A Publication of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition

Visit us on the web at www.ncrc.org

Summer 2006

ReinvestmentW o r k s

ReinvestmentW o r k s

Also in this issue of9PA G E Keeping Homeowners

in Their Homes6PA G E News from the

Border Fair Housing

NCRC Fair Lending Testing Reveals Discrimination by Mortgage BrokersThe findings of the recent NCRC mystery shopping initia-tive has revealed pervasive discriminatory and “predatory” practices by mortgage brokers in several metropolitan areas across the country. Between February 2004 and July 2006, NCRC conducted one hundred fair lending mystery shops and visited mortgage brokers in Baltimore, MD; Washington, DC; Los Angeles, CA; Chicago, Illinois; St. Louis, MO; and Atlanta, GA. The findings of these tests were quite significant as they illustrated blatant policies of racially discriminatory lending practices, including: steering minority borrowers to non-prime products, charging different rates for equally qualified borrowers based on race, providing substandard service and treating African-American mystery shoppers discourteously. To the best of our knowledge, this national audit of mortgage brokers is the first sample of its kind in the nation, and in addition to our enforcement actions we look forward to discussing our findings with policy makers, regulators, and the National Association of Mortgage Brokers. NCRC’s Fair Lending Program includes an innovative national sub-prime fair lending compliance initiative. Testers, or “mystery shoppers,” with similar incomes and credit his-tories, but of different races and ethnicities, visit and contact lenders to inquire about various mortgage products. NCRC uses this investigative technique of “testing” to challenge discriminatory sub-prime lending practices in several metro-politan areas. For example, NCRC recently filed six complaints to HUD FHEO challenging the use of minimum loan values to redline low to moderate income communities or refuse to underwrite row houses in Baltimore or in Philadelphia. Analysis of the testing has documented several specific differences in treatment based on race, including the following:

• Fees were discussed with 73.7% of the control group, and only 30.6% of the protected group. This is a significant dif-ference of 43.1 percentage points.

• Brokers provided more credit products to the control group than to the protected group. On average the control group was quoted 2.6 different rates, while the protected group was quoted only 1.3 rates, respectively.

continued on p. 4

12PA G E CommunityExpress Celebrates Seven Years

The federal Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) has presented its High Achievement Award to NCRC’s DC Minority Business Enterprise Center (DCMBEC, formerly the DC Minority Business Development Center), at its national conference in June. MBDA celebrated the Center’s outstanding performance and high achievement in providing services to high-growth minority businesses in the National Capital area, which covers the District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia. DCMBEC helps local businesses by providing one-on-one technical assistance, mentoring, training and net-working with powerful resources. Through the Center’s efforts, its minority business clients in 2006 alone have

NCRC’s Minority Business Center Recognized for High Achievement, Gains Critical Funding

The NAACP strongly supported this legislation, as extensive hearings in the US Senate and House of representatives demonstrated conclusively that barriers to equal minority voter protection remain in the United States today. Civil rights leaders and community advocates feel that this legis-lation will provide the United States Department of Justice the tools it needs to help combat these blatantly illegal, unconstitutional and immoral activities. Despite the fact that African Americans and other racial and ethnic minority Americans are guaranteed the right to vote by the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which was passed just after the Civil War in 1870, states and local municipalities continued to use tac-tics such as poll taxes, literacy tests and outright intimi-

dation to stop people from casting free and unfettered ballots. Thus the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was enacted to insure that no federal, state or local government may in any way impede people from registering to vote or voting because of their race or ethnicity. Most provisions in the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and specifically the portions that guarantee that no one may be denied the right to vote because of his or her race or color, are permanent. There are, however, three enforcement-related pro-visions of the Voting Rights Act that would have expired in August 2007 unless reauthorized. The first is Section 5, which requires certain jurisdictions to obtain approval or “preclearance” from the US Department of Justice or the US District Court in D.C. before they can make any

Voting Rights Act Passed: VRA at 40Submitted by NAACP's Press Office

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NCRC’s Reggie Richter and Owen Jackson pose with MBDA National Director Ronald N. Langston (center) while celebrating DC MBEC’s achievements during the MBDA national conference in New Orleans.

On Thursday, July 27, 2006 at a White House ceremony attended by NAACP leader-ship, members of the Board of Directors, staff and Civil Rights coalition partners, President Bush signed H.R. 9, the Fannie Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks and Coretta Scott King Voting Rights Act Reauthorization and Amendments Act of 2006 into law.

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Hurricane Katrina intensified much discus-sion regarding disparities in wealth and income by race, class and gender. Last fall Chester Hartman and Gregory D. Squires approached dozens of researchers and activ-ists, asking them to express their views and provide recommendations on the cultural fac-tors that were in play after the Hurricanes hit. From these interviews, Hartman and Squires composed the book There Is No Such Thing as a Natural Disaster: Race, Class, and Hurricane Katrina. As editors, they make the point that the disaster was social in nature, not just a natural phenomenon. NCRC’s John Taylor and Josh Silver wrote a chapter entitled From Poverty to Prosperity — The Critical Role of Financial Institutions. The chapter provides substantial evidence of disparities existing in the Gulf Coast areas’ home and small business lending to vari-ous minority and income population groups before the catastrophe. The authors also discuss core elements of the strategic recovery plan. In particular, the chapter suggests that enhancement and vigorous enforcement of the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) is a major mechanism to encourage the private sector to be a leader in revitalizing affected areas. “Simply put,” wrote Taylor and Silver,

“for many metropolitan or regional economy to succeed, private sector institutions must be the largest source of financing. Bank loans and financial institution investment and equity capital will make the difference between a rapid and broad revitalization effort versus a slow rebuilding or even outright failure in regenerating the economy of the Gulf Region.” The book also covers post-Katrina housing policy, education policy, politics and urban planning. Chester and Hartman have proven themselves not only interested scholars in the Gulf Region, they have also turned into vested humanitar-ians for the Region as well. The royalties from the book sale will go to Emergency Communities, an on-the-ground disaster relief orga-nization committed to rehabilitating entire communities by providing nutritional, logistical and emotional support for returning Gulf Coast residents. To order a copy of There Is No Such Thing as a Natural Disaster, contact the publisher, Routledge, on 1 (800) 634-7064. For further information on Emergency

Communities, please log onto their web site www.emergencycommunities.org. n

“There is No Such Thing as a Natural Disaster: Race, Class, and Hurricane Katrina”

institution investment and equity capital will make the difference between a rapid

slow rebuilding or even outright failure

post-Katrina housing policy, education

, contact Communities,

A regional lender and an association of nonprofit community groups will soon launch a statewide initiative that will make life a lot easier for technical service providers and small business customers alike — as well as for the bank that started the program. TD Banknorth, a regional lender in the Northeast, has worked on developing its SBA/NCRC CommunityExpress loan offering for a couple of years. CommunityExpress loans give borrowers the opportunity to obtain financing, with the bonus of free technical and management assistance. The program also provides incentive and recognition to the small business owner who seeks out education to build a strong, viable business. In looking at the required technical assistance component of this

special initiative, the bank sought a way to streamline and standardize its relation-ship with the organizations it selected to offer high-quality business coaching to CommunityExpress borrowers. The answer grew out of a seren-dipitous encounter at a Celtics game. TD Banknorth sponsored a community event to watch the game, inviting several of its nonprofit community-based partners to attend. Conversation between the bank’s Community Development Staff and Joe Kriesberg, president of NCRC member Massachusetts Association of Community Development Corporations (MACDC), turned to small business lending and the CommunityExpress program, which then was available in very limited fashion in the

state of Massachusetts. Both the bank and MACDC believed the program — which focuses on small businesses in low- to moderate-income areas and companies owned by women, veterans and minorities — could help fill a gap in services to under-served entrepreneurs across the state, espe-cially those in rural and suburban areas that are challenged by access to services. That initial conversation led to further meetings, and MACDC has brought into the dialog three of its members represent-ing broad geographic coverage: Franklin County CDC in Greenfield, Valley CDC in Northampton and Allston Brighton CDC in Boston. These CDCs also bring years of experience working with under-served small

