In the News

Birmingham Times, May 17, 2024, Birmingham Business Conference Raises BAR For Community Change Dozens of business and community leaders gathered Thursday at the UAB Hilton Hotel on Birmingham’s Southside for Building Alabama Reinvestment (BAR) Conference’s “Banking on Change: Uncovering Opportunities in the South.” The daylong meeting centered on conversations and collaborations with speakers and panel […]

Morning Star, May 16, 2024, During AAPI Month, Financial Advice For A Poorly Understood Group Income inequality is still increasing most rapidly among Asian American groups, compared to other demographics. Wealth gaps between the poorest Asian Americans and the wealthiest Asian Americans are still wider than gaps within any other racial group in the US. Vox has an

Nonprofit Quarterly, May 8, 2024, Will New Rules For The Road Emerge For Bank Mergers? The [proposed] Capital One-Discover merger is a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad idea. Jesse Van Tol, CEO, National Community Reinvestment Coalition, conference keynote address, April 3, 2024 At NPQ, we have written from time to time about antitrust law—that is,

The California Aggie, June 11, 2024, Soaring Housing Prices Around UC Campuses Signify A Contribution To Gentrification In an article for CalMatters, Alexandra Olvera, a 2021 UC Davis first-generation and Latinx alum, described her story of struggling due to Davis’ overpriced housing after her father was deported and her mother had lost her job.  “[My family’s] income

The San Diego Voice & Viewpoint, May 21, 2024, HUD Announces $40 Million Boost for Housing Counseling Nationwide Ten California and seven Washington, D.C., agencies are set to receive a substantial boost in funding totaling nearly $11 million, aimed at expanding housing counseling services for underserved communities. Among the beneficiaries in California are A-1 Community Housing Services in Hayward,

Oregon Business, June 11, 2024, Banks Keep Shedding Branches + Power List Bank branches continue to close around the state, leaving many communities in Oregon with fewer options. Around the country, the nation’s largest banks — Bank of America, US Bank, Capital One, Wells Fargo — are rapidly closing locations. In 2023, 2,454 branches closed,

AP News, June 10, 2024, Coffee, Sculptures And Financial Advice. Banks Are Trying To Make New Branches Less Intimidating Banks such as JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo had been steadily closing branches since the 2008 financial crisis. They saw little need for their networks of thousands of physical locations when fewer Americans

Black News Portal, April 27, 2024, Breaking The Cycle: Dismantling Systemic Barriers To Minority Funding Op-Ed By J. Byron Brazier Local branches allow entrepreneurs to establish personal, trusting relationships with bankers, and those bonds can be a boon to small-business owners seeking financing. Banks consider “soft information” about business customers’ creditworthiness—qualitative data gathered over the

American Banker, April 23, 2024, Climate Change, Stifled Mergers And Other Challenges Facing Banks And Investors Community benefits plans have become commonplace in connection with acquisitions as banks seek to outline to regulators how their deals will satisfy Community Reinvestment Act requirements. Such agreements often include pledges to expand banking services in low- and moderate-income

Crain’s Cleveland Business, April 8, 2024, KeyBank Restores Partnership With National Community Reinvestment Coalition After severing ties with KeyBank in 2021 and branding the business as the “worst major mortgage lender for Black homebuyers” in 2022, the National Community Reinvestment Coalition has announced a renewed partnership with the company. The partnership, announced last week during

Buffalo News, April 4, 2024, KeyBank, Community Coalition Renew Ties With $25M Plan Jesse Van Tol, president and CEO of the Washington, D.C.-based coalition, announced a $25 million agreement with Key to “work together to ensure greater levels of investment in minority and underserved communities.” The NCRC had worked with Key on developing a $16.5 billion

Bankingdive, April 4, 2024, KeyBank, NCRC Team Up On $25M Pledge KeyBank and the National Community Reinvestment Coalition announced Wednesday a collaborative effort to improve the bank’s lending in nonwhite communities, a year after the fair-lending advocacy group raised concerns about KeyBank’s mortgage lending practices. KeyBank has pledged $25 million to address issues previously highlighted by the

HousingWire, April 3, 2024, Barr: Fed Is Taking ‘Thoughtful Approach’ To Basel III Rules “We gave the public extra time to comment on the rule because it was really complex. We’re analyzing those comments,” Barr said Wednesday afternoon during a conference hosted by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) in Washington, D.C. “I expect them to make

Nonprofit Quarterly, April 3, 2024, How To Preserve Existing Affordable Housing: The Value Of Human Scale Between 2000 and 2013, the National Community Reinvestment Coalition found that DC had the greatest “intensity of gentrification” of any US city. During this period, the study also estimates that the city lost 20,000 Black residents. In 1957, DC became the first