According to the New America Foundation, more than 300,000 Angelenos lack basic checking and savings accounts. "But
this is a reality in too many low-income communities throughout Los
Angeles and across the state, where banks and credit unions are
nonexistent," said Olivia Calderon, California legislative director of
the Asset Building Program at the foundation. ... Original Article
"A bank does not charge horrifying interest rates to
customers who need an emergency loan," said Olivia Calderón, Legislative
Director of the New America Foundation.
"In poor communities there is a great need and if they
continue to lack basic bank accounts it will be increasingly difficult for them
to get ahead," said Calderón. ... Original Article
New America's event is discussed in American Banker: "There is no remote chance of it happening," Frank told reporters after remarks at a conference on underbanked consumers held in the Capitol. ... Original Article
A recent op-ed in the Boston Globe argues that microlending
"doesn't actually do much to fight poverty" and that it may be time
to "think macro rather than micro." Maybe the hype surrounding
microcredit as a panacea for everything from poverty to discrimination is
undeserved. But debunking the whole bottom-up, micro approach on the basis of two
unpublished papers is not just premature, but dangerous. Macro, trickle-down development policies have rather effectively kept billions of people poor
New America's event is discussed in Reuters: "This is not an easy hurdle. But we are interested in looking and exploring whether, particularly on the liquidity side, there are things we can do," Sperling told a conference on banking services for low-income communities. ... Original Article
New America's event is discussed in Dow Jones Newswire: "The voices of those who represent the largest financial interests have not been shy and those who advocate for the smallest financial interests need to be just as non-shy," said Sperling, counselor to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, at a Friday conference on the under-banked population. ...
A New America event is discussed in MarketWatch: Frank made the comments after speaking to a symposium about new credit options for low and moderate income consumers. ... Original Article
Melissa Koide of the New America Foundation says the solution is to bring people living "off the credit grid" in, so they can borrow on reasonable terms in ...
The California Asset Building program hosted a policy roundtable discussion Wednesday October 14 in the State Capitol on updating the antiquated and misleading way we measure poverty. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's Director of Poverty Research, Mark Levitan, led Assembly and Senate staff in the in-depth discussion (view his presentation here). Last year, New York City enacted an updated and improved poverty measure based on recommendations made by the National Academy of Sciences.
