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EMAILED
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Magda Herrera
(206) 658-2604
Magda@impactcapital.org
IMPACT CAPITAL HOSTS BREAKFAST SERIES ON COMMUNITY REINVESTMENT ACT, SPARKS GREAT DIALOGUE ON CURRENT IMPACT AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT
SEATTLE, WA – August 5, 2010 – Impact Capital held a Breakfast Series event on July 29, 2010 at the Washington State Housing Finance Commission. The topic for the event was “Equitable Equity: The successes and challenges of the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA).” The event, which was sponsored by BECU, created an opportunity for all attendees to participate in a constructive discussion about what works and what could be improved upon with regards to the CRA.
Four distinguished panelists leant their expertise to the topic, including Craig Nolte, Regional Manager of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco; Michael Tierney, Executive Vice President and COO of Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC); Jennifer Teunon, Acting Executive Director of the Medina Foundation; and David Sieminski, Managing Director of Express Advantage, a nonprofit partner of Express Credit Union.
The CRA requires commercial banks and other financial institutions to reinvest a percentage of their earnings back into the communities they serve—this includes financing housing for low-income and moderate-income families. The CRA is particularly relevant to non-profit and community development financial institutions (CDFI) like Impact Capital because it continues to be the primary driver of private financing for community development projects.
“Historically, the CRA has motivated several financial institutions to partner with CDFI’s like Impact Capital and LISC,” says Heyward Watson, Executive Director of Impact Capital. “We hoped that by hosting this event, we could provide a forum for open dialogue to discuss how effective that partnership has been and what the local and national community development practitioners feel could be included in the CRA to improve its impact.”
It was a particularly timely topic because the federal bank and thrift regulatory agencies are collectively hosting four public hearings regarding the assessment of current CRA regulations. The comments collected during the Breakfast Series will be summarized and sent to the public hearing in Los Angeles on August 17th.
Click here to view pictures from the event.
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Impact Capital helps build and sustain vibrant neighborhoods in underserved communities throughout Washington.