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"Thanks to an SBA loan through CDBA member Ponce Bank, Daniel Garcia, owner of the Caribbean food service company Salsa Caterers and Special Events, acquired an industrial building in the Bronx to expand his business after growing during the pandemic. Part of what made this acquisition successful was the shared sense of community between Ponce Bank and Salsa Caterers. 'I've met the president of the bank,' Garcia says. 'I can call a person who cares, who's from the community, who knew my history, knew my character, and advocated for us. You can't buy that.'"
"Congress is facing a perilous return from August recess with just weeks to pass a stopgap spending bill and serious differences between the Senate and House on overall fiscal 2024 spending levels and priorities. The fiscal year wraps up on Sept. 30, and Congress traditionally passes a short-term continuing resolution so it has more time to work on a bipartisan, bicameral agreement on the 12 annual spending bills.
The Senate has been writing its fiscal 2024 appropriations bills to the levels laid out in the debt limit law (PL 118-5) negotiated by President Joe Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., earlier this summer, though with some extra emergency funds on top. The House, however, wrote its bills below the nondefense cap set by the debt deal, setting the stage for challenging endgame appropriations negotiations."
"Even though more students feel priced out of college entirely, there are efforts to improve access to higher education that seem to be working. In 2011, San Francisco made headlines when it became the first city in the nation to kick off a college savings account with $50 for every child entering kindergarten in the public school system. Now those students are about to enter college."
In an op-ed for the New York Daily News, LISC president Denise Scott and Citi Foundation's Brandee McHale describe how efforts like LISC's HBCU internship program enrich the work of community investment while nurturing a new generation of diverse community development professionals.
"My hope is for this book to help the people in those and future examples to feel connected and properly informed about what's at stake and why efforts like these are so important to the future of our cities, this country, and the planet. Look out for it in your local bookstore (tentatively) in Fall 2024."
The US Securities and Exchange Commission is probing The Change Company, a California lender that pledges to promote homeownership in underserved communities, over its mortgage-backed securities, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter.
Judge Randy Crane of the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas placed an injunction Monday barring the CFPB from requiring Rio Bank of McAllen, Texas, and members of the Texas Bankers Association and American Bankers Association (ABA) to comply with the small business lending rule until the US Supreme Court rules on the CFPB's funding.
Regions Bank recently hosted the second annual CDFI Convening, attended by 25 CEOs and executives from Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) and Minority Depository Institutions (MDIs) across the bank's footprint.
As he welcomed the group to Birmingham, Regions Head of Community Affairs Leroy Abrahams talked about the role these institutions serve in improving the financial health of our communities and why it's crucial for Regions to maintain close relationships with them.
As the opioid crisis continues to escalate, rural populations and historically disenfranchised populations have suffered particularly high mortality rates. Concerningly, those two demographics coincide in many American Indian communities, where a combination of geographic isolation and economic barriers can both exacerbate the problem and make receiving adequate treatment for addiction uniquely difficult.
But a recent partnership between Native American Bank and a North Dakota Tribe presents an innovative and promising solution to that concerning trend. The Bank is a CDFI owned and operated by Native Americans, which focuses on supporting Indigenous communities.
You can watch Darrin Williams, CEO of Southern Bancorp discuss updates regarding the St Louis Fed, the impact of inflation on consumers, Southern Bancorp lending activity, deposit levels, and possible increase in capital requirements with Scarlet Fu and Romaine Bostick on Bloomberg Television.