Once a printed, glossy newsletter delivered four times a year,

ReinvestmentWorks has been transformed

to a new eco-friendly, unbound format, on 100% recycled paper. The print version will now be mailed every two months only to NCRC members!

Archive issues will be available online. Along with its new format and new frequency, look for other exciting developments including:

✔ More member-focused articles

✔ National campaign updates

✔ Best practices from the field

“With NCRC approaching its 20th anniversary, the connection between economic and environmental justice is stronger than ever,” NCRC president John Taylor says.

“Like everyone, we are concerned about the economy and the environment, and limited distribution, on eco-friendly paper, helps our environment and saves printing and mailing costs as well.”

If you are not yet an NCRC member, but would like to join and continue to receive ReinvestmentWorks, please visit www.ncrc.org. n

ReinvestmentWorks Goes Green!

A Publication of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition - Early Summer Edition 2009

Visit us on the web at www.ncrc.orgReinvestment

W o r k s

Disparatiesin MortgageLendingExplored

MainStreetBailoutConcert

NCRC Membersin theTrenches

The Brave NewWorld ofEconomics

National AchievementAward Winners

6 63 5 7

Roadmap to a Financially Inclusive SocietyNCRC 2009 National Conference in Review

Fighting Foreclosure Family by Family

Housing Counselors Face Increasing PressureNCRC’s 2009 national conference,

“Roadmap to a Financially Inclusive Society,” brought

together cabinet and elected government officials, community leaders, the media, and members of housing and civil rights groups to dialogue on how to achieve fair and equal access to basic banking services and stability in the US financial system. From March 11 to 14, NCRC held workshops, trainings, and plenary and interactive sessions, in Washington, DC, to explore fresh ideas designed to restore economic opportunity for America’s working families. These ideas focused on creating jobs, preventing foreclosures, stabilizing neighborhoods, developing businesses, growing the green economy, closing the racial/ethnic wealth gap for communities of color, and most important, modernizing the Community Reinvestment Act.

NCRC president and chief executive officer John Taylor had a special message for conference attendees: “Our dire economic circumstances, and the pain and suffering of so many families, owing to foreclosures and job loss, has a silver lining. Namely, the greed and malfeasance that has brought

our economy down has also awakened a sleeping giant. That sleeping giant is our collective American consciousness that fundamentally believes in fairness and will not tolerate abuse of our fellow citizens.”

Taylor continued to explain that these dire economic times, in fact, offer an opportunity to redefine what is good for America. We now have the opportunity of “immense proportions” to move beyond the conservative paradigm of “what’s good for big business is good for America,” he explained, to a new economic framework that views what is good for America is “what is good for its workers, its seniors, its children, and our environment.” In other words, these times offer the opportunity for

“a new, eclectic activism that moves America closer to its ideal: a nation and society that demands fairness and equitable treatment.”

To support this vision, Taylor urged policymakers, political commentators, and even the general public to move beyond “the blame game” for the nation’s financial crisis — and to focus on working with Congress and the Obama administration to develop solutions to put America

(continued on p. 4) (continued on p. 8)

The big news across the country is about homeowners in trouble. But as an initial wave of foreclosures

from bad home loans gives way to a second wave caused by unemployment, there’s an invisible army frantically working to alleviate the problem: housing counselors.

Housing counselors are the foot soldiers in this financial crisis, providing services, usually free of charge, in nonprofits and state agencies throughout the U.S. Many are spending hours negotiating between borrowers who can’t make their mortgage payments and their lenders, helping homeowners establish new payment terms they would never have achieved on their own.

“Unless you have someone who’s a third party and can beat the drums for you, you don’t get anywhere,” said Ann McIntyre, chair of the BACH Foundation, a HUD-certified housing counseling organization and an NCRC member. “I think, no matter what the government does, it’s the housing counselors who’ll bring us out of this mortgage crisis.”

While housing counselors in hard-hit communities around the country may be dealing with unique conditions, their experiences and the techniques they use to assist their clients have some common themes.

Persistence

Ann McIntyre is well versed in the role of housing counselor. She’s been in the business for 15 years, and the BACH Foundation—with offices in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and others opening in Florida and Maryland—runs popular pre-and post-purchase homeownership classes.

But this has been a year unlike any other. While the organization’s housing division helped just under 600 clients during the 2008 fiscal year, it’s already reached that number in the first six months of 2009—and the majority of those clients were in foreclosure. McIntyre and her staff have been able to help 95 percent of intakes, with dedication—and persistence. While some cases are cut and dry, most

by Marina L. Rota

by Amanda Abrams

727 15th Street, Suite 900W

ashington DC

20005

2 Reinvestment W o r k s

Jump Start our National Economy and Prevent Further Predatory Lending Practices

Ted WysockiChairpersonLocal Economic & EmploymentDevelopment Council

Bethany SanchezVice ChairpersonMetro Milwaukee Fair Housing Council

Gail BurksVice ChairpersonNevada Fair Housing Center, Inc.

Edward J. Gorman, IIISecretaryAmerican Community Partnerships

Ernest (Gene) E. OrtegaTreasurerRural Housing, Inc.

Lee BeaulacPast ChairpersonPathStone

Stella J. AdamsNorth Carolina Branch of NAACP

Marva Smith Battle-BeyVermont Slauson EconomicDevelopment Corporation

Nadine Cohen, Esq.Greater Boston Legal Services

Robert Dickerson, Jr.Birmingham Business Resources Center

Alan FisherCalifornia Reinvestment Coalition

Pete GarciaThe Victoria Foundation

Charles HarrisHousing Education & EconomicDevelopment

Irvin HendersonNational Trust for Historic Preservation

Jim HuntSunnyside Up-CNRC

Jean IshmonNorthwest Indiana Reinvestment Alliance

Elbert JonesEscambia County HousingFinance Authority

Matthew LeeInner City Press/Fair Finance Watch

Maryellen LewisMSU Community &Economic Development

Dean LovelaceDayton Community Reinvestment Institute

Moises LozaHousing Assistance Council

Dory RandWoodstock Institute

Rashmi Rangan, Esq.Delaware Community ReinvestmentAction Council

Shelley SheehyRiver Cities Development Services

Hubert Van TolPathStone

Morris WilliamsHamilton County CommunityReinvestment Group

NCRC BoaRd of diReCtoRs

NCRC staff

Welcome New NCRC Members!Chicanos Por La Causa, Inc., AZ

BAME Renaissance CDC, CA

California Coalition for Rural Housing, CA

Insight Center for Community and Economic Development, CA

Opening Doors Inc., CA

SAFE-BIDCO, CA

West Company, CA

Del Norte Neighborhood Development Corporation, CO

The American Homeownership Foundation, Inc., FL

Friedman Associates, IA

Iowa Home Ownership Education Project, IA

Housing Action Illinois, IL

Lake View Towers Residents Association Inc., IL

Oakpark Regional Housing Center, IL

City Life/Vida Urbana, MA

Fair Housing Center of Greater Boston, MA

Partners for Community Inc., MA

Maryland CASH Campaign, MD

Quitman County Development Organization, Inc., MS

Financial Stability Partnership, NE

Northwest New Mexico Council of Governments, NM

Banana Kelly CIA, Inc., NY

Dutchess County Community Action Partnership, NY

East Side Organizing Project, OH

Neighborhood Housing Services of Greater Cleveland, OH

Ohio Capital Corporation for Housing, OH

CASA of Oregon, OR

United Community Center, WI

Successive administrations, with the support of Congress, have made clear that protecting the banks and Wall

Street is of penultimate importance. At last Count, over $11 trillion has been directed toward rescuing the financial services sector.

