July
2021
9
The Nation — Even as the pandemic devastated New York City, megabanks like JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America continued to do a roaring trade. And now those financial behemoths are set to manage the funds that New York City and other municipalities will be deploying for the recovery. But financial justice advocates want to see the City move its money from the Wall Street titans to a public bank, owned and operated by the people.
June
2021
17
Daily News — New York has been making slow, halting moves in the direction of creating a public bank — a publicly owned financial institution that would facilitate financial services, especially loans, to help students, families and small businesses, using the billions of dollars in tax revenue, fees and fines and operating cash the city controls.
June
2021
9
Newsday — Banks have charged Long Islanders an estimated $120 million in overdraft, ATM and maintenance fees since the start of the pandemic, compounding the economic hardships experienced by low-income residents, according to a report issued by a coalition of progressive groups Wednesday.
May
2021
31
Gotham Gazette- Reopening the door to Wells Fargo suggests that city officials have not learned the lessons of the past year, or decades. In the face of New York’s severe affordable housing shortage, climate devastation, and extreme racial wealth inequality—all exacerbated by COVID-19—we need bold action.
A public bank would build wealth and power in communities hardest hit by the pandemic. It’s needed now more than ever.
May
2021
19
New Economy Project founder and co-director Sarah Ludwig discusses a new state law protecting stimulus checks from debt collectors and makes the case for legislation enabling New York municipalities to create public banks.
May
2021
6
Gotham Gazette — In recent memory public banking was an idea that belonged either to a distant utopian future or a distant populist past. But today, not only is public banking on the agenda of major New York politicians, but competing visions of public banking are on offer.
May
2021
3
Capital Tonight — For decades, many banks in the U.S. denied mortgages to people of color based strictly on race or the neighborhood where they lived. The practice, which started in the 1930s, was called red-lining and it was backed by the U.S. government. It’s one of the reasons that black families lost out on the wealth accumulation that white families have leveraged for the past 90 years.
April
2021
30
Spectrum News — Consumer groups are applauding a bill that is meant to keep debt collectors from garnishing the stimulus payments and other direct aid approved by the federal government to offset the financial strain created by the pandemic.
April
2021
29
City Limits — The City Council’s finance committee took up a slate of bills Wednesday that aim to increase public transparency around where the city does its banking—what advocates say would be the “first key steps” towards starting a public bank in New York City.
April
2021
14
NY State of Politics — State lawmakers in New York want to lay down the regulatory framework for municipalities to create local public banks in order to extend and expand access to communities of color in the post-COVID-19 economy.