MACDC and TD Banknorth Link Up for CommunityExpress Statewide

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Dica Adotevi CFO

Avis Allen Manager, Entrepreneurial

Development and Lender Relations

David Berenbaum Executive VP

Rasheedah BilalFair Lending Specialist

Vondetta CarterSenior Accountant

TeAnne Coleman ChennaultCommunications Coordinator

Barbara CraigOffice Assistant

Ruth DickeyFair Lending Specialist

Yazmin FernandezMembership & Database Manager

Audrey FigueroaDirector, National Training Academy

Monica GonzalesVP, Leg/Reg

Zorana HudnellFair Housing Specialist

Owen JacksonDirector, DCMBEC

Milena KornylResearch Analyst

Lloyd LondonDirector, CRF

Rachel MalehExecutive VP

Noelle Melton Research and Policy Analyst

Michael D. Mitchell, Esq.VP of Fair Lending

Kathleen MooreExecutive Assistant

Shawna NelmsSr. Fair Lending Specialist, CRF

Jah-Asia NuruFair Lending Specialist, CRF

Anne PasmanickVP, Coalition Relations

Reginald RichterSVP VP, Programs

Julia RodgersFair Lending Specialist, CRF

Chrystal SearlesOffice & Financial Manager

Joshua SilverVP, Research & Policy

John TaylorPresident & CEO

Jesse Van TolSpecial Assistant

Tim Westrich Research Analyst

Anita Willis-BoylandSVP, Business Initiatives

Reinvestment Works is pub-lished quarterly by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC). NCRC seeks to increase fair access to credit and banking services and products because discrimination is illegal, unjust and detrimental to the economic growth and well being of our society. NCRC welcomes your ques-tions and comments. Contact us at: NCRC, 727 15th Street, NW Suite 900, Washington, DC 20005Phone: (202) 628-8866Fax (202) 628-9800Email: membership@ncrc.org

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The first merger was announced in early May, when Wachovia Corporation, the fifth largest institution in the US and a major player on the east coast, struck a deal to buy Oakland-based Golden West. Through a series of mergers and acquisitions in the past few years, Charlotte-based Wachovia has been quickly trans-forming itself from a regional Southern bank to a coast-to-coast giant. Golden West is the country’s second-largest savings-and-loan, and specializes in marketing Adjustable Rate Mortgages (ARM) to its mostly California market. The complex nature of option ARMs and their flexibility have often proved confusing for consumers. Second, Regions Bank’s acquisition of AmSouth has been long-rumored by industry analysts as a way to cut costs in both institutions by eliminating overlap; both institutions are based in Birmingham, Alabama and have markets in the southern US states. This could spell trouble for traditionally underserved communi-ties: the combined institution will have 2,000 branches in 16 states, around 150 of which may become shuttered due to overlap among existing AmSouth and Regions’ branches in some markets. NCRC members will work to ensure branch closures do not dispropor-tionately impact working class and minority neighborhoods. Through a series of conference calls organized by NCRC, more than 40 member organizations across the country have swapped information for writing comment letters to the regulators oversee-ing the mergers. Several innovative and creative ideas were raised on how to obtain better lending practices and services as a result of the mergers. NCRC’s research department has provided data analyses to member organizations to assist them in determining how these two banks could better address unmet credit needs. Regarding Wachovia’s acquisition of Golden West, New Jersey Citizen Action and other NCRC member groups in New Jersey took the opportunity to discuss renewing a CRA agreement with Wachovia. Among these goals, Wachovia has offered special mort-gage products with below-market rates, flexible terms for borrow-ers with damaged credit, and waived private mortgage insurance. The New Jersey groups also solicited the assistance of the gover-

nor’s office: the State of New Jersey places an overwhelming pro-portion of its deposits in Wachovia accounts, which can be used as leverage for increased Wachovia investments in low-income neigh-borhoods. On the west coast, the California Reinvestment Coalition was particularly concerned with Wachovia’s relationship with payday lenders and its checking account procedures. California NCRC members asked the city governments of both Oakland and Berkeley, CA to pass resolutions stating a desire for Wachovia to commit to certain CRA goals upon expanding in those cities. Regarding Region’s acquisition of AmSouth, Alabama groups noted a lack of racial diversity on both institutions’ board and man-agement; further, both have a poor record of extending small busi-ness loans to African-American owned businesses. Neither bank uses the CommunityExpress SBA products. NCRC member groups in the South including the Birmingham Business Resource Center, the Hope Unity Fund, and HEED noted that Regions Bank also has dismal CRA ratings on investment exams in non-metropolitan areas in the south. NCRC and our member organizations will call for public hearings conducted by the Federal Reserve System to discuss a Regions-AmSouth plan for disaster areas. Given the unprecedented devastation wrought by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita on areas served by both institutions, the banks’ commitments to rebuild housing and infrastructure in low-income areas has become a par-amount policy concern. Regions announced a $100 billion pledge for lending and investments over the next seven years. While the plan sounds impressive, it lacked specifics including details of how it would respond to the damage caused by the hurricanes. It also did not have state by state totals or indicate if subprime lending was in the pledge. These mergers provide several opportunities for community groups to advocate for increased flow of credit to underserved areas; and second, to exercise their right under CRA to comment on the merger applications of financial institutions. For more information on the merger process, please contact NCRC at 202-628-8866. n

NCRC Members Across the Country Gear Up on Two Bank Mega-Mergers

Stakes are High in Regions-AmSouth, Wachovia-Golden West Mergers

NCRC Board of Directors

Irvin HendersonChairperson, Community

Reinvestment Association of North Carolina

Marva Smith Battle-BeyVice Chairperson, Vermont

Slauson Economic Development Corporation

Lee BeaulacVice Chairperson

Rural Opportunities, Inc.

Gail BurksSecretary

Nevada Fair Housing Center, Inc.

Ernest (Gene) E. OrtegaTreasurer, Rural Housing, Inc.

Hubert Van TolPast Chairperson

Rural Opportunities, Inc.

Stella J. AdamsNorth Carolina Fair Housing

Center

Malcolm BushThe Woodstock Institute

Alan FisherCalifornia Reinvestment

Coalition

Pete GarciaChicanos Por La Causa, Inc.

Edward J. Gorman, IIIAmerican Community

Partnerships

Charles HarrisHousing Education & Economic

Development

Jean IshmonNorthwest Indiana

Reinvestment Alliance

Alan JenningsCommunity Action

Committee of Lehigh Valley

Elbert Jones, Jr.Community Enterprise

Investments, Inc.

Matthew Lee, Esq.Inner City Press/Fair Finance

Watch

Maryellen LewisMSU Community & Economic

Development

Dean LovelaceDayton Community

Reinvestment Institute

Eugene LoweU.S. Conference of Mayors

Moises LozaHousing Assistance Council

Rashmi Rangan, Esq.Delaware Community Action

Council

Bethany SanchezMetro Milwaukee Fair Housing

Council

Shelley SheehyRiver Cities Development

Services

Diane Thompson, Esq.Land of Lincoln Legal Assistance

Foundation

Morris WilliamsCoalition of Neighborhoods

Ted WysockiLEED Council

In May of this year, two large-scale bank mergers were announced, which will profoundly affect

the amount and type of capital and banking services in low-income communities. Community

groups have the opportunity to comment on any institution’s performance when undergoing a

merger, under procedures set forth in the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), the Bank Holding

Company Act, and other banking federal laws.

Brokers discussed the following products with the control group and the protected group:

• A fixed first mortgage was discussed with 89.5% of the control group, but just 55.7% of the protected group;

• An adjustable first mortgage was discussed with 36.8% of the control group and 13.1% of the protected group.

• 15.8% of the control group was referred up to banks, while only 8.2% of the protected group was referred out to banks. The control group was referred “up”(i.e. told they could obtain a better rate elsewhere) 7% of the time, while the protected group was never referred up for a better rate.

• During the interview, brokers asked testers if they had poor credit, debts, late payments, and prior foreclosure in only 8.8% of the control group — but 39.3% of the time for the protected group.

• The tested brokers gave more of their time and attention to the control group than they did to the protected group. The duration of the test for the control group lasted, on average, 38.6 minutes while it only lasted 27.4 minutes for the protected group, on average.

These results are very troubling and document that controlling for credit and individual applicant qualification factors, African Americans are being discriminated against in the marketplace and being forced to pay a “race tax” due to unequal access to credit stated David Berenbaum in his testimony before the Federal Reserve Board in June.

NCRC Files Complaint against Mortgage BrokersThe findings from this recent testing have led NCRC to file the first complaint filed against a major mortgage brokerage firm using fair lending testing. NCRC has filed a complaint of discrimination against Allied Home Mortgage Capital Corporation (Allied) to the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity. NCRC’s investigation of Allied revealed that the company is quoting different interest rates and fees on the basis of race and steering African-American borrow-ers towards non-prime products despite being qualified for prime products. Further, NCRC’s investigation mirrors the result of our larger audit in that Allied brokers did not treat African-American mortgage applicants as seriously as their White counterparts. African-American testers also experienced differential treatment in representation of policies and practices, loan recommendations, and the quality of information provided by Allied brokers, all

which resulted in limited access to credit products. Overall, despite the company’s representations that Allied works with hundreds of prime and non prime lend-ers, committed to fair and responsible lending, NCRC’s experience revealed that Allied favored White testers in the information offered, level of service, loan terms, level of detail and level of encouragement. As a result of these illegal discriminatory practices, individuals in the communities have been discouraged from applying for loans and deprived of equal access to credit, capital, and banking services and products. These communities have, in turn, been denied the flow of capital, the provision of banking services, and the economic growth that accompa-nies capital and banking services by Allied. It is important to note, however, that Allied is not alone in failing to comply with responsible lending practices and fair lending law, as community advocates, responsible lenders and consumers know all too well. In the coming weeks, NCRC and our members will be filing additional complaints based upon our testing initiative. NCRC’s fair lending testing clearly documents the need for meaningful national and state policy, enforcement and regulatory oversight.

