T Barbara Van Kerkhove, Ph.D. Researcher/Policy Analyst, Empire Justice Center Barbara Van Kerkhove is a researcher/policy analyst in Empire Justice Center’s Rochester, New York, office where she does research and advocacy on a variety of consumer finance and economic justice issues. She is the principal author of “Too Big to Fail…Too Poor to […]
On Monday, the Federal Reserve Board of Governors approved a process to revise the rules banks must follow to comply with the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), and an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) to begin that process.
As the COVID-19 crisis unfolded in St. Louis, the maps of the infections looked very familiar to those of us who work to promote integrated and inclusive communities. Unsurprisingly, it was having a greater toll on the city’s majority-Black neighborhoods, where maps already showed elevated rates of asthma and lead poisoning.
De facto or de jure housing inequities: The outcomes are the same Read More »
In this article, diversity, equity and inclusion consultants Stephen Graves and Alex Bethel share insights on how White healthcare professionals can move beyond White fragility and harness their racial privilege to create health equity.
White Accountability & Health Equity Read More »
“This is an encouraging step toward thoughtful updates to CRA rules, which are essential to ensure loans and investments from banks reach underserved minority and lower-income communities that have been especially hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic.”
NCRC statement on Federal Reserve vote to update CRA rules Read More »
National Findings Affirm Local Experiences Last week, a team of researchers from NCRC, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee School of Public Health and University of Richmond Digital Scholarship Lab produced a report with maps and data from 142 cities that showed how historic discrimination in lending and investing in entire neighborhoods correlates with shorter life expectancy
NCRC launches publishing series on Segregation, Environment and Health Read More »
It’s not too simple to say that governmental housing policies that endorsed and promoted segregation and racism had a profound and lasting legacy that we can still see in the landscape of American cities today.
Mapping Inequality: There were no dog whistles, the racism was loud and clear. Read More »
Like most American cities, Memphis has a long history of racist housing and environmental policies. As this report from NCRC and its university partners shows, this history has real world impacts today, resulting in worse health outcomes for Black neighborhoods, shorter lifespans, poorer overall health and greater risk of several complications due to COVID-19.
Environmental Justice and COVID-19: Some are Living in a Syndemic Read More »
As a 16 year old Gen Z scholar from Long Island, Perrino chose to study the health impacts of government sanctioned segregation for a project in her science research course.
Young scholar starts at the intersection of residential segregation and health Read More »
The consequences of redlining are often thought of in terms of economic opportunity and segregation, but these consequences extend far beyond the boundaries of socioeconomic inequality and into the realm of health disparities.
In anticipation of the reform proposals to the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) expected this week, I am continuing the review of performance measures on CRA exams. The most recent blog looked at performance measures on the lending test. This one will scrutinize performance measures on the investment and service test.
How to Evaluate Community Development Financing and Services Under CRA Read More »
With proposed changes to Community Reinvestment Act rules expected in late summer or early fall, we must remind federal regulatory agencies not to diminish the importance of home mortgage lending in CRA exams.
Don’t diminish the importance of homeownership in CRA reform Read More »
Fair housing laws protect minorities from discrimination, but they haven’t eliminated bad behavior in the lending and housing industries.
Advocacy still necessary to ensure fair housing for all Read More »
Data is the sunlight that makes possible the fight against discrimination. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), however, is considering changing its method of disseminating loan data that would make it less readily available to the public and significantly hamper our collective ability to root out unfair and discriminatory practices.
The CFPB needs to keep easy access to HMDA data Read More »
The bill, S. 3503, addresses discriminatory lending, affordable homeownership, modernization of the Community Reinvestment Act and relief for families still recovering from the Great Recession.