Time now for these elected officials to turn

their attention to the needs of voters and consumers. Rising unemployment and massive foreclosures have impacted tens of millions of American households. Even those secure in their jobs and homes have watched their own net wealth deteriorate. Families are restructuring retirement and college plans, putting off purchases and vacation plans, and even postponing needed medical treatments. In general, Americans are sharing a growing lack of confidence about the future prospects for their children and this country.

One common lament, from many business owners and prospective homeowners, is the lack of access to loans and investments. Understandably, many voters are flabbergasted that the very same banks we have bailed out are refusing to make loans.

No other legislative initiative holds more promise for creating greater financial access for consumers than HR 1479, the Community Reinvestment Modernization Act of 2009. This proposed law seeks to do two things: first, to strengthen the existing Community Reinvestment Act

by John Taylor

Ada Albright Director, National Training Academy

Dica Adotevi Executive Vice President of Finance & CFO

Avis Allen Consultant

Sarah Bedy Membership Organizer

David Berenbaum Executive Vice President

Jim Carr Chief Operating Officer

Vondetta Carter Senior Accountant

Mary-Jean Collins Campaign Manager (Consultant)

John Connolly Intern

Marion Cornet Intern

Antoine Craft Mortgage Adviser

Patrice Davenport Director of Membership & Marketing

Allison Defoe Assistant Director of Finance, DCMBEC

Ruth Dickey Compliance Manager, National Neighbors

Siobhan Dillard Accounting Assistant

Marquis Fair Executive Assistant to the CEO

D’An Hagan Manager of Communications

Elease Hall Mortgage Advisor

Owen Jackson Director, DCMBEC

Tamara Jayasundera Senior Research Analyst

Frank Johnson P/T Facility Coordinator

Janette Jones Mortgage Advisor

Matthew Juliar Event Management & Training Assistant

Jon Losciale Producer

Katherine Lucas-Smith Special Assistant to the COO

Tonya Magee Mortgage Adviser

Denitza Mantcheva Research Analyst

Dori Martin Lead Membership Organizer

Jeffrey May Assistant Director, National Neighbors

Luisa Melgarejo Compliance Manager, National Neighbors

Maria Middleton Administrative Assistant, DCMBEC

Teddy Miller Government Affairs Manager

Michael D. Mitchell, Esq. Director, National Neighbors

Michelle Mulcahy Research Specialist

Frances Murray Director, Human Resources

Aliya Nagimova Business Analyst, DCMBEC

Shawna Nelms Associate Director, NHSF

Jah-Asia Nuru Compliance Manager, National Neighbors

Pablo Rontondaro Mortgage Advisor

Pamela Sherwood Intake Specialist

Joshua Silver Vice President of Research & Policy

Samuel Smith Office Coordinator

Dion Spencer, Esq. Director of Legislation & Regulatory Policy

John Taylor President & CEO

Jesse Van Tol Special Assistant to the CEO

Ernestine Ward Special Assistant to the Executive Vice President

Marcia K. West Membership & Marketing Project Assistant

by making it more effective, and second, to expand the CRA’s purview to include other financial institutions that have persevered by means of taxpayer supports.

We now know that if the CRA had covered independent mortgage companies, most of the malfeasant and unsavory lending practices (that led to millions of foreclosures and brought down the nation’s

economy) would not have occurred. Federal Reserve Bank economists have found that less than 7% of the high cost loans, the source of our crisis, were made by CRA-regulated institutions.

So what allows one group of lenders from the financial services sector to act differently from another group of lenders? Why would independent mortgage companies make loans to borrowers that they knew were not sustainable, while CRA-regulated banks would say no to those same consumers?

As it turns out, regulatory oversight matters— this was the single most predominant difference between bank and non-bank mortgage lenders.

A CRA-regulated bank would have CRA examiners reviewing their loan portfolios and practices to ensure against unethical, malfeasant, unsafe and unsound, and discriminatory lending practices. The regulatory oversight for non-bank mortgage institutions? Well, not so much.

If independent mortgage companies and Wall Street investment banks had had the same CRA oversight as banks, we would have avoided most of the unsavory and predatory lending and the ensuing foreclosures that have led America into this economic catastrophe.

The HR 1479 seeks to fix this disparate regulatory treatment and, thereby, level the regulatory oversight playing field while increasing average Americans’ access to credit and capital. The CRA assigns an “affirmative obligation” on those bailed-out financial institutions to safely and soundly make loans to well-heeled and to working-class Americans as well. If you happen to be working class, but pay your bills on time, and you can show you are credit worthy, this CRA law says the bank can’t simply ignore you because you’re not very wealthy. By leveling this playing field between banks and non-banks, we are ensuring the taxpayer is protected from malfeasant, unethical lending practices by having examiners periodically review these lenders.

Here’s a list of lenders not covered by CRA:

n Independent Mortgage Companies

(to name a few that have disappeared: Countrywide, Ameriquest, New Century, Option One, Golden West)

n Mainstream Credit Unions (not predatory lenders, but in most areas, lag banks in serving minorities and low wealth borrowers)

n Insurance Companies (try being a business and getting loan where life insurance companies refuse to issue property or casualty policies in your geography)

n Securities Firms (say Morgan Stanley, Bear Sterns, Charles Schwab, and others. Honk if you paid for that executive salary).

With this expansion of CRA to other financial institutions, we not only decrease unsafe lending practices, but we exponentially expand the size of the financing pie available to low-, moderate- and middle-income neighborhoods for small businesses, homeowners, investors and others. Literally trillions of additional private sector dollars would available for reinvestment in cities and towns, and all this without government subsidies, like the $11 trillion welfare payment already made to our financial services system.

Some other important benefits are in HR 1479 including making the lending practices of all lenders more transparent. The American Bankers Association maintains that bank lending was up in 2008. They say it is all those other lenders who have disappeared. This bill would make transparent what lenders are doing and would address the banks’ allegations that these other lenders are not lending.The new CRA would have a number of other significant contributions that would aid business owners, homeowners, renters and investors in accessing loans and investments. Small cities and towns, rural areas would also be covered by this law; lenders couldn’t ignore those communities in favor of only the mega-cities.

Washington, DC, produces some interesting characters who have had major influences over the lives of so many millions of Americans. The average person probably has heard his name, but has no idea of the central role that Sen. Phil Gramm played in sowing the seeds for this economic crisis that threatens all our futures. No single person worked harder to make the banks less accountable, to remove regulations and constraints and to undermine efforts to prevent predatory lending practices than this senator who voluntary left his seat in the US Senate to work for the very banks he protected.

