May

2018

24

Albany Drops the Ball on Community Development

A lot has been written about the shortcomings of New York’s recently-passed state budget. The upshot: New York’s electeds missed the clear opportunity to take decisive action against Trumpism and to protect communities under attack. A glaring example of this failure of leadership is the decision, yet again, not to fund a widely-supported program that invests in low-income communities and communities of color: the state’s Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund.

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March

2018

28

Statement re: Selection of New Federal Reserve Bank of NY President

We are dismayed that the New York Fed appears poised to appoint a new president through a reportedly closed process, without meaningful consideration of public input. Given the vital role of the New York Fed president and all that is at stake with this appointment, New Economy Project calls on the Fed to pursue an open, transparent process for selecting its next president, even if this means going back to square one.

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April

2017

3

How One Obscure Regulator Is Unleashing a Predatory Lending Hellscape

Thomas J. Curry has only one week left as Comptroller of the Currency. But America’s chief regulator of national banks isn’t acting like it. Despite intense opposition from community advocates and conservatives alike, Curry, an Obama appointee, is doubling down on an ill-advised plan that would allow online lenders and other so-called fintech firms to rip people off.

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February

2017

27

Asleep at the Wheel: Why Does New York Let Car Insurance Companies Discriminate Against Drivers?

Car insurance is unaffordable to 5.2 million New Yorkers, according to a report just issued by the U.S. Treasury’s Federal Insurance Office (FIO). But car insurance is not only expensive for New Yorkers – its pricing is also fundamentally discriminatory. That’s because New York allows car insurance companies to consider factors like a person’s education and occupation in determining coverage – even though these factors bear no relation to a person’s actual driving record or to public safety more broadly.

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February

2017

9

NYC Seniors, Know Your Rights!

Here at New Economy Project we continue to actively reach out to senior organizations throughout New York City to raise awareness of unjust financial practices that affect low-income immigrant seniors and seniors of color, in particular. Our presentations provide seniors with vital know-your-rights information and tools to fight back, and we encourage them to call our hotline for free legal assistance on a host of financial justice matters.

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December

2016

6

A Simple, Powerful Premise

Expensive. Unsustainable. Exploitative. This is how community organizers and advocates described the NYC housing market, at “Community Land Trusts: Organizing for Community Control,” the final installment of our 20th Anniversary Workshop Series. The workshop built on themes explored in the previous four sessions – from new economy organizing to shareholder action and community-led research – as participants delved into the potential of community land trusts, or CLTs, to address root causes of homelessness and displacement in NYC.

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November

2016

30

Does This Sound Like Justice?

You’ve just been robbed. Worse yet, you know who did it. It was the last few dollars to your name and you don’t get paid for another month. Three weeks pass, and an envelope containing the stolen money appears on your doorstep. You go to court to demand justice, but the judge rules that no crime has been committed – after all, you got your money back. The judge says it’s no big deal you had to wait three weeks to get your money back.

Does this sound like justice?

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July

2015

20

@CFPB: Here’s A No-Brainer

Several times each month, lawyers from New Economy Project serve as volunteer attorneys at courthouses around the city, where we help New Yorkers defend themselves against debt collection lawsuits. Recently, while at Staten Island civil court, I met Mr. B, an older New Yorker, whose case struck me as a vivid example of why strong federal rules are urgently needed to put an end to abusive debt collection lawsuits.

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April

2015

21

Shareholder Action Update: Spotlight on JPMorgan Chase

We all know that Wall Street banks use their tremendous economic and political power to shape and defeat all sorts of laws and regulations. At New Economy Project, we think that a system that allows giant corporations to dominate our political process is fundamentally wrong and woefully undemocratic.

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