times Herald, February 1,2023, Community Bank to close Portville branch A letter dated Jan. 25 to customers indicates that the Portville branch at 7 N. Union St. will close April 23, citing consolidated services with other branches. Customers were referred to the North Union Street branch in Olean, the branch office in Bolivar or

The Alpine News, February 2, 2023, Decent customer service: Can we still bank on it? The consolidation of banking began in the 1980s. What then numbered 18,000, was just under 5,000 by 2021, according to the National Community Reinvestment Coalition. Impacting us locally, from 2017 to 2021 PNC Bank closed 418 locations and Huntington Bank

Front Porch, February 1, 2023, Front Porch: Gentrification Patterns in NE Denver The soaring home values and increasing rent prices that Denver experienced over the last decade has facilitated a pattern of neighborhoods being gentrified and residents being displaced. A study from the National Community Reinvestment Coalition revealed that 27 percent of Denver neighborhoods are

Al Día, January 31, 2023, Al Día: NALCAB announces list of 2023 Pete Garcia Fellowship members The National Association for Community Asset Builders (NALCAB) has announced the names of the 2023 cohort for the Pete Garcia Community Economic Development Fellowship program, marking 13 years of training up and coming Latino nonprofit leaders. The Fellowship comprises

American Banker, January 30, 2023, BankThink There’s A Surprising Risk Lurking In The Details Of Bank Mergers Big mergers don’t get approved today without big Community Benefit Agreements. Big as in $100 billion in the recent U.S. Bank deal, $88 billion with PNC, and likely over $100 billion on the pending TD Bank-First Horizon merger.

House Digest, January 25, 2023, Bad Home Advice Dished Out On House Hunters This glossing-over effect signals that race, sexual orientation, and other facets of a person’s identity are irrelevant in the home-buying process. As The New York Times highlights, black families have historically found it much harder to secure a mortgage loan than white families. Same-sex couples could

Market Watch, January 20, 2023, ‘The economic consequences are real’: Officials push for deeper scrutiny of racial bias in home-appraisal process The federal government is taking steps towards addressing bias in the home-appraisal process, after media reports and a new documentary series surface instances of bias and undervaluations.  “The gap in homeownership between Black and

American Banker, January 26, 2023, Auto lending practices draw regulatory scrutiny for USAA Fair-lending and consumer protection advocates see the unprecedented second failing grade as a sign of both the severity of USAA’s malpractice and a growing willingness for regulators to be tougher on banks.  “What is encouraging about all this is that we’ve called

Trib Live, January 17, 2022, PNC closing 2 more Pittsburgh-area locations, including Vandergrift branch “While I hate to see a business leave the community, I also understand the reasons this is happening throughout the banking industry,” Kessler said. “Fewer and fewer people actually visit brick-and-mortar banks anymore. So much banking is done electronically.” According to

American University Magazine, MetroCentrered: Navigating Neighborhood Transition Washington was the nation’s most intensely gentrified city between 2000 and 2013, according to the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC). Of 154 neighborhoods “eligible to gentrify”—those with median home values and household incomes below the 40th percentile—62 did based on increases in property values and college degree attainment.