On Our Radar

Child poverty requires a permanent fix.

American Banker, February 24, 2021, Fed’s Powell sees opportunity for joint CRA overhaul Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said bank regulators are still aiming to write a joint rule reforming the Community Reinvestment Act, despite years of disagreements between the agencies on how to proceed. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency finalized a

Time after time for decade after decade, arbitrary decisions favored White neighborhoods at the expense of Black neighborhoods in Durham.

Duckett is a leading voice among bankers in the need to close the wealth gap between white and Black Americans

Vox, February 26, 2021, Bias, disrespect, and demotions: Black employees say Amazon has a race problem Interviews with diversity managers and internal data obtained by Recode indicate that Black Amazon employees are promoted less frequently and are rated more harshly than non-Black peers. When Chanin Kelly-Rae started working at Amazon in 2019 as a global

Bloomberg CityLab, February 26, 2021, The True Costs of Working From Home Remote workers spend more on rent and housing costs than those who stay in the office — a gap that might add up to $15 billion or more if commuters don’t return. A Craigslist search for one-bedroom apartments in San Francisco pulls up a

Lower incomes and homeownership rates are contributing factors.

Aaron Klein discusses the problem of high overdraft fees among many smaller banks and suggests regulatory solutions for limiting banks’ ability to profit from these fees.

Lawmakers in D.C., Maryland and Virginia are working on how to ensure that communities impacted by marijuana’s criminalization benefit from its legalization.

Appraisal bias contributes to wealth disparities and segregation in Philadelphia and other cities. Diversifying the appraisal industry would help.

In a major shift, appraisal industry leaders have acknowledged bias in setting home values. Will it be enough to fix the problem?

A new study of the city’s program that sent cash to struggling individuals finds dramatic changes.

More than 2.3 million women have left the workforce since February 2020, bringing their labor participation rate to levels not seen since 1988.

“I don’t want to believe there’s nothing out there, but there has been nothing for almost a year now.”

Business Insider, February 4, 2021, US economy faces ‘tough months ahead’ before staging a strong recovery, Treasury Secretary Yellen says The Treasury, along with the SEC, CFTC, and the Fed, is looking into the GameStop-trading saga and could take action, Yellen also said. The US economy will struggle for at least a few more months