A Message for CFPB’s Kathy Kraninger: Stand with People, Not Profits
The CFPB's new head must unequivocally stand with low-income communities of color and restore public trust.
In Pursuit of Financial Well-Being: A Conversation on Fairness, Accessibility, and Empowerment
In a world of growing financial complexity, predatory products, stagnating wages, and escalating inequality, financial insecurity is a dramatic problem. We gathered a group of leaders who are combating financial insecurity for a conversation on how it all relates.
Disappearing Act
Facing financial difficulties as new technology takes customers away, the United States Postal Service reviewed 3,300 branches to find those that could be deemed disposable. In low-income communities, just how disposable are the final 162?
A Low-Cost Ownership Oasis in a Desert of Apartment Unaffordability
When this limited-equity cooperative in California began more than 30 years ago, it wasn’t the most affordable place to live. But now the co-op’s monthly costs are 50 percent lower than the average market-rate apartment.
Q: Does Shared-Equity Homeownership Build Assets?
A: Yes! And keeps them safer than traditional homeownership does.
Can Estate Planning be Used to Help Preserve Economic Assets in Low-Income Communities?
Estate planning should be employed as part of a broader plan of preservation of wealth and assets in communities of color.
Scoring Homeownership: Looking at the Long Game
Today’s economic climate offers little hope to many struggling families. Family incomes still lag in comparison, for example, to rising housing costs in many markets.
Unstacking the Deck for African-American Entrepreneurs
The truth is most entrepreneurs’ firms don’t grow quickly, employ people, or earn much money. And, more importantly, entrepreneurial success has far less to do with exceptional skill than with one’s ability to weather repeated failure and financial loss.
The Fight for Full-Time Work in San Jose
Unpredictable hours lead to unpredictable cash flow, which is a barrier to budgeting and saving. One response to this, the Opportunity to Work Initiative, would require that San Jose employers give more hours to part-time employees before hiring new staff.
Is the Housing Market the Answer to the Racial Wealth Gap?
In discussions around closing the racial wealth gap, we should be reminded that a very large portion of wealth gained by white Americans should be seen as ill-gotten.
Being “Well,” Financially
What does it take to achieve financial security for the millions of American households without it? Clearly full employment, higher wages, and a more robust safety net would be some major components. But as important as those are, they aren’t the full picture. Assets are an important counterweight to income.
Q: Who Enforces CRA?
Why are there three different agencies enforcing the Community Reinvestment Act, or CRA? Who does each agency enforce it on?
Why the Community Reinvestment Act Must Be Expanded Broadly Throughout the Financial Industry
The financial industry has been one of the main perpetrators of racial discrimination. It should be obligated to serve all communities, particularly communities of color.
Keeping Everyone Afloat: Is Universal Basic Income the Answer?
Advocates and organizers who deal with the needs of the poor often say it's not really a housing/food/training issue, it's an income issue. So what would happen if we just addressed income?
Almost Home
Shortly after her 18th birthday, Cindy (not her real name) left her group home in the Bronx to live with her mother. Although under...
Financial Counseling and Coaching Need to be Professionalized
What happens to families who are financially vulnerable and rely upon free financial counseling and coaching services to get out of debt or repair their credit score?
Valuing Black Lives and Black Cities
Andre M. Perry’s Know Your Price: Valuing Black Lives and Property in America’s Black Cities reveals the web of historical and contemporary socioeconomic barriers that maintain the racial wealth divide and does this through personal narrative, history, and an exploration of a wide array of social issues.
CRA Modernization: A Critical Moment for Underserved Neighborhoods
The Community Reinvestment Act and the Consumer Financial Protection Agency Act hold great promise for the creation of a more financially inclusive nation, but both depend on critical "moments in time" in Congress that will determine whether they become good laws or are weakened beyond recognition
Is Rags to Riches the Right Measure?
Comparative income quintiles don’t tell us very much about the material conditions of people’s lives. When someone rises into the top fifth, someone else falls into the bottom fifth.
When a Person’s Character Trumps Their Credit Score
Some CDFIs approve loans based on a person’s character instead of their credit score. But they only recommend
doing so when you know the applicant.