Had Senator Gramm, then chairman of the US Senate Banking Committee, supported efforts to prevent the widespread application of unsafe, predatory and unsustainable loans that the industry was able to offer consumers with Wall Street’s blessing and investor’s hard-earned funds, we most assuredly would have avoided much of the foreclosure and economic crisis we now face.

CRA modernization will create the kind of needed responsible regulatory oversight to protect future borrowers from the malfeasance suffered by so many, and it will at the same time, increase the pot of resources available to creditworthy borrowers under terms and conditions that are fair and sustainable.

In three months, 45 members of Congress have already signed on to be co-sponsors on this legislation. Colleagues I encourage you to visit www.ncrc.org to check to see if your representative is a co-sponsor or not, and then take action to support this legislation. It’s time that Congress ensures that those who elected them at least have the chance to start or expand businesses or to become homeowners the old fashion way, that is, borrowing money from a lender that is not predatory, usurious or disinterested. n

John Taylor, greets President Obama on June 17 for the announcement on the Administration’s financial reform plan.

Marina Rota Acting Editor

ReinvestmentWorks is published bi-montly by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition. NCRC welcomes your questions and member article comments. Contact us at: NCRC, 727 15th Street, NW, Suite 900, Washington, DC 20005Phone: (202) 628-8866 Fax: (202) 628-9800E-mail: membership@ncrc.org

3Reinvestment W o r k s

Record-setting unemployment rates. A million homes lost to foreclosure. All over the country, we are feeling

the harsh effects of the economic crisis that is putting our neighborhoods at risk. That’s why NCRC members, nationwide, joined together on Thursday, June 11, to speak out about the need for jobs and homes in

our communities. All in all, 55 events took place in over 50 cities, sowing the seeds of a powerful grassroots movement to gain support for The Community Reinvestment Modernization Act of 2009 (HR 1479).

“The current crisis demonstrates that consumer protections are integrally linked with the safety and soundness of the financial system. As the government has propped up financial institutions with trillions of dollars in investments, loans and guarantees, it has not done enough to not protect working Americans from foreclosure and job loss, or to prevent this crisis from occurring again,” said John Taylor, president and CEO of NCRC. “In the era of ‘too big to fail,’ the public must be too loud to be ignored. Today’s actions in communities across America loudly say that enough is enough—it’s time to restore trust and integrity to the U.S. financial system.”

In San Diego, Housing Opportunities Collaborative hosted an entire week of action that began on June 6 with the Smart Money Summit and ended on June 11 with a noon rally at the Federal Building. At the event, members urged Congress to modernize the Community Reinvestment Act to protect low- and

Jobs and Homes Now! A National Day of Action — June 11, 2009by Jim Byrne and Dori Martin

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan and John Taylor share a light moment at NCRC headquarters, before a May14 press conference on the Making Home Affordable program.

Now it’s your turn! Send YOUR BEST SHOT and a caption to membership@ncrc.org for possible publication in ReinvestmentWorks.

Our Best Shot!

Inspired by President Barack Obama’s message “to be the change”, the National Community Reinvestment

Coalition and the National Council of Negro Women, in partnership with the Real Hip-Hop Network, announces a major benefit concert to be held on the National Mall, in Washington, DC, on Saturday, September 12, 2009. The benefit concert, which coincides with The Black Family Reunion, sponsored by the Council, will raise money for families facing foreclosure.

Over the past three years, more than 5 million homeowners have experienced foreclosure. And within the next three years, an additional 5 million foreclosures are expected. A home foreclosure is one of the most severe economic events a family can suffer. When concentrated, they can destroy the wealth and economic prosperity of entire communities. Over the past year, most of the government’s financial support has been channeled to bailout Wall Street, while little has been spent to assist struggling families on Main Street. The “Main Street Bailout!” collaborative seeks to mobilize and bring as many as 1 million people to the National Mall to raise funds to assist families at risk of losing their homes, and to underscore the continuing need for government intervention for those hardest hit by the sharp economic downturn.

Donations raised from the event will be used to help homeowners restructure their loans and make them more affordable over the long term. Funds raised will also be targeted to initiatives across the country to return vacant and abandoned foreclosed properties to productive use. Moreover, the collaborative is also designed to engage our youth in heeding to President Obama’s call to engage in community and public service. The Main Street collaborative will engage the business community in point-of-sale donations at retail registers, and through online, mobile texting, and phone contributions in the months leading up to and after the concert.

Local entrepreneurs who are contributing to mobilization efforts include Grammy-nominated artist Raheem DeVaughn and TV and radio personality Herkules from WPGC 95.5 DC. The concert seeks to build on this local talent to attract leading performers from across a broad spectrum of musical genres, ranging from hip-hop, rap, and jazz to pop, rock, and country western. The Real Hip-Hop Network will release a commemorative CD and DVD of this historic concert to be televised nationally and streamed live at www.rhn.tv. Visit www.ncrc.org in coming weeks for updates on this important benefit concert. n

Concert Benefitting Main Street to be Held on the National Mall

moderate-income communities from the irresponsible lending practices that led to the current economic crisis. Participants asserted that banks have failed to provide meaningful help quickly enough to people who face foreclosures. Once a homeowner seeks a loan modification to avoid foreclosure, “You are looking at three months before there is a response,” said Jim Bliesner, an event organizer.

An open letter addressed to President Obama and other elected officials was also presented at the press conference. This letter will be delivered to Washington, DC, by Congressman Bob Filner.

In Richmond, CA, a top official of the Federal Reserve Board heard stories of severe personal suffering in the financial/mortgage foreclosure crisis. “We lost our savings, our credit and our dream house,” Bernice Ramos, a Richmond homeowner told Allen Fishbein, an adviser for consumer

policy in the Division of Consumer Affairs.

“There is no substitute [for] actually [coming] into a community like Richmond and [hearing] from a very eloquent panel and people in the audience about your concerns,” said Fishbein, formerly director of housing and credit policy for the Consumer Federation of America.

The forum was held in the heart of the so-called Iron Triangle, a community that has been decimated by the economic crisis and resulting home foreclosures. It was the first of a series of forums that the Fed plans to participate in this summer. It was co-sponsored by the California Reinvestment Coalition, the Contra Costa County Interfaith Supporting Community Organization and the Richmond and Oakland chapters of ACORN.

Chants of “No Job, No Peace! No Home, No Peace! No Justice, No Peace” rained on downtown Chicago on a Thursday morning. In coalition with Chicago Jobs with Justice, over 75 community and labor activists joined in solidarity with the union workers who drove three hours from Moline demanding that its line of credit be extended to Quad City Die Casting to keep their 100 jobs.

UE Local 1174 had already organized rallies in Davenport, IA, to protest the closing, on July 12, of this 60-year-old family-owned business that manufactures precision metal parts. “Extend us credit so we can keep our jobs,” said Deb Johann who has worked for Quad City Die Casting for 31 years. “People are going to lose their homes,” she noted. “It’s time that they bail us out.”

