Advocacy, Coalitions, Community Benefits
The Community Reinvestment Act was a landmark civil rights law passed in 1977 to end discrimination that was once common in America’s banking and housing markets. NCRC leads campaigns, community coalitions, advocacy with federal policy makers and negotiations with lenders to fulfill their obligations under the law.
Our #TreasureCRA campaign seeks to strengthen and modernize it.
Since 2016, banks have pledged more than $84 billion in lending and philanthropy through community benefits agreements negotiated with NCRC. We also serve as watchdogs, analyzing essential data to identify misbehaving financial institutions in our member communities.
Completed CBAs
- KeyBank in March 2016 for $16.5 billion.
- Huntington Bancshares in May 2016 for $16.1 billion.
- Fifth Third Bank in November 2016 for $30 billion.
- First Financial Bank in October 2017 for $1.7 billion.
- Santander Bank in November 2017 for $11 billion.
- IBERIABANK in November 2017 for $6.7 billion.
- First Tennessee Bank in April 2018 for $4 billion.
- Wells Fargo & Company (DC) in October 2018 for $1.6 billion
- Fifth Third updated agreement in October 2018 for an additional $2 billion.
- Truist in July 2019 for $60 billion.
What is the CRA?
The CRA is a law that requires banks to serve the credit needs of communities where they take deposits, including low- and moderate-income communities. The law was passed in 1977 to reverse redlining patterns, and promotes neighborhood revitalization. CRA makes wealth building more accessible by creating access to responsible home ownership opportunities, basic banking services, and capital for small businesses. The CRA also calls on banks to support affordable housing, small business development, social services and neighborhood stabilization in low- and moderate-income communities. Since its inception, advocates such as NCRC, have used the CRA to secure trillions of reinvestment dollars for underserved communities.
Click here for a manual on the CRA and here to learn more about the CRA’s widespread benefits.
Community Reinvestment Summits
NCRC hosts community reinvestment summits where stakeholders get together to discuss the most important issues facing their community and how to productively address them through working in coalitions. We have recently convened summits in Oregon, Ohio, Delaware, Maryland, and Louisiana.
How can you use the CRA?
NCRC offers crucial support to our members on how to use the CRA. NCRC provides research on bank behavior in your community, strategic consulting on how to approach banks, and other assistance to our members that increases their power to create positive outcomes for the neighborhoods they serve. We have brought hundreds of community groups into community benefits agreements with financial institutions.
Please contact NCRC for more information and to learn about the benefits of NCRC membership.
Policy Work
NCRC also works with legislators and regulators to strengthen the CRA, so that underserved communities have greater access to credit and capital.
Recent news on CRA:
NCRC and SLEHCRA Call on Edward Jones to Add St. Louis Assessment Area for New Banking Division
The National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) and the St. Louis Equal Housing and Community Reinvestment Alliance (SLEHCRA) have urged the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to require Edward Jones Bank to meet Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) assessment requirements in the St. Louis area. ...
A new approach to bank ratings would generate billions more for neighborhoods reeling from the pandemic
This white paper describes NCRC’s suggested rating system and discusses our forecasts of increased dollars for LMI neighborhoods. ...
NCRC applauds House passage of resolution to save anti-redlining law
Today, the House of Representatives voted to pass H.J. Res 90, which disapproves of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s (OCC’s) new Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) rules. If the resolution is passed into law, it would make the CRA final rule null and void. ...
Community Reinvestment Groups Sue Trump Administration For Unlawfully Gutting Anti-Redlining Rules
Today, the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) and the California Reinvestment Coalition (CRC), represented by Democracy Forward and Farella Braun + Martel, filed suit against the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) for unlawfully eviscerating the vital anti-redlining rules put in place under the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). ...
The OCC’s new emphasis on essential infrastructure will divert banks from low- and moderate-income neighborhoods
The poorly conceived addition of infrastructure as eligible community development will at best be under-utilized and at worst a giant sucking sound draining resources from LMI neighborhoods and even threatening some of them with physical destruction. ...
Analysis of the OCC’s Final CRA Rule
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) released their Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) final rule on May 20. It will lessen the public accountability of banks to their communities by enacting performance measures on CRA exams that will be complex and opaque, while at the same time over-simplifying how to measure a bank’s … Analysis of the OCC’s Final CRA Rule Read More » ...
NCRC supports House resolution to overturn new CRA rules
House Financial Services Committee Chair Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) and Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY), also a member of the Financial Services Committee, introduced yesterday a Congressional Review Act resolution to overturn the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) rules finalized this month by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). ...
Resolution to protect the Community Reinvestment Act – To ensure that efforts to modernize regulations do not undermine the intent of the law
The following sample resolution provides the history, purpose, and some of the basic functions of CRA and includes the key principles that are critical to preserve in the on-going regulatory reform effort by the nation’s bank regulators. This template is a start and can be adapted by non-profits, localities, state legislatures and other governing bodies moved for immediate adoption. It should … Resolution to protect the Community Reinvestment Act – To ensure that efforts to modernize regulations do not undermine the intent of the law Read More » ...
