In the News

Sacramento Bee, October 25, 2023, California Leaders Have Not Owned The Scale Or Vastness Of The Housing Crisis It is nothing short of a crisis when a family struggles to afford a place to live. For too many Californians, sky-high housing costs eat up more than half of their income, leaving little for other basic […]

Wall Street Journal, October 25, 2023, Banks Face Shake-Up Of Low-Income Lending Rules WASHINGTON—Top US banking regulators struggled for more than five years to update anti-redlining rules aimed at making banks lend more in lower-income communities. On Tuesday, they completed a revamp of them for the era of online banking. The 1977 Community Reinvestment Act sought

USA Today, October 26, 2023, As Online Banking Grew, Mortgage Lending Regulations Didn’t Follow Suit. Until Now. After nearly three decades, bank regulators on Tuesday updated a 1977 law meant to undo the practice of redlining, a color-coded government-backed policy of discriminating against Black borrowers by deeming ? and literally outlining ? majority Black neighborhoods as “hazardous.”

AS USA, October 24, 2023, Why Are The Big Banks In The US Laying Off Thousands Of Employees? Changes are coming to the banking sector. As younger clients open accounts, digital banking options are increasing in demand, and automation is leading banks to close local branches.  The integration of artificial intelligence into the banking sector, as well

Politico, October 24, 2023, The New Front In The Battle Over Fair Lending Banking regulators will unveil their final Community Reinvestment Act regulations on Tuesday, the culmination of a five-year effort to overhaul the way the landmark 1977 anti-redlining law is applied. Neither banks nor civil rights advocates are likely to be satisfied. Fair-lending advocates, meanwhile,

Perspectives On History, October 24, 2023, AHA MEMBER SPOTLIGHT: NICHOLE NELSON Nichole Nelson is a senior policy advisor at the National Community Reinvestment Coalition. She lives in Washington, DC, and has been a member since 2013. “During my last year of my PhD program, I applied for the Mellon/ACLS Public Fellows fellowship. The great thing

American Banker, October 24, 2023, Banking And Community Advocacy Groups Trade Accusations Of Dirty Pool  WASHINGTON — The American Bankers Association and the National Community Reinvestment Coalition are engaged in an unusual exchange of accusations of intimidation and misrepresentation that puts regulators in the middle of the clash, according to letters obtained by American Banker. 

Off Plan Property Exchange, October 20, 2023, How Redlining Continues To Shape Property Values And Neighborhoods Today In the annals of American history, redlining holds a notorious position as a discriminatory practice that has shaped the landscape of urban neighborhoods and property values. Despite its official abolishment in the late 1960s, the legacy of redlining

ViaNolaVie, October 20, 2023, Historic Preservation In New Orleans By the 1980s, New Orleans’ economy was changing. A new convention center and the Superdome provided new and exciting event spaces. The oil industry had faltered, and “by March 1986, the oil bust had caused Louisiana’s unemployment rate to hit 13.2 percent, the highest in the country

NBC News, October 20, 2023, Black Entrepreneurs And DEI Efforts Face Complaints And Lawsuits — For Racial Discrimination Just months after the Supreme Court struck down affirmative actionin higher education, conservatives have set their sights on a new target: initiatives meant to close racial disparities in business.  Black business owners typically receive less than 2% of

Muncie Journal, October 20, 2023, First Merchants Bank Remains Community Focused As It Continues To Grow First Merchants Bank is a familiar name for residents of Delaware County – as it should be since the bank recently celebrated its 130th anniversary. With locations in four states, First Merchants Bank has grown into a large corporation,

Newsbreak, October 20, 2023, Pennsylvania Customers Disrupted As More Bank Branches Prepare To Shutter Major banks continue to push customers toward online banking as they close locations across the United States. Each week, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) releases a bulletin of banks set to close, and the list continues to

The Sun, October 10, 2023, Major Bank Closures Hit Over 1,000 Locations Across 5 US States With Wells Fargo Leading Pack By Shutting 267 Branches The banking industry has witnessed over 1,000 retail branch locations close already in 2023. In 2021, Wells Fargo lead the pack with 267 closures, per S&P Global Market Intelligence Data

Business Wire, October 10, 2023, Wolters Kluwer Announces Keynote Speakers For The 27th CRA & Fair Lending Colloquium Wolters Kluwer Compliance Solutions will host its 27th annual CRA & Fair Lending Colloquium November 13-16 in Austin, Texas. Kristen Clarke, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Justice, will present the keynote address on Monday, November 13. Jesse Van

The Sun, October 10, 2023, Final Hours Until Wells Fargo Closes Two Locations As 100 Are Set To Shut Down This Year Two more Wells Fargo branch locations are set to shutter in New Mexico on October 4. Banks have pointed to plans to digitize as the main culprit for the closures, but the rate has shocked some lawmakers into action. Around one-third of