San Francisco-Oakland. San Jose. Sacramento. San Diego. Los Angeles. Of the country’s 20 most intensely gentrified cities, California has five of them, according to a new study.

“Americans are in the streets protesting police brutality and what it represents: systemic racism, profound inequality and the brutality of poverty that began with slavery,” said Jesse Van Tol, CEO of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition. “And now the president tweets a threat to end one of the most important pieces of civil rights legislation, and one of the few tools we have to rectify the horrors and massive injustices of past, legalized housing discrimination and segregation. Trump’s threat is a dog whistle to people who want segregation and racial injustices to go on forever.”

The findings come from the Washington, D.C.-based National Community Reinvestment Coalition, whose members include community investment and development organizations, faith-based institutions and civil rights groups.

First Merchants recently announced a $1.4 billion community investment plan with the National Community Reinvestment Coalition and its community-based members and partners. The commitment, which extends through 2025, includes mortgage and small business lending as well as community development investments.

“At a time when the country is dealing with all of this, this rule from the [Office of the Comptroller of the Currency] goes in the exact wrong direction, it would decrease investment in these communities,” Jesse Van Tol, chief executive officer of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, told National Journal.

Architecture is never neutral; it either heals or hurts. According to a study by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, three out of four neighborhoods that were redlined on government maps 80 years ago continue to struggle economically.

Keys to wealth building include access to credit and capital. Where big banks underserve minority communities, Black-owned banks can step in to help.

A joint statement from the National Community Reinvestment Coalition and several consumer protection and civil rights organizations said the OCC’s rule included “gaping loopholes” and included an “overly simplistic metrics system” that would allow banks to meet CRA requirements “while leaving too many credit needs unmet for underserved consumers and neighborhoods.”

First Merchants recently announced a $1.4 billion community investment plan with the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) and its community-based members and partners. The commitment, which extends through 2025, includes mortgage and small business lending as well as community development investments.

The Senate is unlikely to pass the CRA on CRA, an amusing convergence of acronyms, but community groups including the National Community Reinvestment Coalition are also suing the OCC over the rule.

“As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread across the United States, slowing efforts to reopen the economy in many communities, it is critical that the federal government provide the necessary support for families and individuals worried if they will be able to stay in their homes,” said Jesse Van Tol, CEO of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (www.ncrc.org).

A 2019 study from the National Community Reinvestment Coalition showed about 40 percent of Washington’s low-income neighborhoods experienced gentrification from 2000 to 2013, representing the greatest “intensity of gentrification” of any city in the country.

A joint statement from the National Community Reinvestment Coalition and several consumer protection and civil rights organizations said the OCC’s rule included “gaping loopholes” and included an “overly simplistic metrics system” that would allow banks to meet CRA requirements “while leaving too many credit needs unmet for underserved consumers and neighborhoods.”