The Community Reinvestment Association of North Carolina, in cooperation with more than a dozen partner organizations, hosted the Financial Freedom Fest in downtown Durham. The event had a carnival atmosphere with a piñata, dunking booth, live music and financial education games. Participants discussed the importance of CRA modernization, comprehensive antipredatory lending legislation, small business owner assistance, foreclosure prevention, student loan repayment assistance, consumer credit reform, health care reform and the Employee Free Choice Act. Representatives from local housing counseling agencies, the Department of

Housing and Urban Development, and the City of Durham Housing and Community Development Office were present to offer information about homeownership and homeowner assistance.

Thirty organizations rallied together in Milwaukee, WI, on behalf of policies to stop home foreclosures, create jobs and rebuild deteriorating communities. The rally took place in a vacant lot on North 27th Street. “[The location] was chosen because it’s a symbol of a once-mighty employer and an area that has fallen into disinvestment and been disproportionately hit by foreclosures,” said Bethany Sanchez, vice president of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Fair Housing Council.

The coalition rallied in support of HELP Now, a proposal that would help working homeowners who, notwithstanding a steady income, have been targeted with high-cost loans that they are unable to repay. The program would refinance their loans to a more reasonable rate, allowing them to keep their homes. Attendees made phone calls to President Obama urging him to take action on behalf of homeowners. Participants also called Congresswoman Gwen Moore’s office to urge her to support strong antipredatory lending legislation and to thank her for signing on as a co-sponsor of HR 1479.

In Washington, DC, NCRC joined forces with the Campaign for America’s Future and A New Way Forward to host an public forum they called, “Beyond Bailouts: Strategies to Achieve a Safe and Sound Financial System for America.” The organizations converged on Capitol Hill to make presentations to our nation’s policymakers about the need for strong financial regulatory reform. The panel featured esteemed guests such as MIT economist (formerly of the International Monetary Fund) Simon Johnson, NCRC president and CEO John Taylor, and Mike Lux, the author of Progressive Revolution and honorary co-chair of A New Way Forward. Nancy Cleeland, director of the Bailout Analysis Project at the Economic Policy Institute served as the forum moderator. One of the main goals of this new coalition would be passage of HR 1479.

“We are seeing a blossoming effort to [reform] Wall Street,” Cleeland told the audience. The effort to pressure the White House and the Congress to reform a system that allowed large financial institutions to take reckless and irresponsible risks will be led by a new broad-based national coalition of community-based organizations, unions, and other advocacy groups.

“The financial system remains on life support,” said James Carr, NCRC’s COO. He noted forecasts of five million more foreclosures and asserted that the Obama administration plan to deal with them is an improvement over the actions taken in the Bush administration. But he added, the plan still doesn’t provide principal reduction on mortgages or deal with foreclosures caused by unemployment and the resulting loss of income.

“Clearly Congress showed great concern and acted quickly to help keep our nation’s banking institutions from going under,” said John Taylor. “With our Day of Action, we joined together the voices of regular

folks to let Congress know that they need to turn their attention to keeping families from going under. Jobs are being lost; homes are being foreclosed on. Wealth is disappearing from households and communities; families are in jeopardy. It is time for Congress to stop the bleeding and to stabilize lives, not just banks.” n

Jim Bliesner, of the Housing opportunities Collaborative, welcomes a crowd of about 35 participants in San Diego, California.

4 Reinvestment W o r k s

on the road to economic recovery. He explained that “only through advocacy and organizing are we going to move our issues of financial inclusion and fairness to the front burner.” And now is the time, given that Obama administration truly believes in NCRC’s vision and the action it takes to bring about change. Taylor then wrapped up his presentation by outlining the tactics that NCRC has developed to position our nation for recovery.

A National Day of Action: June 11, 2009. To this end, Taylor announced a National Day of Action, set for June 11, in urban and rural communities across the country, to call for “Jobs and Homes Now!” This day

was used to strongly encourage politicians, lenders, mortgage servicers, judges and other key actors to accept responsibility for easing the widespread pain caused by mortgage foreclosures, job losses and the resulting deterioration of communities.

Stating that it is not enough to rely solely on the notion that President Obama or anyone in Congress understands our issues, Taylor continued to explain that we have to “empower these leaders through grassroots activism and voices from across the country that demand change.”

The CRA Modernization Act of 2009 (HR 1479). During the conference, an

NCRC member, concerned about how to more effectively lobby Congress on economic justice issues, engaged House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA) who sought to dismantle the blame game in a March 12 speech before conference attendees, “why not let community groups testify first at credit crisis-related hearings?” he asked Frank. Taylor responded that it has been customary that community groups are typically scheduled to testify last, at which point most congressional committee members have already left the room. Other NCRC members reported, however, that congressional staff members were finally

listening, this year, to what community groups had to say as they visited the Hill. What’s more, it was reported that HR 1479, introduced by Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX), had attracted 31 (45 at the time of publication) co-sponsors, giving it need momentum to pass in the 111th Congress.

Uplifted by the message of change through activism and the good prospects for HR 1479, conference attendees ended the March 13 session chanting a line from Bruce Springsteen’s “The Ghost of Tom Joad,” the protagonist in John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath: “No home, no job, no peace, no rest.” n

(continued from p. 1)National Conference: President’s Roadmap

At the March 13 interactive session, in an effort to move beyond the blame game, a panel of leading

experts discussed the state of the national economy and the need for comprehensive legislative measures to stem the foreclosure crisis, to eliminate reckless and irresponsible lending practices, and to restore trust and integrity to the financial system.

The interactive session was keynoted by Robert Kuttner, co-founder and co-editor of the liberal American Prospect magazine, senior fellow at Demos, and recipient of this year’s NCRC Senator William H. Proxmire Award for lifetime achievement in promoting community development. Moderated by NCRC President and CEO John Taylor, this keynote was followed by a spirited debate by experts from the private sector, civic and community groups, and liberal and conservative think tanks. Expert panelists included: Gail Burks, president and CEO of the Nevada Fair Housing Center; Avis A. Jones-DeWeever, director of

research of the National Council of Negro Women’s Public Policy and Information Center; Bert Ely, adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute and principal of Ely & Company; Lisa Mensah, executive director of the Aspen Institute’s Initiative on Financial Security; and Edmund Mierzwinski, consumer program director of U.S. PIRG. Representing the business perspective were Phillip W. Bracken, executive vice president of Wells Fargo Home Mortgage and Mark Zandi, chief economist and founder of Moody’s Economy.com.

Kuttner Keynote: NCRC Members Have Been—and Remain—Key Change Agents

During the keynote, Robert Kuttner, who drafted the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977, introduced a historical perspective. To remind the audience of the bold achievements of the early CRA movement, Kuttner took the audience back to 1975, when he was an investigator on the U.S. Senate Banking Committee, chaired by an astute legislator—Sen. William Proxmire

(D-WI). Kuttner reminded the audience that it was through the tenacity, intelligence, moral principal, and organizing skill of but a few, including Gail Cincotta and Monsignor Gino Baroni, that the home disclosure regulations and, eventually, CRA was passed, during the Ford administration—over the strenuous objection of every regulatory agency and every trade association in the financial industry. By lobbying for CRA, Kuttner stated, a few impassioned community leaders came up with “a strategy that gave ordinary people the tools to serve as a counterweight to some of the powerful banks and concentration of wealth in the country.”