These recent mortgage broker tests and the expe-rience of consumers in our Consumer Rescue Fund Program reinforce earlier and recent findings of NCRC and other consumer advocates that illustrate that dispari-ties in subprime lending are persistent and stubborn for minorities, women, low-, moderate-, and even middle-income borrowers. Mortgage broker policies that permit and promote this type of discriminatory or predatory lending behavior must come to an end. As the process of purchasing a home tends to be overwhelming and chaotic, borrowers many times believe brokers are acting in their best interest and follow their recommendations. However, today’s evidence shows that some brokers prey on unsophisticated borrow-ers, ending in higher interest rates, a loss of product choice, poor services for those borrowers, and the dream of hom-eownership becoming the nightmare of foreclosure. NCRC will continue to challenge not only the brokers but also the lenders who securitize and/or originate loans either through wholesale or broker sources to implement proactive best practices and meaningful underwriting and/or secondary review processes to ensure equal access to credit and responsible business models. n

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NCRC Fair Lending Testing Reveals Discrimination by Mortgage Brokers continued from p. 1

NCRC’s Minority Business Center Recognized for High Achievement, Gains Critical Funding continued from p. 1

been able to acquire nearly $45 million in contracts and capital and have created 301 new jobs, far exceeding goals set by the MBDA. Through its consultancy ser-vices DCMBEC helps clients improve their businesses in the areas of government and private sector contract pro-curement, marketing and internal management control systems. The Center also assists firms in securing loans, lines of credit and bonding to enable them to thrive. MBDA has also recognized two DCMBEC clients as regional “Best”. Strickland Construction Services, Inc. receives the New York Region’s award for outstand-ing minority business in the construction industry, and LanceSoft, Inc. snags regional recognition as tops in the IT services arena. The New York Region of MBDA includes six Minority Business Enterprise Centers, each nominating its clients for the best-of-industry awards. LanceSoft, Inc. is also the MBDA’s national award winner as the exemplary minority-owned IT services

company. It is DCMBEC’s largest IT client, with over $77 million in annual revenue. When LanceSoft first approached the Center for assistance in procuring large private-sector contracts, its revenue was $34 mil-lion. Since engaging DCMBEC, LanceSoft has added over 300 employees, outgrown its offices and moved its headquarters to a larger facility in Northern Virginia. In appreciation of the Center’s assistance, LanceSoft has given DCMBEC a modest grant to support an adminis-trative intern and has partnered with the Center’s small-er IT companies in securing contract opportunities. Last but far from least, the Wachovia Foundation has awarded NCRC a substantial grant for DCMBEC to supplement its MBDA and NCRC funding. Wachovia’s three-year commitment makes available $125,000 annually to expand and enhance the services provided by the Center to minority firms across the Washington, DC metropolitan area. n

NCRC Study Reveals Stubborn and Persistent Lending Disparities

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The National Community Reinvestment Coalition’s (NCRC) report with the most recent home loan data, The 2005 Fair Lending Disparities: Stubborn and Persistent II, reveals that minorities, women, working class, and even middle-income borrowers across the United States receive a disproportionate amount of high-cost loans. “Despite the enhancements in reporting such as pricing information and heightened public scrutiny, we see yet again that traditionally underserved individu-als continue to pay more for credit,” states John Taylor, President and CEO of NCRC. “Last year, NCRC’s HMDA report exposed significant disparities in lending pat-terns. Instead of going away, the disparities persisted while overall high-cost lending volume surged.” NCRC’s survey of 17 large lending institutions for 2005 includes a substantial share of the total lending market, perhaps up to one third of the loans reported by institutions in HMDA data. The previous HMDA data for 2004 revealed that lending institutions issued 1.4 million conventional high-cost loans and 8.4 mil-lion market-rate loans. NCRC’s sample using 2005 data includes 1.4 million high-cost loans and 3.5 million market-rate conventional loans. High-cost lending was a much higher portion of overall lending in 2005, climbing from 12.2% of total loans in NCRC’s sample with the 2004 data to 28.2% of total loans in the 2005 sample. The federal agencies explain that much of the increase in high-cost lending

could be due to interest-rate movements, but NCRC believes that more investigation is warranted. “Last year, the Federal Reserve Board referred 200 large lenders to their primary federal agencies for more fair lending investigations based on substantial pricing

disparities. These lenders issued about half of the loans in the market. Now, one year later, not one fair lending settlement has occurred. When will the federal agencies address these problematic lending disparities in lend-ing,” continues Taylor. Market-rate loans are made at prevailing interest rates to borrowers with good credit histories. High-cost loans, in contrast, are loans with rates higher than pre-vailing rates made to borrowers with credit blemishes. Public policy concerns arise when certain groups in the population receive a disproportionate amount of high-cost loans. When high-cost lending crowds out market-rate lending in traditionally underserved communities, price discrimination and other predatory and deceptive practices become more likely as residents face fewer product choices.

NCRC’s study finds:• Of all the conventional loans made to African

Americans, 54.5% were high cost loans. In contrast, of all the conventional loans issued to whites, only 23.3% were high cost. Of all the conventional loans issued to Hispanics and Native Americans, 40.7% and 35.0%, respectively, were high cost during 2005.

• Of all conventional loans issued to females, 34.4% were high cost. In contrast, just 26.2% of the loans for males were high cost during 2005.

continued on p. 6

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The Border Fair Housing and Economic Justice Center (BFHC) recently took a major step in expand-ing fair housing throughout the Border region by opening its second office in Las Cruces, New Mexico. This new office will expand the capabilities of the center to reach and serve areas along the border where fair housing has not previously been realized. The opening of the center was kicked off by an all day training event attended by local residents, community groups, and industry professionals. The event was highlighted by presentations by staff from the Border Fair Housing Center and NCRC on fair housing, fair lending, exotic mortgages, economic jus-tice and financial education. The opening of the new center comes on the heels of the BFHC’s highly successful “2006 Border Fair Housing Summit: Bringing Visitability and Accessibility to Our Community,” which was held in El Paso in observance of Fair Housing Month. While the summit was quite comprehensive, there was a focus on promoting the adoption of a “visitability” ordinance by the City of El Paso. Such ordinances require builders to design and construct new homes in a manner that allow people in wheelchairs, or with other mobility impair-ments, access to the home and to use the bathroom facilities, thus allowing them to visit or live in the new

communities being developed. The BFHC also recognized members of their com-munity whose efforts have helped to promote fair housing and economic justice. The awardees included Maria Perez of the Volar Center for Independent Living for promot-ing the rights of people with disabilities; Maria Ortiz of Alianza Para El Desarrollo for her organizing work in the Colonias, the Honorable Miquel Teran, an El Paso County Commissioner, for championing infrastructure develop-ment in the Colonias and James Harrington, Director of the Texas Civil Rights Project, for his thirty years of service.

In other news... The BFHC announces with great sadness the passing of former employee George Huerta. Although George was only with our program for a short time, his work has made an impact and he will be deeply missed.

BFHC welcomes two new staff members, Ms. Elsa Sáenz and Ms. Merced Jasso. Ms. Sáenz is the new Fair Housing Consumer Protection Specialist. She will work on fair housing matters as well as oversee the HOME Partnership Programs Contract for Deed Conversion Program. Ms. Sáenz brings a wealth of real estate knowledge as well as community mobilization.

Ms. Jasso joins BFHC as a fair housing specialist and will staff the new Las Cruces office. She will work on BFHC’s full range of fair housing programs including investigating complaints of housing discrimination, working on systemic enforcement in the sales and lend-ing industries, providing Fair Housing and financial literacy training and counseling clients. Ms. Jasso has served the Las Cruces community for many years having worked in the health care field and for several commu-nity organizations. n

News From the Border Fair Housing and Economic Justice Center

Left to right: 1) the late George Huerta, former Fair Housing Specialist-BFHC, 2) Elsa Saenz, Fair Housing Specialist-BFHC, 3) Anibal Olague, Executive Director-BFHC, 4) Grace Chung Becker, Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the United States, 5) Gary Sweeney, HUD-Director of FHEO Region VI, 6) Sergio Vazquez, Program Manager BFHC.

• Of all the conventional loans issued to low- and moderate-income bor-rowers, 44.8% were high-cost. Even middle-income borrowers received a substantial portion of high-cost loans; 39% of the loans to middle-income borrowers were high-cost. In contrast, only 24.4% of the loans to upper-income borrowers were high-cost.

• Even though very high-cost lending is covered by the Federal anti-preda-tory law, the Homeownership and Equity Protection Act (HOEPA), very-high cost lending exhibited worrisome disparities for African-Americans and women. African-Americans had 14.3 percent of the HOEPA high-cost loans but only 6.8 percent of non-HOEPA market rate loans during 2005. Females also received a higher percentage of high-cost HOEPA loans (36.7 percent) than non-HOEPA market rate loans (28.5 percent). In contrast, males received a higher percentage of non-HOEPA market-rate loans (65.4 percent) than HOEPA high-cost loans (53.7 percent).

