June
2019
21
Community and affordable housing activists are celebrating NYC Council’s announcement of $870,000 in FY2020 discretionary funding for community land trusts (CLTs) across NYC. The funding will help incubate and expand CLTs to develop permanently-affordable housing and curb displacement in low-income NYC neighborhoods.
May
2019
24
Today, members of the Public Bank NYC coalition rallied at a meeting of the NYC Banking Commission to call on the City of New York to divest from banks that harm New Yorkers and NYC neighborhoods, and to invest in communities through a public bank.
May
2019
16
Dozens of community land trust (CLT) organizers, supporters, and community members rallied this morning at City Hall, urging the NYC Council to support a new funding initiative to incubate and expand CLTs in all five NYC boroughs. The proposed initiative, championed by Council Members Donovan Richards and Carlina Rivera, comes at a critical moment, as more than a dozen CLTs are taking root in the South and Northwest Bronx, East Harlem, Brownsville, Jackson Heights, and beyond, to curb displacement and advance community-led development.
May
2019
14
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today advocates from states across the country that ban predatory payday lending voiced strong opposition to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)’s actions to gut federal rules to curb predatory payday lending.
February
2019
14
Amazon’s decision to withdraw its proposed headquarters from Queens is a huge win for New Yorkers and New York communities, and should mark a dramatic turning point in New York’s approach to economic development.
February
2019
5
The next DFS Superintendent must commit to taking bold action against financial companies that systematically exploit New Yorkers and extract wealth from New York communities. As the state’s chief regulator of the banking, insurance, check cashing, bail bond, and other financial industries, DFS has an obligation to advance racial, gender and economic justice. Given the Trump administration’s gutting of the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and its ongoing attacks on immigrants, people of color and women, the need for a bold and resolute state financial regulator has never been clearer.
January
2019
17
Our organizations support the concept of “postal banking,” as a potentially transformative form of public banking. As banks continue to redline New York neighborhoods — perpetuating poverty, inequality, and segregation — bold solutions like postal banking are clearly needed. Some recently-introduced proposals, however, would exacerbate our two-tiered financial system and promote debt as a solution to people’s financial struggles.
December
2018
6
More than two of every five middle class New Yorkers in their 50s are headed for poverty or near-poverty in retirement. Typical workers in the bottom 90 percent of earnings will need almost a third more income in retirement to maintain their standard of living. And fewer workers of color have access to workplace retirement savings option than whites – escalating their potential for experiencing ‘downward mobility.’
November
2018
28
As global leaders assemble for the United Nations-backed 4th Annual Climate Finance Day, New Yorkers, including representatives of environmental, community and student groups, rallied at City Hall and called on NYC to divest public money from banks that fuel climate change and to establish a municipal public bank to help fund the transition to a just, sustainable economy.
November
2018
9
A group of class action attorneys announced today that funds remaining from a groundbreaking class action lawsuit they brought against a debt collection ring will be awarded to nonprofit legal clinics across New York State that provide free assistance to New Yorkers sued by debt collectors.