Obama’s Challenge to Reclaiming a Just Society

Kuttner, who recently wrote Obama’s Challenge, moved on to the present and led the audience to understand that while President Obama is set on “a mission to reclaim a just society, all transformational presidents were backed

by social movements and you are that movement today.” Noting that “crises are always opportunities,” Kuttner went on to describe President Obama’s challenges as three things that he needs to do right. Obama’s first challenge is to “spend even more public money that goes directly to Main Street, not that goes to Wall Street first.” And his second and third challenges are to rescue the banking and the housing sectors properly. If Obama fails on even one of these, he will “ruin the economy—and by extension ruin his presidency and the promise to reclaim a just society.”

Opportunity for CRA Movement to Drive Obama’s Vision

To drive the point, while writing Obama’s Challenge, Kuttner explained, he went back to study presidents that were transformative—that is, presidents who came into office at a time of great crisis and used the crisis to move public opinion to embrace reforms that were seen as inconceivably radical at the time.

National Conference Interactive Session The Brave New World of Economics: Why Community Activists Need to be Courageous, Prepared, and Engagedby Marina L. Rota

5Reinvestment W o r k s

(continued on p. 6)

For example, Lincoln had hoped to save the union, but in two years time, he signed the Emancipation Proclamation and began the process of freeing slaves. Roosevelt alleged Hoover was a big spender in the 1934 campaign, and was skeptical of deposit insurance, but became a believer of deficit spending and public works. And finally, Johnson took office when a racist committee chair had bottled-necked Kennedy’s civil rights legislation, but by July 1964, working with the civil rights movement on the ground, Johnson persuaded that the same reactionary 88th Congress to pass civil rights legislation.

What all three of these transformative presidents had in common were social movements—pushing them to do more. Lincoln would not have been Lincoln

without the abolitionist movement. Johnson would not have been Johnson without the heroism of Dr. King. And Roosevelt would not have been Roosevelt without the industrial labor movement. And these presidents did a dance with these social movements, sometimes working with them, sometimes being pressured by them—and even sometimes urging for the political pressure to make them do what they needed the presidents to do. “That’s were you come in,” Kuttner concluded. “You are that social movement. The real work has been and will be done by all of you.”

The Experts: Learning From the Past to Build a More Equitable Financial System

To empower NCRC members, John Taylor described a scenario of a new economic world—one with new rescue policies,

programs, roles, definitions, and parameters for our financial institutions. In this context, Taylor framed the questions as, where does this scenario leave traditional underserved communities—that is, working families, including the working poor and communities of color? And going forward, what needs to be done to meet this challenge of restoring consumer and investor confidence in the financial system?

The experts conversed on topics ranging from perceptions that poor people are to blame for this crisis to the pros and cons of securitization, the regulators’ lack of enforcement, the prospects for President Obama’s economic recovery plan, the need for asset-building strategies, the need for a “movement” to push for what we have not yet won, and whether we should rely on compliance or on incentives to achieve equity in the financial system—or both.

Wells Fargo Home Mortgage EVP Phil Bracken, urged that learning from this “awful regulatory system” must shape the policy of the future, explaining there were thousands of mortgage providers that were not licensed, regulated, or examined in eighteen states. In his view, we “need a fair, equitable landscape for regulation [because it has] been unfair when consumers were able to go to institutions that were not licensed, regulated or supervised to get mortgage loans. It just didn’t make sense [that] the OCC, OTS, and the Federal Reserve did not license, regulate, or examine these providers,” said Bracken.

A charged moment in the interactive session occurred when CATO Institute Adjunct Scholar Bert Ely acknowledged the moral hazard that occurred by securitization when the “evaders” side-stepped bank regulations. He concluded by asking, “In terms of genuine reform, do you focus on prescriptive rules that people can then figure how to get around, or do you focus on incentives?” n

During the conference Kuttner, who drafted the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 and recently wrote Obama’s Challenge, was presented with this year’s NCRC Senator William H. Proxmire Award for lifetime achievement in promoting community development.

For a full discussion, visit the webcast of this interactive session by entering search terms on www.ncrc.org or www.youtube.com/reinvestmentworks. Also

visit these sites for webcasts of the March 14 media immersion workshop on Web 2.0, print media, and branding and marketing.

Trenches and Triumphs

How NCRC Members Change Lives in Their CommunitiesOrganizing for a Housing Trust Fund in Milwaukee

Many housing organizations around the country view a housing trust fund with a dedicated revenue source as the holy grail: hard to achieve, but potentially the answer to all their prayers.

A few years ago, the Metropolitan Milwaukee Fair Housing Council and its allies decided to stop talking about a fund and start making it happen. The result? With a broad coalition, a lot of determination, and some creativity, the group was able to establish a citywide housing trust fund. Though they’re still working on getting a permanent source of revenue, the fund is already alleviating some of the city’s housing pressures.

In 2004, Milwaukee, like a lot of cities around the country, was in need of more decent, low-cost housing of all types. “Milwaukee’s got a lot of affordable housing, but it isn’t where you’d want to live,” said Bethany Sanchez, vice president of community and economic development for the Metropolitan Milwaukee Fair Housing Council, who led the push for the housing trust fund together with two allied organizations. “And we were seeing that a lot of HUD money could only be accessed with local funding,” she added.

So the groups held a meeting to present the idea of a potential housing trust fund. “We emailed everyone we could think of,” said Sanchez. That included local churches, community development organizations, students from nearby Marquette University, and city officials.

Enthusiasm for a trust fund was universal among attendees, so the coalition began meeting regularly to work out the details. Members decided the fund would address a wide variety of needs, from rentals to homeless housing to first-time homebuyers. Individuals wouldn’t be eligible, but nonprofits and the city would be, and the money would be administered by the city government.

In an effort to drum up popular support, the group took the idea public and organized an action virtually every month. Tapping their creativity, they coordinated an Affordable Housing Sabbath, encouraging area churches to educate their congregations about the fund; hosted a Bankers’ Breakfast, complete with fact sheets and sample letters to elected officials; and on Valentine’s Day, distributed a housing study laden with valentines to the mayor. “We really made it fun, and that’s what sustained us,” said Sanchez.

Public support grew, but the funding source was still undetermined. A city alderman who supported the fund suggested establishing an official city-level task force. That brought in a wider circle of stakeholders, including for-profit developers, lenders, and the Archdiocese of Milwaukee.

by Amanda Abrams

6 Reinvestment W o r k s

The National Council of Negro Women is proud to have partnered with the National Community

Reinvestment Coalition to explore race and gender disparities in mortgage lending. We understand that this nation’s foreclosure crisis and the ensuing world economic decline is but the end result of a phenomena that had its roots in the targeting of communities of color for many years.

What began as lenders’ refusal to lend culminated in the spiraling practices of excessive subprime and predatory lending, which eventually spread to the nation at large. While issues of race have long been examined in this realm, little is known about the interplay of both race and gender.