Stubborn and persistent disparities occurred in all types of lending, including home purchase, refinance, and home improvement lending. While traditionally undeserved populations continue to experience unequal access to lending, even middle-income borrowers must

deal with a substantial portion of high-cost loans. Disparities are confronting a broad segment of Americans, from women, working class consumers to middle-income families. Since disparities as revealed by the new 2005 data remain stubborn and persistent, NCRC feels strongly that Congress must enact strong, compre-hensive national anti-predatory lending legislation; that federal regulators need to stop weakening the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA); that federal agencies must step up their anti-dis-crimination and fair lending oversight; and that the Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs) must display contin-ued leadership by voluntarily adopting additional anti-predatory safeguards beyond those that they adopted a few

years ago. For more information, contact the NCRC Research Department on (202) 628-8866 and visit the NCRC web page at http://www.ncrc.org. n

NCRC Study Reveals Stubborn and Persistent Lending Disparities continued from p. 5

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In England, they still call it by its age-old name: Usury. In Germany, they call it extortionist lending. In Japan, activists have adopted the U.S. name for it: Predatory Lending. Across the globe, vulnerable people are being victimized by high-cost, unsustainable loans and unsafe financial services and mainstream financial ser-vices are rarely in their neighborhoods. Without the kinds of choices we take for granted, desperate people have no other place to turn. And without affordable, dependable financial services and prod-ucts, working-class people and low- and moderate-income communities will fail to prosper. This was the message, loud and clear, heard by NCRC and its international partners during the first two years of the Ford Foundation-funded Global Fair Banking Initiative. And now, after 15 international seminars, nearly a dozen meetings with non-U.S. elected officials and other senior policymakers, and countless exchanges among over 54 nations, a work-ing international network has emerged that will serve to counter abuse and expand rightful financial access on every continent. Modeled after NCRC, these working networks will nonetheless take many different forms as they are reinvented in disparate cultures. Financial sys-tems are not all alike, nor are the needs of people for financial intermediation. But enough commonality has emerged to convince non-U.S. leaders and activ-ists that we can, indeed, learn from each other as we work locally while cooperating globally for the ben-efit of all people. As one Bangladeshi lawyer wrote, the Global Fair Banking Initiative represents a criti-cal resource for “help and cooperation in launching a movement for enactment of Fair Banking Laws and achieving economic justice in our country.” In Brussels, NCRC helped launch the European Coalition for Responsible Credit/ECRC, which has already taken public positions on critical Consumer Protection legislation that will impact every mem-ber of the European Union. Earlier this year, a new Regional Coalition for the Asia and Pacific region was initiated. Other similar working networks are emerging in Eastern Europe, in Southern Asia, Africa, and South America. Nowhere on earth are ordinary people immune from lenders who use predatory or exclusionary practices, especially those who target low- and moderate-income families and communities. Only the Rule of Law can set the standard for protec-

tion and access, and that will take far greater public awareness and informed action on the part of Civil Society groups (nonprofit organizations and citizen-based NGOs). So now, NCRC is putting full energy into the new Global Community Reinvestment Coalition — also launched in Brussels this spring — to bring an awareness campaign and networking capacity to every nation, especially those in the Third World, that will promote access to fair credit, capital and financial services. n

Working Locally, Cooperating Globally: Economic Justice For All

European Coalition for Responsible Credit“Seven Principles for Responsible Credit”

1: Responsible and affordable credit must be provided for all.

2: Credit relations must be transparent and understandable.

3: Lending must at all times, be cautious, responsible and fair.

4: Adaptation should be preferred to credit cancellation and destruction.

5: Consumer protective legislation must be effective.

6: Over-indebtedness should be a public concern.

7: Borrowers must have adequate means to defend their rights and be free to voice their concerns.

On April 5th, NCRC testified before the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity to present our views on HR 5121, Expanding American Homeownership Act. Representing NCRC, Stella Adams, Executive Director of the North Carolina Fair Housing Center and NCRC Board Member, stated that reform of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loan program must be done carefully in order to preserve the program’s purpose of making affordable loans to minority and lower income Americans. NCRC’s testimony applauded the efforts of Congress to modernize FHA and update programs that have become antiquated. We emphasized the importance of FHA remaining relevant in today’s lending market. Nonetheless, NCRC expressed our concern with some of the proposed reforms that will move FHA towards more expensive private sector pricing patterns. NCRC also opposed the provision that would allow the FHA program to insure more expensive homes beyond the reach of lower income borrowers. Moreover, the bill lacked hous-ing goals to demonstrate service to minority and lower income borrowers. NCRC acknowledged the innovative approaches in the proposed bill such as updating technology and greater flexibility for FHA with respect to condominiums. At the same time, however, the bill contained an amend-ment to the National Housing Act that would expand mortgage broker participation in FHA. NCRC’s Consumer Rescue Fund has documented countless predatory loans that were originated by brokers who are lightly regulated. After the hearing, there was an unsuccessful effort in the House to attach HR 5121 to the HUD appropria-tions bill. The House then scheduled a floor vote on HR 5121. The bill moved forward with amendments by Congressman Barney Frank that were designed to protect FHA’s mission to serve lower income borrowers with affordable loans. On July 25, 2006, the bill passed by a vote of 415-7.

The bill as introduced would have done the following:

• Eliminate the current statutory caps on FHA premiums (2.25% upfront, .55% annually)

• Remove the current statutory loan-to-value limits and down payment requirements that would allow for a zero down payment single-family FHA loan.

• Authorize risk-based pricing where consumers would be charged different premiums based on their credit-worthiness and other underwriting factors.

FHA Reform’s Long and Incomplete Journal

continued on p. 8

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business owners. The partnership among MACDC, its member orga-nizations and TD Banknorth is now on a developmental fast track for program roll-out in the fall. Other techni-cal assistance (TA) providers will join as the initiative expands. The collaboration promises to help solve several issues that sometimes confront CommunityExpress lend-ers and TA providers:

• By creating a standard lender/TA provider agreement, the bank doesn’t have to obtain separate legal review and clearance of multiple contracts with its TA providers.

• The uniform agreement will lay out compensation from the bank to the community organizations that is the same across the board, including a standard fee for pre-closing business planning and counseling, and another amount for post-closing assistance if needed. Once the compensation structure is established with MACDC and its members, monetary negotiations with each TA provider will be unnecessary. The agreement will also establish clear expectations on services that the non-profit will provide to the borrower.

• TD Banknorth will assign an account executive to each member TA provider, serving as a liaison between the non-profit and the bank’s underwriters. This approach will help assure smooth communication among all the parties.

• By working through MACDC, TD Banknorth will create a marketing stream to all the association’s members and their small business clients. Community development corporations have a strong client base and strong con-nections within their low/moderate-income communi-

ties, enabling them to bring new customers and poten-tial CommunityExpress borrowers to the bank.

The TD Banknorth Charitable Foundation will provide a grant to MACDC to administer and monitor the program. From that grant, MACDC will issue compensation to its member TA providers per their agreement with the bank. TD Banknorth believes strongly in the value of good technical assistance, knowing that it benefits both the bor-rower and the bank. Thus it wants to compensate its non-profit partners fairly for their cost of providing high-quali-ty management assistance. As Dennis Lagueux, senior vice president of TD Banknorth’s Community Development Department says, “The CommunityExpress loan program promotes and utilizes partnerships that ultimately benefit all. The TA provider works with the bank and the bor-rower to ensure that the small business does not get into a threatening financial situation and grows to become a viable business. Everybody wins.” Joe Kriesberg of MACDC also lauds the collabora-tion between its members and the bank: “It is very exciting to partner with a bank that really gets it. TD Banknorth understands that working with community groups can create a win-win-win — greater access to capital for small businesses, more support for nonprofits in covering their TA costs, and more business for the bank. We also truly appreci-ate NCRC’s leadership in creating the CommunityExpress program that is making such a partnership possible.” If the partnership with MACDC and its members shows favorable results, TD Banknorth (whose foot-print covers northern New England, upstate New York and parts of the mid-Atlantic) hopes to replicate this approach in its other locations. n

MACDC and TD Banknorth Link Up for CommunityExpress Statewide On TD BanknOrTh:

Visit www.tdbanknorth.com or contactSusanne Marzi CameronVice PresidentTD Banknorth Community Development51 State StreetNewburyport, MA 01950Mailstop: MA151-00Tel: (978) 463-7123Fax: (978) 463-6400 Susanne.Cameron@tdbanknorth.com

TD Banknorth Inc., a leading banking and financial services company headquartered in Portland, Maine, currently serves over 1.5 million households in eight Northeastern states. A majority-owned subsidiary of TD Bank Financial Group, TD Banknorth is one of the 25 largest commercial banks in the United States, with over $40 billion of total consolidated assets. For more information, visit http://www.TDBanknorth.com.

