February
2021
2
The City Council has passed legislation charting the course for ending New York City’s tax lien sale, and replacing it with an equitable municipal debt collection system that preserves affordable housing and stabilizes Black and brown NYC neighborhoods.
October
2020
1
Yesterday, a federal judge certified a class action charging the NYC Transit Authority, an arm of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), with systemic due process violations. The civil rights lawsuit challenges the Transit Authority’s unlawful seizures of New Yorkers’ state tax refunds to collect on default judgments—some going back 20 years or more—without providing legally-required notice or a fair opportunity to contest the judgments.
September
2020
23
Today, a citywide coalition of labor and community groups and community-based financial institutions joined with NYS Senators, Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams, and NYC Council Members to call for the creation of a public bank in NYC.
September
2020
9
Today, chairs of New York and New Jersey’s Senate and Assembly banking committees and community leaders blasted the Trump administration’s proposal to allow predatory lenders to circumvent state usury laws and contravene the authority of state elected officials.
August
2020
3
Fifteen Members of the NYC Council delivered a letter last week urging the NYS Legislature to pass the New York Public Banking Act (S.5565-C/A.9665-D), a groundbreaking bill that creates a pathway for New York cities, counties and regions to form public banks—financial institutions established by local governments and chartered to serve the public interest.
May
2020
8
New York, NY – Yesterday, a broad coalition of community, labor, cooperative, environmental and economic justice groups convened a virtual town hall highlighting public banking as an essential strategy for ensuring a just COVID-19 recovery. The timely event, entitled “From Crisis to Recovery: NY’s Fight for Public Banking,” engaged more than 1,000 New Yorkers and featured presentations by NYC-based movement leaders and guest Kali Akuno of Cooperation Jackson.
April
2020
21
At Citigroup’s “2020 Annual Stockholders’ Meeting” today, New Economy Project will confront Citi executives about the bank’s undisclosed funding of corporate lobbying by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other industry associations. The group will challenge Citi for supporting destructive lobbying agendas that further jeopardize public health during the COVID-19 crisis and that fuel climate change – directly contradicting Citi’s public statements in these areas and harming frontline communities, in particular.
April
2020
20
“We applaud Attorney General James for issuing strong guidance making clear that emergency stimulus payments authorized by the CARES Act are exempt from garnishment under New York law. Her commitment to aggressively prosecute any creditor or debt collector that garnishes New Yorkers’ stimulus payments is an example of the kind of leadership we need from our elected officials during the COVID-19 pandemic.
April
2020
10
Today, a coalition of nine groups delivered a petition, signed by more than 2,700 New Yorkers, to Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and Chief Judge Janet DiFiore, calling for an immediate moratorium on debt collection during the Covid-19 crisis, as a matter of public health and safety.
February
2020
6
New Economy Project welcomes Mayor de Blasio’s announcement in today’s “State of the City” address that the Administration will expand support for community land trusts in New York City, as part of his “Blueprint to Save Our City.” The announcement comes after years of work by New Economy Project and partners to advance CLTs in NYC, as a key strategy for advancing racial and economic justice and building community wealth.