Are gender disparities in mortgage lending as stark as racial disparities have previously been shown to be? Do women of color have appreciably different experiences in

Income Is No Shield Against Racial and Gender Disparities in LendingExcerpts from the Preface by Avis Jones-DeWeever, Ph. D.Director, Research, Public Policy and Information Center for African American WomenNational Council of Negro Women

Toons for these Times

mortgage lending than their white female counterparts? And in what ways these Times do issues of class impact the experiences of borrowers across lines of both race and gender? This report answers these crucial questions and more by examining the experiences of black, white, and Latino male and female borrowers in the 100 largest metropolitan areas nationwide.

Ultimately, this report finds that women’s mortgage lending experiences are not monolithic. Instead, they are greatly influenced by race, space, and class. A middle-to-upper income black woman in Raleigh, North Carolina, would most likely have a much different mortgage lending result than a similarly situated white woman in that same city, or say a Latina in Washington, DC. Yet, overall,

this research uncovers an elevated risk of vulnerability to high-cost lending

among women of color, with black women most devastatingly impacted.

Strikingly, this work finds that in over four out of five metropolitan areas examined, middle-to-upper income black women were at least twice as likely to have received high-cost loans as were their white female counterparts. Similarly, low-to-moderate income black women were at least two times as likely to have received a high cost loan in over two thirds of the areas examined. The overwhelming pervasiveness of disparities in mortgage lending outcomes meant that black women were the demographic group most likely to have received a high cost loan across both race and gender.

The story this report uncovers not only details issues surrounding women’s experiences around loan costs, but also provides data on women’s representation among all mortgage holders. Findings here tell an equally intriguing story. Among low-to-moderate income women, both black and white women are more likely than their male counterparts to have received a mortgage loan (65% and 52%, respectively). However, among middle-to-upper income women, black women alone hold this distinction, representing just over half (52%) of all home loans received by middle-to-upper income blacks.

Thus, within the black community as a whole, women are more likely than men to be mortgage holders. The experiences of black women differ starkly from that of middle-to-upper income white and Latina women in this regard, both of whom hold less than two fifths of all mortgage loans within their respective communities and falling. Both groups of women have suffered a decline in their share of home loans in 2007 as compared with 2006, while black women have held steady over the same time period.

Taken together, the findings shared throughout this report tell a compelling

and important story; one that details the linkages between gender and race, class and space. We, at the National Council of Negro Women believe the end result is an important contribution to the literature on mortgage lending. A contribution that comes at a time when recent events have significantly eroded the accumulation of wealth among many whom have only in recent history, been afforded the opportunity to forge their own paths toward the American dream.

It is important to remember that just as communities of color had to fight discriminatory policy and individual actions for much of this nation’s history just to be afforded the opportunity of homeownership, so too have women, whom only until about forty years ago were legally barred from the right to purchase property in their own names exclusively. For these groups especially, the housing/foreclosure crisis has dealt a particularly stinging blow. To rebound, one first needs to know where we stand so that we may plot the most effective strategies to begin the task of moving forward in a way that does not recreate the mistakes of the past. This works provides a crucial contribution to that effort. Yet, it is only a beginning. There is still much more work to be done.

This report was released June 4, 2009, and is available electronically to NCRC members at no charge. Please email membership@ncrc.org to request your copy. n

(continued on p. 8)

Broadening the base of supporters and bringing in the city worked: at the end of 2006, the mayor signed the housing trust fund into law, and funded it with it $2.5 million through a bond issue. While the city’s CDBG office administers the fund, substantive decisions are made by a 13-person advisory committee that includes nonprofits, lenders, developers, and aldermen.

But revenue is still a problem, said Sanchez: funding in each of the past two years was only $400,000, not enough to make a real difference. “But it’s not dead yet,” she said. “We haven’t gone away.” The coalition is pushing to increase the real estate transfer tax by a small amount and use it for the fund. It’s an uphill battle, but the current housing crisis could pressure legislators to make some difficult decisions. And meanwhile, Sanchez’s group and its allies are working to establish housing trust funds in neighboring suburban counties. They say a fund is worth fighting for, even without a dedicated revenue source. “It’s a great way to leverage more money,” said Sanchez. While some observers estimate that a housing trust fund can bring in $5 for every trust fund dollar, Sanchez said that the Milwaukee groups are finding that every dollar spent by the fund is leveraging $19 in outside money.

Analyzing the Intersection of Race and Wealth

“Not many people are committed to really being serious about race and economics,” said Amaad Rivera, director of the Racial Wealth Divide project at United for a Fair Economy. “We’re incredibly explicit about race, and one of the reasons we’re so widely cited is because we’re one of the only organizations going there.”

Rivera was talking about the “State of the Dream” report that his organization produces every year. The Boston-based group, committed to eliminating

economic inequalities in order to build a more robust democracy, began issuing the report in 2001. The report was intended to highlight how race and wealth intersect in this country.

Drawing on data from the census, and universities and government agencies, the report turned out to be hugely influential; it’s used in everything from politics to protests. And under the leadership of Rivera, who has produced the report for the past two years, it’s done a pretty good job of predicting the future, too.

“Last year’s report pretty widely cited the problem of predatory lending,” said Rivera. “We warned about the crisis, and said this will cause the greatest loss of wealth for people of color.” Policymakers on Capitol Hill used the report to buttress their arguments, and it was widely discussed in the media.

This year’s report—written a few months before the country was officially in a recession—described the economic depression that Americans of color are currently experiencing. It may wind up being just as prescient as last year’s was, but it got a distinctly chillier reception. The report is traditionally issued on Martin Luther King’s birthday, which fell this year two days before the inauguration of Barack Obama.

“Our message was that we’re still in a racial, gendered, classist society, and that the election of one individual doesn’t matter,” said Rivera. “But some news outlets said, ‘That’s not going to fly.’ We pushed back, but it wasn’t the right time.” The country, Rivera admitted, wasn’t in the mood for downer statistics at such a celebratory moment.

Nonetheless, the report eventually had its day in the sun. United for a Fair Economy has strong allies across the community development universe, and “State of the Dream 2009” was broadly distributed.

How NCRC Members Change Lives in Their Communities (continued from p. 5)

7Reinvestment W o r k s

Every year at our national conference, NCRC presents National Achievement Awards to individuals and organizations that lead in working to expand financial

access for working families and communities. We invite nominations for these awards from our members and allies and then, by a thorough review process, determine the most deserving awardees in several categories. This year’s award winners are outstanding organizations representing the very best accomplishments in ensuring economic fairness and mobility in communities across America.

National Community Reinvestment Award

The National Community Reinvestment award is given to the individual who, by working throughout the year, exemplifies the ideals and values of the movement for economic mobility. This year’s winner was Phyllis Salowe Kaye, Executive Director, New Jersey Citizen Action. Phyllis is a dedicated leader, recognized not only in New Jersey, but nationwide, for her effectiveness in negotiating CRA agreements. Her tireless efforts have resulted in more than 50 CRA agreements totaling more than $20 billion dollars with almost all of New Jersey’s largest banks. She has enabled more than 13,000 low-and-moderate-income New Jersey residents to purchase homes through HUD-certified homeownership counseling service. Co-founder of Shelterforce magazine, she was appointed to Gov. Jon Corzine’s Housing Policy Task Force and also serves on urban task forces for the City of Newark/County of Essex, County of Union and the City of Trenton, and on the statewide urban task force for the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance.