On MaCDC:Joseph kriesbergPresidentMassachusetts Association of Community Development Corporations (MACDC)89 South Street, 4th FloorBoston, MA 02111Tel: (617) 426-0303Fax: (617) 426-0344 JoeK@macdc.org

On CommunityExpress: www.sba.gov OR NCRC’s Small Business Development Department: 202-628-8866, ext. 2732, or avis@dcmbdc.org

continued from p. 2

For More Information

The bill as passed by the House included the following changes requested by Congressman Barney Frank and has been sent to the Senate Banking Committee:

• Cap premiums for borrowers with a 560 FICO equiva-lent score that make a down payment at the current statutory caps of 2.25% upfront and .55% annually. This is intended to protect borrowers who now qualify for FHA loans from paying very high premiums.

• Cap premiums on riskier loans (either zero down pay-ment loans or loans to borrowers with higher credit risk) at 3% upfront and .75% annually (the maximum rate HUD indicates it plans to charge for such loans).

• Includes a provision providing for incentives to pay on-time. For borrowers that make 5 years of on-time payments, HUD would be required to reduce annual premiums and refund the higher upfront fee at loan repayment.

The primary mission of FHA is to “reach borrow-ers who are underserved, or not served, by the existing conventional mortgage marketplace.” The amendments to the existing National Housing Act could have the likely outcome of reducing the numbers of low- and moderate-income and minority borrowers served by FHA. In general, NCRC believes that FHA should be modernized but these proposals would move FHA away from its original purpose.

Throughout these deliberations, the Senate has moved with greater caution and has articulated its concern with the reforms being pushed by the Administration. The Senate Appropriations Committee removed the FHA reform language from the HUD appro-priations bill. In addition, the Senate expressed an inter-est to wait for the GAO study requested by Senator Allard during the Senate Banking Hearing before moving for-ward on FHA reform. NCRC will continue to work closely with the Senate to improve the bill and to preserve the Frank amendments. For more information, please contact Monica Gonzales, NCRC Vice President for Legislative and Regulatory Affairs, on (202) 628-8866. n

FHA Reform’s Long and Incomplete Journal continued from p. 7

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changes to voting practices or procedures. Federal approval will be given only after the jurisdiction proves that the proposed change does not, have the purpose or effect of denying or abridging the right to vote on account of race or color. Secondly is Section 203, which requires certain jurisdictions to provide bilingual language assistance to voters in communi-ties where there is a concentration of citizens who are limited English proficient. This provision was added to the Voting Rights Act in 1975. The third provisions are those in Sections 6-9 which authorize the federal government to send federal election examiners and observers to certain jurisdictions covered by Section 5 where there is evidence of attempts to intimidate minority voters at the polls. Originally, in 1965, leg-islators hoped that within five years the problems

would be resolved and there would be no further need for these enforcement-related provisions: however, it proved necessary to extend these in 1970, and again in 1975 and 1982. They were set to expire in August 2007, although the legislation signed today will extend them another 25 years. The hearings held in 2005 and 2006 in the House and Senate found a new generation of tactics, including at-large elections, annexations, last minute poll place changes and redistricting which have had a discriminatory impact on voters, especially racial and ethnic minority American voters. Thus H.R. 9 was introduced with strong bipartisan support in the House and the Senate to reauthorize the expiring por-tions of the VRA and allow the federal government to address these new challenges. n

Voting Rights Act Passed: VRA at 40Submitted by NAACP's Press Office continued from p. 1

The National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC), and NRT Incorporated, the nation’s largest residential real estate brokerage, recently announced an unprecedented alliance to promote best fair hous-ing practices to sales associates and consumers in more than 35 major metropolitan areas where NRT operates. NRT is part of Cendant Corporation’s Real Estate Services Division, which will become Realogy Corporation upon the completion of its separation from Cendant (NYSE: CD), anticipated in June 2006. NCRC and NRT will collaborate to design and roll out fair housing training across NRT’s national family of companies, and review and assess the company’s fair housing policies and practices to reinforce equal professional service to all consumers. In connection with the partnership, NCRC and NRT will roll out fair housing training to NRT’s 64,000 sales associates in its more than 1,000 offices; conduct a thorough review of NRT’s fair housing policies and practices and assist in implementing additional policies as appropriate; promote self testing as an effective tool for educating real estate professionals and for internal monitoring of compliance with the Fair Housing Act; and, promote fair housing compliance and awareness, including by creating links to NCRC’s fair housing information on all NRT operating company Web sites as well as the real estate brand Web sites that operate under the

Cendant Real Estate Franchise Group. “NCRC has made tremendous strides in waging campaigns that ensure today’s businesses operate in a manner that protects traditionally underserved and vulnerable communities,” said Bruce Zipf, president and chief executive officer for NRT Incorporated. “We believe our alliance with NCRC will set an industry standard in embodying the best practices in fair hous-ing and that other companies that follow our lead will truly demonstrate the meaning of equal housing opportunity.” According to Pat Vredevoogd, president-elect, National Association of Realtors®, “Fair hous-ing is a cornerstone of America’s real estate market. Partnerships like this one between NCRC and NRT are the most effective tools to provide everyone with equal opportunities to find the housing of their choice in the community they choose.” NRT’s participation in NCRC’s National Fair Housing Best Practice Campaign significantly reinforc-es our joint mission that every home seeker who visits an NRT affiliated office will receive equal professional service and can expect to work with a staff that cele-brates equal housing opportunity so that they may live in the neighborhood of their choice,” said John Taylor, president and chief executive officer for NCRC. “To put it quite simply, NRT’s commitment should serve as a role model within the real estate industry.” n

NRT Incorporated and National Community Reinvestment Coalition Partner to Promote Fair Housing Practices Nationwide

This program was made possible by a multi-million dollar funding and underwriting commitment from Household International (now HSBC-North America). For nearly six years, NCRC, with its dedicated staff of the National Anti-Predatory Lending Consumer Rescue Loan Fund Program (CRF) has been working with NCRC member agencies, nonprofit housing agencies, congres-sional offices, federal regulators, consumers and others educating and assisting consumers affected by abusive lending practices and at risk of foreclosure on their homes. The CRF has aided consumers in preserving their homes through workouts with their lenders and/or refinancing them in a remedial loan that “saves” their homes which helps to stabilize neighborhoods across America. The program has helped thousands of consumers weed through the complexity of loss mitigation programs and their options in order to continue their successful homeownership. These options have included extended pay-ments arrangements, affordable forbearance arrangements, adding delinquent payments to the end of their note, loan settlements, and modification of their original loans that have reduced their interest rates. The CRF staff evaluates the terms and circumstances of the loans, provide counseling, contacts the lenders or servicers on their behalf for work-outs or refinances their loans with a no cost mortgage.

Avoiding Foreclosures: Keeping Homeowners in Their Homes

continued on p. 10

The National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) and over thirty participat-ing NCRC member organizations in Arizona, Ohio and New York launched the Fair Lending Consumer Rescue Initiative (CRF) in October 2001 designed to help refinance predatory or problematic loans secured by real estate.

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10 The CRF helps individuals stay in their homes. Below meet three consumers who, thanks to the CRF were able to avoid foreclosure and stay in their homes.

After years of loan flipping and loss of income due in part to the shift of industries from the State of North Carolina to overseas workers, annie Oxendine has struggled to stay in her home of over twenty years. She has had to file a bankruptcy that was dismissed, lose income from several surgeries and still fought to hang on to her home. She was referred to the CRF from a housing agency in North Carolina to help her stay away from pending foreclo-sure of her home. After close to two years of working to stay the foreclosure and work with her lenders, Ocwen FSB and Wells Fargo, the loan was submitted to the CRF and finally approved for refinancing.

Through the process of mediation, we able to negoti-ate with her lenders to stop the foreclosure and offer our alternative loan product to save her home. The CRF was able to refinance her two loans with interest rates of 9.05% and 17.5%, respectively, into one loan with a rate of 3.00 % and a reduction of her payment by $540 monthly.

Ms. Frances Cornwell, a North Carolina native, was referred to NCRC from a legal aid agency seeking an alternative to a pending foreclose. Ms. Cornwell lost her husband over two years and with that his income. She has struggled to hold on to her home after realizing that her husband had refinanced the home in his name only and the lender was not able to do a workout with her because she was not a signatory on the note. The CRF team worked with her first and second trust holders to get a modifi-cation on her second trust to 0% and reduce her first trust rate from 12.50% to 7%. Her total monthly saving amounted to $700 which with has enabled her to afford her home after suffering the loss of her husband and loss of his financial support.

