Recent News
This Social Impact report recently released by Sunrise Banks is an exemplary illustration of how to use data to demonstrate a measurable commitment to community economic development.
The Center for Financial Services Innovation (CFSI) was featured prominently in JP Morgan CEO's annual shareholder letter over their cutting edge FinTech Incubator, Financial Solutions Lab. So far they have supported 18 companies that have gone on to collectively raise $100 million in follow-on-capital, including Propel, which simplifies the process of getting food stamps, and Remedy, whose software aims to help consumers avoid overpaying on their medical bills.
A new report entitled Looking for Progress in America's Smaller Legacy Cities documents study visits to Chattanooga, Tennessee; Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Rochester, New York; and Grand Rapids, Michigan - all cities that have experienced some revitalization since the sharp national decline in economic activity during the late 2000s. The aim of the report is to help guide representatives of organizations that fund projects in specific geographic areas - often referred to as "place based funders." These funders can play an important role in helping residents of growing cities access... Read more
The Washington Post covers the phenomenon of the #BankBlack movement taking hold across the country. The first black-owned bank to offer internet banking, CDBA Member OneUnited, was well positioned to take advantage of this wave with its mobile and online services, adding $6.7 million in deposits in the second half of 2016, according to FDIC records. As Teri Williams, OneUnited's President and Chief Operating Officer shares, "It reflects a change in the understanding of the power of our dollars and the fact that we need to use our money more purposefully."
Beneficial State Bank demonstrates their commitment to a triple bottom line of community, profit, and environmental sustainability at their recent art event, which brought together groups who on the surface appeared to have quite disparate interests.
Immediate Cuts to the US Treasury Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund) will imperil economic propsects for millions in America's most distressed rural, urban and Native American communities.
Watch Federal Reserve Chairman Janet Yellen praise the CDFI Fund in this video.
United Bank of Philadelphia has much to celebrate as they enter into their 25th year. Coinciding with their celebration, Fulton Financial Corporation announced an investment of $675,000, which represents an investment equal to approximately 19.86% of United's total capital on a pro forma basis. Fulton credits this investment due to United's deep involvement in the advancement of minority owned businesses in Philadelphia.
Community Bank of the Bay and its long time client, community nonprofit, Disability Rights Advocates (DRA) jointly announced today that through the generosity of one of the bank's founding shareholders, 10,000 shares of its common stock were donated to help establish the Larry Paradis Legacy Fund, named after DRA's founder who passed away in 2016.
The CDFI Fund is one of the few bipartisan solutions agreed upon by industry and consumer advocates. In a recent hearing on de novo institutions, Representative Keith Ellison spoke eloqunetly about the need for the continued existence of the CDFI Fund.
The CDFI Fund provides a critical influx of resources to rural America, as many communities lack access to basic financial services due to low population density and high poverty rates. President Trump's proposal to eliminate the $233 million CDFI Fund will disproportionately hurt the red states that carried him to victory in the 2016 election.
Fast Company provides a compelling overview of the CDFI Fund's role as an effective public-private partnership addressing critical economic development challenges. As Ellis Carr, CEO of Capital Impact Partners, a nonprofit CDFI loan fund, shared, "With the current administration, some of the sound bites you hear are around the forgotten man or the forgotten people. CDFIs have been doing this work for 30 years - we've been working with that forgotten population all along."
Proposed Elimination of US Treasury Community Development Finance Fund will close off economic opportunity for millions of hardworking people in America’s hardest hit communities.
President Trump is expected to release his budget proposal tomorrow Thursday, March 16th. Calling for a dramatic $54 billion increase in military spending, he is expected to call for significant cuts to domestic discretionary funding, which ... Read more
CDBA along with partner banking trade associations: The American Bankers Association (ABA), Independent Community Bankers Association (ICBA), and the National Bankers Association (NBA) released a joint press letter calling for $250 million for the CDFI Fund, including $23 million for the BEA program in FY 2017 and $25 million for it in FY 2018.
This new podcast asks community members and organizations across the U.S. about the challenges they are facing and solutions they’ve found for significant social issues like economic mobility, affordable housing, small business development and community reinvestment. Each episode showcases successful programs that help provide access to opportunity for low- and moderate-income individuals and families. The latest episode, "Access to Community Ownership," features organizations helping manufactured home residents take ownership of their communities to improve economic stability and security... Read more
CDBA Member, Community Bank of the Bay, an Oakland, California-based CDFI recently announced the completion of a $12 million private placement, which will result in approximately $11.5 million of net proceeds to the Bank. As CEO William Keller shares, "This capital raise will allow Community Bank of the Bay to better meet the needs of our clients and the communities we serve. We are especially excited to be able to support in a greater way the dynamic growth that is occurring in Oakland, a community that we have been proud to serve for over twenty years... Read more
President Trump met with nine community bankers last week to discuss the needs of community banks within the greater framework of regulatory reform. On reflection of the meeting, Rep. Jeb Hensarling, Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee shared that, "It is encouraging to have a president who is listening to the concerns of community bankers who have been buried under an avalanche of burdensome regulations as a result of Dodd-Frank."
Concerned citizens around the country are closing their accounts with "Big Banks" either in protest of investments in controversial projects such as the Dakota Access pipeline or in support of a more localized form of community investment in the case of the #BankBlack movement. As Beneficial State CEO Kat Taylor shares, "We know how mass movements can start and increase and aggregate to something that moves hearts and minds - and markets."
Carver State Bank was established in 1927 and is the oldest bank headquartered in Savannah. This year, they are celebrating their 90th anniversary. Learn more about Carver in the profile written by bank President Robert E. James.