The Color of Money Award

The Color of Money award is given for the best documentary, reporting or information campaign that contributes to public knowledge and awareness of the need for fairness and access in America’s financial system. This year’s winner was Michelle Singletary, nationally syndicated financial columnist for The Washington Post. Her award-winning column, “The Color of Money,” carried in120 newspapers across the country, is a practical, helpful guide to personal and family finance. She is also an author, lecturer and former business reporter. Over the past year, she has written several columns dedicated to the nation’s economic crisis, tracing its roots and offering practical solutions for people and families facing job loss, foreclosure and other financial challenges.

James Leach Award

The James Leach award is given to the non-profit organization that demonstrates the most outstanding results through their work on behalf of rural communities and people. This year’s winner was Tierra del Sol Housing Corporation of Anthony, NM. Under the leadership of Executive Director Rose Garcia, Tierra Del Sol has developed over 6,000 housing units in

colonias across the Southwest, developed over 3,200 single family homes for ownership, improved 1,500 rural housing units for very-low income families through its Home Rehabilitation program and provided continuous employment and training programs for at-risk youth.

James Rouse Award

The James Rouse award is given to the non-profit organization that demonstrates the most outstanding results through their work in urban community development. This year’s winner was City Life/Vida Urbana of Jamaica Plain, MA. Led by Roxan McKinnon, Executive Director, City Life/Vida Urbana successfully challenged major institutions that violated tenants’ rights, helped develop hundreds of permanent affordable units in Jamaica Plain, conducted research into mortgage lending patterns that uncovered widespread discrimination against Latinos, pressured the three largest banks in Boston to increase loans to Latinos by 25 percent each year and established one of the first programs linking housing conditions to family health.

Henry B. Gonzalez Award

The Henry B. Gonzalez award is presented to the outstanding government official, agency or for-profit firm that forges the most effective partnerships with community non-profits to protect and advance the rights and economic conditions of disadvantaged consumers. This year’s winner was Andrew Cuomo, NY State Attorney General. A longtime friend of the fair housing movement, Cuomo has a long list of accomplishments. Having served at HUD in 1993 and then after the departure of Secretary Henry Cisneros (at the end of Clinton’s first term), Cuomo succeeded Cisneros as HUD Secretary in 1997, serving until 2001. Moreover, Cuomo sued First American Corporation’s eAppraiseIT unit for allegedly using a list of select appraisers to inflate mortgage appraisals. He also founded a non-profit organization focused on

homeless and housing issues, Housing Enterprise for the Less Privileged (HELP), and was also instrumental in developing the nation’s first federal empowerment zones, using tax breaks and other economic incentives to bring private sector development to inner city neighborhoods.

Senator William Proxmire Award

The William Proxmire Award is given to the individual whose life’s work exemplifies the spirit of Senator Proxmire’s contribution, that is, dedication, leadership and effective action on behalf of communities. This year’s winner was Robert Kuttner. This year’s keynote speaker, Kuttner is co-founder of The American Prospect, a senior fellow at Demos, a noted economist, commentator and author of several books on economic and labor theory. He formerly served as an investigator for the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, as well as executive director of former President Carter’s National Commission on Neighborhoods.

Community Empowerment Film Award

This year, for the first time, NCRC presented the Community Empowerment Film Award, giving merit to independent filmmakers whose work focuses on issues of economic equality, community empowerment, financial inclusion as well as neighborhood revitalization or job development, or both. A national call for entries to film festivals, film schools, and the independent filmmaking community led to 25 films being submitted. After a thorough review process, The Waterfront, a film by Liz Miller, was selected as the winner.

The Waterfront tells the story of Highland Park, Michigan, a post-industrial city on the outskirts of Detroit on the verge of financial collapse. The state of Michigan appointed an Emergency Financial Manager to fix the crisis. The Manager sees the water plant, which Henry Ford built in 1917 to support his auto industry, as key to economic recovery—that is, by privatizing the delivery of water. This process included raising rates and implementing severe measures to collect on bills—with some Highland Park residents receiving water bills as high as $10,000.

As a result, some residents had their water turned off and their homes foreclosed. The film is the personal story of local resident Vallory Johnson, who launches an emotional grassroots campaign defending affordable water.

Congratulations to all the winners of NCRC’s 2009 National Achievement Awards! n

NCRC 2009 National Achievement Awards

NATIONAL HOUSING INSTITUTEThe National Housing Institute (NHI), founded in 1975, is an

decent, affordable housing and a vibrant community for everyone. In its magazine, Shelterforce, Web site www.nhi.org, blog , and research, NHI focuses attention and encourages action on progressive, high-impact housing

and community-development policies and practices through the lens of such subjects as social and economic equity, racism,

poverty, health, the environment, education, and sustainability.

www.nhi.org · www.shelterforce.org · www.rooflines.org

National Housing Institute · 60 South Fullerton Avenue, Suite 206 · Montclair, NJ · 07042 · 973-509-1600

8 Reinvestment W o r k s

Housing Counselors

NCRC Members Change Lives in Their Communities

(continued from p. 1)

take many weeks to settle. “On some cases, we spend 40, 50, 60 hours,” she said.

That entails urging a client to bring in critical documents and to stay in touch, while at the same time, trying to sell the borrower’s story to a lender’s representative.

“[Borrowers] think the lender won’t do anything, because they’ve tried and got nowhere,” she said. In fact, lenders are often willing to negotiate—but it depends on which representative answers the phone. “You never talk to the same lender’s representative. If they’re having a bad day, they may not see the case the way you do.” In that situation, McIntyre said, the best thing to do is just hang up and call again, and hopefully reach someone more sympathetic.

It requires a lot of back and forth, and no two cases are the same. But, McIntyre added, “If you believe in the client, you’re going to do everything you can to help them.”

She told the story of one of her clients who had a brain tumor. The woman was behind on her mortgage payments, but the lender’s representative was wary of changing the terms because she had a very high monthly car payment. “I told the representative that I thought it was a customized van for persons with disabilities,” said McIntyre, who turned out to be right. Nonetheless, the lender’s reps were still reluctant to help the woman further, so McIntyre threatened to go to the media and paint the company as unfeeling.

“He said, ‘The last thing we need is bad publicity,’ and a week later, he came through with the modifications,” said McIntyre. “When I called the woman, she said, ‘I’m dancing with joy.’ She was so thrilled.”

McIntyre, who takes clients’ calls on the weekends and while on vacation, said the organization’s success comes down to commitment. “You really have to have a passion for helping people. You just can’t give up, no matter how frustrating it is,” she said.

Looking a little closer

The situation is much the same in rural America as the staff of Northeastern Community Development Corporation can attest.

Based in northeastern North Carolina near the Virginia border, the organization sees far fewer clients in its programs than its urban counterparts. Nonetheless, the number of people coming in for housing counseling this year was three times the organization’s average.