Sherry and Frank Block searched the internet trying to find a solution to their mortgage problems. Ms. Block, now the sole breadwinner, and her husband were behind on their mortgage after the payment increased over $200 monthly on their adjustable rate mortgage. The rate on their loan had climbed to over 14% and placed them at risk of foreclosure. The CRF team contacted their lender and was able to stop the foreclosure proceeding, obtain a permanent 5% reduction in the rate with no future adjustments. This resulted in a payment reduction of over $200 monthly. The family will now have a fixed rate throughout the life of this loan. n

Avoiding Foreclosures: Keeping Homeowners in Their Homes continued on p. 9

Do You Know Your NCRC Member Benefits?What is the value of membership in NCRC? Our new-est member benefit, the Community Investment network (CIN), demonstrates the value of connection, to each other and to all of the sectors involved in pro-moting fair and equal access to credit and capital. CIN is a portal to the community reinvestment universe. It posts profiles of NCRC members, includ-ing those that otherwise would not have a presence on the web. These profiles increase your visibility within your community and with funders, bankers, regula-tors, public officials and the press. In addition, it pro-vides you access to a host of resources, reports, news articles, etc — all in one place. Other member benefits are NCRC’s Listserv and News Center, which provide timely information about a range of credit and capital issues. We also now have an economic justice blog! We encourage members to speak out on the blog about challenging issues and solution-oriented strategies in your community. Our research department is an ongoing resource for members. It provides information about lending trends in your community, analyzes the data, and can

help you leverage the findings into advocacy strate-gies. And our Legislative and Regulatory department speaks to your concerns both on Capital Hill and with the financial services industry. We have made a subscription to Shelterforce, the nation’s leading community development digest, yours FREE with membership. Finally all NCRC members receive special discounts to NCRC sponsored events, such as the Annual Conference, trainings and use of the NCRC Training Academy. Make sure you take advantage of your member-ship and become active in NCRC now.

Thank You!Many thanks to all of you who responded to our mailing and provided your organizational profiles! I hope you are as excited as we are to see them posted on Community Investment Network, our newest member benefit. If you have not already done so, send your profile in. You will find a welcome home on this new and dynamic web site. n

Are you or a friend an active NCRC member?

Committed to Economic Justice?

An influential leader in your community?

Ready to commit and lead at a national level the fight for economic justice?

Call For Board Member Nominations

If you, or if you know someone that is, nominate them to be an NCRC Board of Directors. Nominations need to be received by December 1, 2006 and submitted to:

Gail Burks, President & CEONevada Fair Housing Center

3380 W. Sahara, Suite 150Las Vegas, NV 89102

Attn: NCRC nomination committee

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No doubt these are all field proven strategies. There is also no doubt that, given the changing fiscal, funding and political environment, community development advocates should be evaluating and constantly adding new capabilities to their tool kit. A select group of savvy non-profits have identified a powerful secret weapon: training and its ability to leverage strategic goals and objectives. The real question is why more non profits haven’t caught on to how training can promote their agenda. When you consider community development’s common denomi-nator, improving lives by revitalizing communities, the argu-ment for high quality training becomes even more compel-ling. In no other area are the stakes, and challenges, as high: the ability to move from data to knowledge to action. Putting aside employee morale and productivity, orga-nizational image and program effectiveness, organizations that invest in training as a strategic tool provide a valuable service to the groups they serve. NCRC is pleased to be a part of the dialogue with a few leading-edge community development organizations who understand how training will help them meet concrete organi-zational and individual performance objectives.

Case Study #1:Jacobs FoundationOpportunity: The Jacob’s Center for Neighborhood Innovation works to promote self-sufficiency and wealth building for its resi-dents in San Diego. The Market Creek Plaza (MCP) is a high profile commercial development project. With the commer-cial development complete the next phase is to promote not only a “double bottom line” where residents benefit from increased jobs and services, but also from the economic benefits, by investing to “Own a Piece of the Block” through the sale of stocks, or units, in a limited liability partnership.

Problem:Residents lack a basic understanding and knowledge of financial education tools and strategies that promote owner-ship: financial planning and asset building strategies.

Solution:Overview of financial planning and understanding of strate-gies that promote Asset Creation and Build Wealth.

Case Study #2:La rED de appoyoOpportunity Three major banks, Doral, RTG Premier and 1st Bank are currently under cease and desist orders for accounting fraud in Puerto Rico. The current environment will probably result in much needed scrutiny and, ultimately, bank consolidation. This is an historic opportunity for community organizers to play an important role in engaging regulators in the regula-tory process and in demanding local community investment.

Problem: Organizers lack understanding of strategies for increasing dialogue with banks and regulators.

Solution:Implement training in the provisions of the Community rein-vestment Act, including the examination process, divest-ments, and an understanding of how to leverage HMDA analysis to optimize community impact.

Case Study #3Wegmans Foundationhillside Work-Scholarship ConnectionOpportunityThe Hillside Work-Scholarship Connection was founded in 1987 by Wegmans Foundation to provide participating stu-dents who voluntarily enroll in grades 7 and continue until grade 9 with academic enrichment opportunities, college and career preparation, youth employment training, and life and social skills training. The programs success is measured by increased graduations rates by participants that leave high school with the knowledge and skills necessary to pur-sue post-secondary education and/or enter the workforce.

Problem: Youth Advocates serve as trained facilitators must implement Financial Literacy training to complement and enhance the social and life skills development currently offered, including Basic Banking, Money Flows and Asset Creation, Debt and Credit Management, Budgeting and Goal Setting.

Solution:A six hour train the trainer session on Financial Literacy skills development will be delivered as part of the Team Outreach Program agenda and monthly enrichment ses-sions established for the 2006 Back to School Professional Development Training Calendar. n

Community Development Weapons of ChoiceWhen community development advocates arm themselves for social change work each morning, they usually grab the obvious tools in their toolbox: knowledge of their community’s needs, an awareness of the public policy process and their regulatory and legislative agendas, research studies and other data on the issues. And let’s not forget a development strategy for funding their efforts.

According to a recent study published by the Housing Research Foundation, the elderly population is one of the fastest growing segments requiring quality, public housing. To help address this dilemma, NCRC member Chicanos Por La Causa, Inc. (CPLC) recently celebrated the grand opening of the Casa Mia Elderly Housing Complex. The dedication was held on Monday, May 1, 2006. Casa Mia is CPLC’s newest HUD 202/Section 8 multi-family housing community built specifically for the senior adult market. In addition, Casa Mia is the agency’s seventh HUD 202/Section 8 housing communi-ty. The subdivision sits on 2.5 acres in a highly desirable neighborhood located in Central Phoenix. The hous-ing complex consists of 64 units. Some of the complex amenities include a laundry room, a computer room, a library, covered and uncovered patio area for residents, which include barbeques and picnic tables. As with CPLC’s other senior housing projects, Casa Mia will have an on-site manager that will be able to assist the residents. Through the combined efforts of CPLC and its funding partners, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Catholic Healthcare West and the City of Phoenix Housing Department, many senior individuals will be able to enjoy the benefit of quality, affordable housing in a safe environment. n

NCRC Member Celebrates Grand Opening of Casa Mia Elderly Housing Complex

Created by NCRC’s Banker/Community Collaborative Council and developed collaboratively with the U.S. Small Business Administration, CommunityExpress rolled out its first loans seven years ago, in June 1999. Successfully reaching thousands of underserved entrepreneurs across the nation, the program has recently attracted new lend-ers and technical assistance providers in record numbers. From the initial nine lenders, CommunityExpress has drawn participation by 85 financial institutions — including two credit unions — in the past 21 months alone (nearly double the count of 45 at the end of FY’04). The aggregate of technical assistance providers has grown correspondingly — now numbering nearly 400. And lending has swelled to 15,572 approved loans totaling over $397 million. Loans and management assistance have been made available in 48 states, the District of Columbia, the Virgin Islands and now Guam. The original CommunityExpress pilot program

expired September 30, 2005. However, SBA has extended the pilot through December 31,2006, and all indica-tions are that the agency is committed to retaining and even expanding it. Meanwhile, SBA continues internal deliberations about how to target specific groups of underserved borrowers while continuing to address distressed communities on a geographic basis. The cur-rent forecast may limit CommunityExpress eligibility to small businesses in low/moderate-income neighbor-hoods (which have received only 31% of the loans) and other distressed areas, and may eliminate the criteria of businesses owned by women (now acquiring 56% of loans), minorities (getting 70%) and veterans (receiv-ing 12%). The agency is looking at additional ways to achieve its strategic objective of making more loans in smaller amounts under the popular 7(a) program, which includes CommunityExpress. This summer NCRC has restored some of its

work with CommunityExpress, thanks to intern Nathan Marwell. Nathan has performed statistical analyses of CommunityExpress lending, based on SBA’s loan reports, to show loans and dollar amounts by gender, ethnicity, veteran status, income level of census tract, and by state and lender (see accompanying charts and graphs). All this data is welcomed by CommunityExpress stakehold-ers as a means of assessing their performance and the availability of the loans in given areas. Nathan’s work has also enabled NCRC and SBA to resume hosting monthly conference calls of participating lenders and of technical assistance providers. These have proved valuable in shar-ing important information about the program and differ-ent approaches to implementing it. The continued expansion of CommunityExpress and the surge of new lenders demonstrate not only the viabil-ity of the program but also the nationwide need for its financing and the bonus of management assistance. n

