Press Room & Media
In the News
The Most Important Small Business Lending Program You’ve Never Heard of is Back and Bigger than Ever
By Oscar Perry Abello, Next City – As part of the American Rescue Plan passed in March, Congress is putting out a second round of the State Small Business Credit Initiative. This time, it’s providing $10 billion. States have until this Friday to notify the U.S. Treasury that they plan to seek funding under the initiative, and then they’ll have until December 11 to submit a full application with a plan for how they’ll use those funds over the next ten years.
New York City Gets Back in Bed with a Bad Bank — But There’s a Better Way
By Andy Morrison, Gotham Gazette – This past week, an obscure public body, the New York City Banking Commission, decided that the city can resume banking with Wells Fargo — meaning the scandal-scarred bank could hold billions of public dollars for at least the next two years. Wells Fargo’s shameful record raises a question we’re tired of asking: How bad does a bank have to be before it faces real consequences? New York City needs a public option for the city’s financial holdings—a public bank for the public good.
How banking changed after the killing of George Floyd
By Kevin Wack, Polo Rocha, Laura Alix, Allissa Kline & Jon Prior, American Banker – Since the killing of George Floyd, issues of racial inequity have gained more attention and the U.S. banking sector has felt various effects. At the policy level, it has sparked greater interest in undoing the legacy of redlining, and added momentum to an ultimately successful push to provide debt relief to Black farmers. What follows is a look at some of the ways that Floyd’s killing has impacted banking and financial services policymaking.
With the Child Tax Credit, the Unbanked Face Yet Another Trial in Getting Government Benefits
By Claire Williams, Morning Consult – At the core of the issue of dispersing the Child Tax Credit are the people who don’t have access to traditional bank accounts, and who might have issues receiving their stimulus checks and other benefits directly deposited. Research has shown that “unbanked” populations are disproportionately minorities, and are among some of the most vulnerable consumers who need government aid payments to reach their accounts.
How to find a bank that shares your commitment to the environment
By Sarah Kiley Wilson, Popular Science – One effective way to make actual change in your life is by putting your money where your mouth is. Whether that’s buying your clothing second-hand or shopping for food locally to bring down the carbon footprint of your groceries, there’s a lot that you can do if you’re trying to make the world a little greener with your own green. So why not invest your money in a bank that shares some of those same principles?
‘Watershed moment’ as NM gears for clean energy transition
By Kevin Johnson-Avila, Albuquerque Journal – New Mexico’s economic foundations are rumbling with change as the state and nation embark on an accelerated path to a non-carbon economy, inspiring local leaders to seize the moment in collaborative efforts to embrace the forthcoming transformation. “It’s a watershed moment in history, and we can’t afford to miss the opportunity. It’s too important not to pay attention and do something. We need to put things in place with the objectives, strategies and means to embrace it.”
How America Went From Mom-and-Pop Capitalism to Techno-Feudalism
By Ellen Brown, Scheerpost – Global lockdowns have eliminated competition from small and medium-sized businesses, allowing monopolies and oligopolies to grow. By May 2020, about one in four Americans had filed for unemployment, with over 40 million Americans filing jobless claims; and 200,000 more businesses closed in 2020 than the historical annual average. Meanwhile, US billionaires collectively increased their total net worth by $1.1 trillion during the last 10 months of 2020; and 46 people joined the billionaire class.
Black Economic Council of Mass. makes forming a public bank a top legislative priority
By Jon Chesto, Boston Globe – The Black Economic Council of Massachusetts is throwing its newfound political muscle behind an unusual cause this year on Beacon Hill: persuading lawmakers to start a public bank. Worried that Black-owned businesses will be left behind in the recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic, the council is pushing for the formation of a state-backed lending institution that would help provide low-cost financing and close some of the longstanding inequities in the economy.
How to Start (and Run) a Bank That Puts People and Planet Over Profits
By Oscar Perry Abello, Next City – More banks know now there’s plenty of profits to be made from environmentally responsible lending — and they know younger generations of consumers want to see it. It’s a good moment to take a look back at how New Resource Bank, despite never being a very large bank, contributed to that global shift. And it starts with: “Where does your money spend the night?”
Postal Banking in the U.S.? It’s Not as Unlikely as It Sounds
By Editorial Board, Bloomberg – Should U.S. post offices also be banks? Lately, a group of legislators including Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been championing the idea as a way to address economic inequality. It might seem far-fetched, given how the postal service has been struggling recently to even deliver the mail. But the idea shouldn’t be dismissed.
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Episode: Everyone deserves a public bank
“I had the good fortune to work on this initiative before Bernie kidnapped all my time. This is one of those no-brainer initiatives that only the 1% could oppose. It has the potential to save the state millions of dollars by vastly reducing the cost of its bonds to improve infrastructure funding. in a public bank, our state funds can be used to build our local economy and our local infrastructure.”
– Paul Gibson
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