Katrina Bryant, Northeastern CDC’s housing program manager, works directly with people in trouble with their homes. “We’re seeing a large need for loss mitigation,” she said.

The group helps clients with the Obama administration’s new Making Home Affordable program, and when necessary, refers borrowers to a local legal aid group. But the lion’s share of its housing activities takes place in its mediation between borrowers and lenders—an effort that has a success rate of close to 100 percent.

How do they do so well? Bryant attributes the high rate of success to the attention that staff members pay to clients’ budgets.

“We get detailed information from them, looking at their wants versus their needs,” she said. Counselors examine clients’ income relative to their debt, look at whether they’re getting Social Security, and ask how they can

cut corners further. “Can they go to the food bank to lower their food budgets?” Bryant asked hypothetically. “Prescription costs can be lower—there are county programs that help, or could they get generics?”

It’s not just about housing, she said. The group takes a comprehensive approach to helping its clients with their financial problems. “We look at everything—it’s a lifestyle change.”

And then they call the lenders and try to convince them that the borrower will now be able to make their mortgage payments, with a little assistance. “Sometimes they’re convinced, sometimes not,” said Bryant.

Partnerships and relationships

Ray Neirinckx knows a little bit about arguing on behalf of individuals and families. Employed at the Rhode Island Housing Resources Commission, the 23-year affordable housing veteran simultaneously runs the state’s Office of Homeownership and the Office of Community Development/Technical Assistance. His job is focused on policy and programs—but he’s been taking individual cases on the side ever since he began at the Commission nine years ago.

Wearing dual hats, Neirinckx said, benefits his work. “Direct advocacy work gives me a sense of what’s going on, on the ground,” he pointed out. “I know what local municipalities and agencies are experiencing, and that leads us to develop more strategic approaches to assist residents.”

In a city, Providence, that has the highest foreclosure rate in New England, strategic approaches and partnerships are key. Neirinckx’s office collaborates with a variety of groups—from the state Housing Finance Agency and local municipalities to traditional housing counseling organizations—to encourage new policies that help stabilize neighborhoods. The initiatives might include community land trust models, new tax credit deals, or bridge funds that help homeowners make improvements to their houses.

In his work with individual families, Neirinckx pointed to strong relationships with lenders as the most critical element. Neirinckx said he doesn’t dial 1-800 lines; he’s known some lenders for years, and contacts them personally when he runs into problems with clients. “You need to develop a network of contacts—people you can fight with, in a good way,” he said. And those contacts benefit the organizations and agencies that he works with, too.

Nonetheless, the problem is overwhelming, with insufficient resources available to fight it. “The system is broken,” said Neirinckx, pointing out overwhelmed loan servicers and a general lack of short-term assistance for homeowners. “There’s not enough people on the ground providing direct support,” he added.

Outside assistance

Short-term funding for homeowners may be in short supply in many places around the country, but in Toledo, that’s exactly what has helped a number of borrowers stay out of foreclosure.

Ohio has been particularly hard hit by the housing crisis, and predatory loans got an early start in the Toledo area. Staff members of the Toledo Fair Housing

Center—one of the only organizations in the county doing housing counseling— have been working with worried homeowners for more than a decade.

Talking with lenders and trying to convince them to help troubled borrowers has been effective, they said, but what has helped the most has been direct assistance from the county’s TANF fund and a lawsuit.

The organization administered three large grants to help people get caught up on their mortgages. Individuals could receive up to $5,000 in assistance, which generally went straight to the banks.

“It helped us get our foot in the door with lenders,” said Katherine Broka, president of the Toledo Fair Housing Center. “We brought something to the table—and then we asked them, ‘What can you bring to the table?’”

Broka said that getting the word out to homeowners wasn’t hard. “Foreclosure stories have been at the forefront [of the news], and I’m on a first-name basis with news channels,” she said. “So we went on TV or in the paper to let people know that funding was available.”

That funding has almost dried up, though, and it’s not clear if there’ll be more coming. But while the organization’s staff members agree that banks can be a huge headache to deal with, it looks like they might be getting just a little better.

Overall, the organization has reduced its clients’ interest rates by an average of 4.13 percent in the past two years, and the rates are continuing to improve. “We had a good April,” said Keith Foster, the center’s director of enforcement and compliance. “Banks were slow on the uptake, but I think they’re more willing to get involved.” n

bought into it—but they did.” He added that the realtors’ association agreed to the initiative largely because of the support of its president and CEO; many other members weren’t sure it was necessary.

Together, the groups established a self-testing program for real estate agents. Designed and conducted by the fair housing centers, the test is paid for by MAR, and can be used by any broker to determine whether his or her agents are discriminating on the basis of race. So far, though, only a small percentage of brokers have made use of the service.

Like any fair housing test, individuals trained and hired by the fair housing organizations pose as home seekers and observe whether agents treat them differently depending on their race. Unlike a typical fair housing test, though, negative results don’t lead to legal action. Instead, the data goes to MAR, whose attorney examines it and then contacts the broker to discuss problem areas.

Schrupp said the test has picked up a number of differences in the treatment of home seekers. “The most common thing is steering—[for example], encouraging white people to consider housing in white neighborhoods. Or it might be seen in the availability of visits, or how readily a tester can be seen by an agent,” he said, adding that in rental situations, black testers might simply be told that no apartment is available. “Consistently the differences favor white persons over others.”

Schrupp said that the initiative has gotten a lot of attention in the real estate world, but so far, no other states have followed. While he concedes that discrimination has decreased in the 32 years since he started working in the field, he says it’s still a problem. “The program makes a lot of sense to us,” he said. n

(continued from p. 6)

The report examines the racial wealth divide from an individual and a community perspective, then outlines potential solutions. This year’s brief highlighted the need for strong anti-foreclosure policies, and recommended that the government utilize indicators that provide clear data on how each race is doing economically.

Rivera is already focusing on the 2010 report. He admits it’s a huge amount of work, but is convinced it’s worth doing, especially since the topic is otherwise ignored. It’s a crucial issue, he pointed out. “We’re saying, ‘what’s wrong with this country that we’re afraid to talk about race and class?’ ”

Unlikely Partners Create a Fairer Housing Market

Fair housing organizations and real estate brokers often interact as if they’re opponents with incompatible objectives. But in Michigan, the state association of realtors and a coalition of fair housing centers have been working together to decrease discrimination for the benefit of individuals they both aim to serve: homebuyers.

About five years ago, the National Fair Housing Alliance came to Michigan to test whether real estate agents there were guilty of discrimination against their clients. The results, which weren’t great, were made public by the organization. But instead of disputing the data, the Michigan Association of Realtors (MAR) contacted the state’s coalition of fair housing centers to see how they could all work together to fight the problem.

“We have a long history together,” said Clifford Schrupp, director of the Fair Housing Center of Metropolitan Detroit, which, together with organizations from Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids, and Kalamazoo, is involved in the collaboration. “We proposed testing, and I was surprised they

Save theDATE NCRC 2010 National Conference

Building on the Past to Shape the Future: Advancing Community Reinvestment

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