CommunityExpress Celebrates Seven Years, Keeps Growing

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CommunityExpress Summary StatisticsProgram to Date: June 1999 - June 2006

Percentage of CommunityExpress Loans by Census Tract Income

Percentage of CommunityExpress Loans by Ethnicity

Percentage of CommunityExpress Loans by Gender

Percentage of CommunityExpress Loans by Veteran Status

Percentage of CommunityExpress Loans by Loan Size

CommunityExpress Celebrates Seven Years, Keeps Growing

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NCRC Welcomes New Staff, Bids Interns Farewell

M E M B E R S:Cincinnati Change, Inc.CinCinnati , OH

City of Kansas CityKansas City, MO

DC Fiscal Policy InstituteWasHingtOn, DC

Exceed, Inc.greenville , nC

Fair Budget CoalitionWasHingtOn, DC

Neighborhoods USA (NUSA)DaytOn, OH

ONE DC Organizing Neighborhood EquityWasHingtOn, DC

The BACH FoundationCaMDen, nJ

The IMPACT! GroupDulutH, ga

The Jewish Business Counseling Center, Inc.MOnsey, ny

The Metropolitan CenterMiaMi, Fl

Wildcat Service CorporationneW yOrK, ny

Women’s Community Revitalization ProjectPHilaDelPHia, Pa

A S S O C I AT E S :David Anderson-Student AssociateDOver, De

Andrade Business Consultants, LLCsan antOniO, tx

Regina Malveaux-Student AssociateCHula vista, Ca

Tiffani St.Cloud-Student AssociateWasHingtOn, DC

Gary Surrency-Student AssociateWayCrOss, ga

Join in Welcoming the Newest Additions to the Coalition in Your Area!

Meet Greetandthe New NCRC Members & AssociatesJah-asia nuru serves as a Fair

Lending Specialist in the Consumer Rescue Fund (CRF). Prior to joining NCRC this July, Jah-Asia worked for the firm of Relman & Associates as a Paralegal. Her professional duties

included investigation of racial discrimination claims relating to public accommodations. Fluent in Spanish, Jah-Asia also provided interpretation services to Hispanic clients regarding legal matters, and various other civil rights functions. Jah-Asia has worked or interned for several institutions including the American Civil Liberties Union, Nadir for President, Law Offices of Williams & Connelly, LLP, the Mexican Cultural Institute, Embassy of Mexico and others. Jah-Asia is a graduate of the American University where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Justice and Spanish Studies.

Also joining the CRF team as a Fair Lending Specialist is Julia rodgers. Julia has worked as a Production Coordinator at Lime Financial Services in Chantilly, Virginia. There, she was responsible for managing a loan pipeline, coordinat-

ing loan closings, and working with brokers. Prior to that, Julia was a Mortgage Associate and Underwriter for Argent Mortgage Company. Julia, also bilingual, is fluent in Assyrian, an Aramaic language spoken mainly in the Middle East. Originally from Chicago, Julia is a graduate of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Education and Social Policy and minored in Political Science.

Vondetta Carter recently joined NCRC’s Accounting Department as a Senior Accountant. She will focus on budgets, expense reports, grants, audits, and payrolls among other financial aspects. Before coming to NCRC,

Vondetta spent over 15 years working as an accountant for a start up company. While there, Vondetta was in charge of billing, human resources, production of financial statements and all other general functions. Vondetta graduated from Virginia Common Wealth University in Richmond, VA with a degree in Accounting.

Born in Memphis, TN, Special Assistant Jesse Van Tol joins NCRC as a consultant working with fundraising and with NCRC’s newest program: global initiatives. Jesse is a recent graduate of the University of Wisconsin

— Madison where he eared his Bachelor of Arts in History and International Studies.

Every summer, NCRC has a group of interns dedicated to in assisting us with economic justice. This summer was no exception. We would like to thank our four dynamic interns for the time they spent with us in Washington.

kahini ranade, a senior at Wellesley College, joined NCRC in our Global Initiatives Department. With a double major in Political Science and French, Kahini brings strong business and legislative knowledge to NCRC global

initiative. As a student, Kahini has worked for the Boston Consortium on Gender Security and Human Rights as well as the Project Votes Smart. Her duties have spanned from preparing presentations for the UN Department of Peace Keeping to analyzing and summarizing con-gressional legislation for web publication.

nathan Marwell had dual internship responsibilities at NCRC. He worked with Avis Allen on CommunityExpress initiatives and with the Research Department analyzing policy issues. A senior at Columbia University,

Nathan is majoring in Economics and minoring in Mathematics and Philosophy. A Maryland native, Nathan has expansive intern experience as a financial and data analyst. Interested in economic growth and sustainable development, upon graduation Nathan intends to pursue a career in public policy.

Zoubida Ziani, the Communications Intern, is a senior at Roger Williams University in Rhode Island, where she is majoring in Communications and minoring in French and Marketing. Zoubida, a native of Morocco, has

worked with AMIDEAST, a non-profit organization focused on international education in Morocco. While at NCRC, Zoubida worked with instituting NCRC’s photo library and assisting different departments with their publicity needs. After graduation, Zoubida plans to start a career in Communications and Marketing back home in Morocco.

The research intern, anna Gullickson, started with NCRC in January and was of tremendous assistance. A recent graduate from Virginia Tech, Anna majored in political science and dual-minored in urban affairs and African-American studies. She has previous intern-ship experience at HUD and the National Congress for Community Economic Development (NCCED). Anna’s next move is earning her Master’s, and we wish her all the luck. n

Coalition News from Members Around the U.S.

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Mayor Michael Bloomberg Addressed the National Alliance to End Homelessness Annual Conference

Washington, DC – The Honorable Michael Bloomberg, Mayor of the City of New York was a keynote speaker during the National Alliance to End Homelessness’s annual conference held July 17-19 in Washington, DC. While there, Mr. Bloomberg announced a new, aggressive approach to ending hard-core street homelessness by putting in place a comprehen-sive prevention plan designed to keep people from becoming homeless in the first place and also providing assistance to help the homeless get back on their feet faster.

Mr. Bloomberg talked about his administration’s progress in its goal to reduce homelessness by two-thirds by 2009. He noted that there are almost 20 percent fewer individuals and 30 percent fewer children in shelters since 2003. In a recent census, city officials found 13 percent fewer individuals living on the streets and in other pub-lic spaces this year as compared to last year. The city is stepping up its efforts to fight homelessness by pouring more money into a prevention program and targeting dozens of areas where homeless congregate.The National Alliance to End Homelessness is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to mobilize the nonprofit, public and private sectors of society in an alliance to end homelessness. n

Settlement Appears Close on Indian Trust LawsuitBrowning, MT – American Indians suing the government over billions of dol-lars in lost royalties say they are contemplating an offer by members of the Congress to resolve their lawsuit for $8 billion. The offer is considerably lower than the $27.5 billion plaintiffs offered to settle for a year a go. Native American Community Development Corporation: Member Elouise Cobell continues as lead plaintiff in the Cobell vs. Norton lawsuit against the Treasury Department for mismanagement of Indian Land Trusts. “Eight billion dollars is something I wish was higher, but I’m glad they were able to bring something for-ward that was equitable.” Said Blackfeet Indian Elouise Cobell in an interview. “ Can we ever get near the total fair amount that should be given to individual Indians? I don’t think so. I think individual Indian account holders would support $8 billion.”Cobell filed the class-action lawsuit in 1996, accusing the government of mishandling more than $100 billion in oil, gas, timber, grazing and other royalties from Indians’ lands dating back to 1887. She said the Indian plaintiffs want to settle and move on. Ms. Cobell is the Executive Director of the Native American Community Development Corporation, a nonprofit affiliate of Native American Bank. She also served as Chairperson for the Blackfeet National bank, the first national bank located on an Indian reservation and owned by a Native American tribe. n

Enterprise Community Partners Will Hold an Enterprise Network Conference in OctoberLos Angeles, CA – On October 25-27 more than 1,000 community development practitioners will converge at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel in Los Angeles, California for the nation’s premiere community development conference. Enterprise Community Partners, formerly the Enterprise Foundation, is a leading provider of the development capital and expertise it takes to create decent, affordable homes and rebuild communities. For more than two decades, Enterprise has pioneered neighborhood solutions through public-private partnerships with financial institutions, governments, community organizations and others with the same vision. n

CARAT & CEDLI Will Host Their 9th Annual Awards LuncheonLos Angeles, CA – California Resources and Training (CARAT) and the California Economic Development Lending Initiative (CEDLI) will celebrate their 9th Annual Awards Luncheon on October 24th at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, California. During this event they will celebrate and provide recognition to outstanding individuals, organizations, and financial institutions that provide community economic development in California. This year, they expect over 300 attendees including represen-tatives from economic development non-profit organizations, banks and regulators. CARAT is a private non-profit founded in 1994 to integrate and build the capacity of the technical assistance industry in California. As a statewide initiative, CARAT’s focus has been on enhancing the quality of technical assistance throughout California. CARAT’s intent is to assist in building capacity and encourage and stimulate partner-ships between lending institutions and the technical assistance providers. CEDLI is a multi-bank community development corporation established in 1995 to provide investment capital to small businesses and community organizations throughout California. CEDLI is a for profit corporation, and its mission is to create jobs by providing financing to small businesses, and community economic development and revitalization activities which fall outside of normal bank lending practices. n

Local Initiative Support Corporation (LISC) Holding Urban Forum 2006Miami, FL – This year’s LISC conference, Urban Forum 2006, takes place November 8 -10th in the heart of Miami. The conference will cover topics such as eminent domain, decoding the language of the new market tax credits, resolving safety concerns, and developing funding strategies. Urban Forum 2006 will also address the pressing concerns facing the revitalization of present day business districts located in urban neighborhoods. During the three days of interactive learning, com-munity and economic development practitioners will be able to network with public administrators, academics, students, nonprofit and corporate philanthropic professionals from across the country.

