WASHINGTON, DC — The National Community Reinvestment Coalition has promoted its two top executives to co-leadership positions and announced the creation of a new political unit.
NCRC’s longtime leader, John Taylor, was promoted to President & Founder. Jesse Van Tol, who started as an assistant to Taylor in 2006 and most recently was Chief Operating Officer, was named the organization’s CEO. They will co-lead NCRC to expand opportunities for affordable housing, economic development in low- and moderate-income communities and fairness in financial services.
NCRC’s board of directors announced the changes on April 9, at the organization’s annual Just Economy Conference in Washington, DC. Both Taylor and Van Tol will report to the board.
“Not only is NCRC’s board fortunate to have John Taylor and Jesse Van Tol as leaders, but our member organizations and the low-income people we help are fortunate, too,” said Bob Dickerson, chairman of the NCRC board and Executive Director of the Birmingham (Ala.) Business Resource Center. “Their entire professional careers and their own personal interests have been about finding ways to help poor families create and generate wealth. NCRC has a history of accomplishment in this area, and we need more. John and Jesse can do it.”
The board also announced that Taylor will lead a new political arm of NCRC, called Americans for a Fair Deal, to help elect politicians who support upward mobility for poor and working-class Americans. That effort will launch later this spring. Taylor also will continue to oversee NCRC’s housing and workforce development programs and will advise Van Tol in his executive and strategic leadership of NCRC.
NCRC, with more than 600 grassroots member organizations, promotes access to basic banking services, affordable housing, entrepreneurship, job creation, fair lending and investments in low-income communities. In the past two years, NCRC led negotiations with banks that resulted in pledges of more than $84 billion in lending, investments and philanthropy for working class and low-income communities.
“I am honored to have Jesse at the helm with me and continue the work for NCRC in this new capacity,” Taylor said. “Jesse and I will work with each other to grow the non-profit as well as introduce and expand our efforts to build a broader coalition comprised of low- and moderate-income people of all races.”
Van Tol has worked closely with Taylor to improve and expand NCRC’s policy and advocacy programs, housing counseling to underserved populations; services for women- and minority-owned businesses and startups; acquisition & rehabilitation of homes in low -income communities; civil rights programs and research, including “mystery shopper” investigations of lending practices at banks; and more. Van Tol played a principal role in some of NCRC’s most successful community reinvestment campaigns and was the lead negotiator for agreements with KeyBank, Huntington National Bank, Fifth Third, Santander, First Financial Bank, IBERIABANK, and First Tennessee.
“I’m thrilled to be named as NCRC’s CEO, continuing my life’s commitment to economic justice and movement-building,” Van Tol said. “John has been my mentor, and there’s no leader I’d rather have beside me as we grow the organization and continue delivering results for low-income people. His guidance and leadership are invaluable. I want to give thanks to the board for their leadership, and to the hundreds of NCRC members who have stood with us for the tough fights and as we face the many more to come. We are not stopping.”