Conference highlights include:• High-energy professional development sessions, interactive skill-building workshops,

and dynamic keynote presentations tailored to the unique needs and make up of the urban commercial revitalization community.

• Neighborhood tours exploring the outstanding work led by community-based organizations in South Florida.

• Opportunities to interact and exchange ideas with community development professionals from across the nation.

• Educational materials for conference attendees to take back to their respective organizations and communities.

For more information visit: www.lisc.org. n

Mayor Michael Bloomberg

Elouise Cobell, Native American Community Development Corp.

Atlanta Neighborhood Development Partnership, Inc. Bids Farewell to Founder and Welcomes New President and CEOAtlanta, GA – After a nationwide search, the Atlanta Neighborhood Development Partnership (ANDP) announces John O’Callaghan, formerly Fannie Mae’s Director of Public Affairs for the Southeast Region, has joined ANDP as President and CEO. O’Callaghan suc-ceeds founder and CEO, Hattie B. Dorsey. Since 1994, O’Callaghan helped created and lead the Federal National Mortgage Association’s housing and community devel-opment outreach network or an 11-state region. In this role, he worked with lenders, real estate professionals, homebuilders, elected officials and community leaders to

identify and solve community-housing needs. “Thanks to Hattie’s leadership and the dedication of ANDP’s board, staff and partners, all of us better understand how work-force housing shortages negatively impact families and communities. An even greater testament to the organiza-

tion’s hard work is that critical housing units are actually being produced. I am thrilled to join the team that will continue moving this legacy forward,” said O’Callaghan. Dorsey established ANDP in 1991 through a merger of the Housing Resource Center of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce and the Neighborhood Development Department of the Atlanta Economic Development Corporation. ANDP advocates for, invests in and participates in building affordable, mixed income housing. n

Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project (NEDAP) Leads Issue-framing Session, “Fair Access to Financial Services: A Progressive Economic Development Analysis”New York, NY – On July 18th, NEDAP held “Fair Access to Financial Services: A Progressive Economic Development Analysis,” for groups involved in Redefining Economic Development in New York. NEDAP talked about the reason fair access to credit and financial services is critical to neighborhood development. They also con-nected the way unequal credit has contributed to neighborhood inequality, segregation, and poverty. Fair Access to Financial Services explained the history of redlining, the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), and focused on the need to expand the scope and appli-cation of CRA given the fundamental changes in financial services brought on by deregulation, consolidation, and electronic banking technology. NEDAP also outlined issues that low income and undocumented immigrants face in obtaining access to fair and affordable financial services. Joining NEDAP to educate groups about community financial justice issues were Joy Cousminer of Bethex Federal Credit Union, who described her credit union’s mis-sion and challenges; Artemio Guerra of the Fifth Avenue Committee, who discussed La Unión de la Comunidad Latina’s organizing campaign to hold money transmitters accountable to the immigrant community in Sunset Park; and Josh Zinner of South Brooklyn Legal Services, who explained connections between predatory lenders and mainstream financial institutions and Wall Street. NEDAP’s mission is to promote community economic justice, and to eliminate discriminatory economic practices that harm communities and perpetuate inequality and poverty. n

Microenterprise Development: From Dreams to Reality, AEO’s Annual Conference and Membership MeetingAtlanta, GA – The 2006 Annual Conference and Membership meeting, held in Atlanta, Georgia May 16-19 was a great success for AEO and the microenterprise development (MED) field. Conference co-host, Georgia Micro Enterprise Network (GMEN), welcomed over 600 attendees for the three day networking and training event. With over 80 training sessions of various skill levels and 16 networking sessions focused on specific microenterprise develop-ment topics, attendees had many opportunities to strengthen their skills, gain useful knowledge, and build new relationships with colleagues and peers. The workshops covered a diverse range of topics relevant to the field, including — for the first time — Spanish-language workshops for Spanish speaking members. Also during the conference, attendees enjoyed a night of good food and shopping at the GMEN- hosted Microenterprise Fair. Over 30 Georgia entrepreneurs took part in the Fair, displaying goods such as bath and beauty products, African art, specialty foods, fine jewelry, and clothing accessories. n

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John O'Callaghan

Sarah Ludwig, Executive Director

Member Spotlight:Birmingham Business Resource Center (BBRC)BBRC, sponsored by the City of Birmingham, Alabama, is a one-stop center for small business finance and related technical assistance.

Strategic Partnerships BBRC has the following partners: City of Birmingham, Birmingham Minority Opportunity Committee (MBOC), Small Business Administration (SBA), Structured Employment Economic Development Company (SEEDCO), Alabama Microenterprise Network (AMEN), The Abilities Fund, Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta (FHLBA),Accounting & Business Consultants, Inc. (ABC)

Programs:Birmingham CityWide Local Development Company (LDC), Community Express Pilot Loan Program, Program for Investment in Microentrepreneurs Act (PRIME), Low Income Taxpayer Clinic (LITC), “Lending Friends” Micro Loan, Birmingham Economic Development Administration Revolving Loan Fund (EDA), Small Business Administration Pre-Qualification Program, Technical Assistance Group (TAG), One on One Counseling, Seminars, Self-Directed Learning Center, Premier FastTrac, Entrepreneurial Support Group (ESG) n

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Can community residents and the organizations that support them persuade banks to lend and invest in their communities? Will activism on equal access to credit and capital issues influence their local and national representatives’ legislative positions? According to NCRC members United Neighborhood Centers, Scranton, PA; Rural Opportunities Inc, Rochester, New York; and Delaware Community Reinvestment Action, the answer is an emphatic yes. The groups have divergent missions, are situ-ated in communities with distinct economic condi-tions, constituencies and experience in economic justice advocacy. They are embracing those distinc-tions as the pilot members of NCRC’s Economic Justice Campaign. The project is funded by The Ford Foundation and The Heron Foundation and demon-strates how diverse organizing models can generate increased local activism and private sector invest-ment in struggling communities. In each case, they are engaging a broad range of community stakeholders in discussion — and action — relating to the financial services challenges of low and moderate-income communities — from pay day lending to predatory mortgages. NCRC’s research

department — Josh Silver, Noelle Melton, Tom Westrich and Milena Kornyl have armed the groups with data and analysis about lending trends in their respective areas. Each group has lever-aged the research to create more informed conversations with local private and public sec-tor leaders. In Rochester, Hubert Von Tol is documenting the under reported needs of rural residents displaced from farming. In Scranton, Harry Skeene is docu-menting the high costs of pay day loans to marginally employed consumers, a responding to increasing cases of credit card debt, including a women with cancer whose inadequate insurance coverage prompted her to charge an expensive series of medical tests and tracing shocking rates of foreclosure to the origination of preda-tory mortgages. In Delaware, Rish Kunzru is document-ing unmet community credit and capital needs to spur solution-oriented discussions among industry leaders. Rather than conforming themselves to one size fits all models, the groups are crafting unique strate-

gies in communities with dis-tinct demographics, economic challenges and organizing experience. NCRC has convened a series of Washington, DC based meetings to connect the groups to colleagues with coalition building and community rein-vestment experience. Key par-

ticipants have included members Nan Roman, National Alliance to End Homelessness; Hilary Shelton, NAACP, Robert Pohlman, Coalition for Nonprofit Housing and Economic Development; Ed Lazere, DC Fiscal Policy Institute, and Nora Lichtash, Women’s Community Revitalization Project. Robert Raben of The Raben Group has challenged the groups to develop messages that most effectively communicate the economic chal-lenges — and solutions — of their constituencies. NCRC’s goal is to create and support active, informed and dynamic community reinvestment coalitions. And NCRC’s commitment is to making these innovative approaches available as models for our broader membership and beyond. n

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Coalition Building: A Model for Success

Harry Skene and Lea Dougherty of United Neighborhood Centers both participate in NCRC’s Economic Justice Campaign

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