Welcome back to the Economic Forum! Last time we took a look at the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977, and its role in how banks aid low and middle income neighborhoods. Knowing that these banks go through an examination process, and that the public can play a role in the building of the bank's strategic plan, the question was still who regulated all these activities? The simple answer to that question is the Federal Reserve. What I have found is that the Federal Reserve has a community development branch FedCommunities.org, and we will take a closer look at that today.

According to the website FedCommunities.org (FedComm) "provides Federal Reserve resources to community development practitioners working in policy and the field." On their site they post several forms of information, from upcoming conferences to their podcast Access (which I have not yet checked out), to data and research conducted by their team. There are 12 Districts of the Federal Reserve, (one of which is my hometown of Cleveland), and to find out which district your neighborhood falls in note the map below and check out the FedComm website to know what community development efforts are taking place and how you can be a part of positive local change.

Art Sellers - Montego Bay, Jamaica

 When I opened up my blog to check the date of my last post I see that it was six months ago. I was super shocked, I couldn't figure out what could have kept me from my blog for so long? Life mostly, it went something like this:

• November '16 - January '17- I'd started a new job in November of last year, and was still in the orientation stage through the holiday season so I had more time on my hands. 
• February - March- I had a birthday trip to Southern Africa 
• April - June- Lack of work/life balance and paralysis of writing about my trip to Africa 
• July- Took a trip to Jamaica for a family reunion 

And now here we are...

As I write this I still can't wrap my head around the fact that I have been blessed to visit global predominantly-Black spaces twice this year. It makes me hungry for more, makes me want to dive deeper into their worlds and to hear in detail their stories, but the responsibilities of telling their stories and doing so accurately, respectfully, it makes me admire story tellers like Ava DuVernay that much more. Documentarians (did I make up a word?), all those who can bring life to the people that we would have never otherwise known existed. And telling my story feels a bit narcissistic, but being in those spaces changes the way that I move in predominantly-Black spaces here in the US. I'm not exactly sure what my objective is, but I know that it has something to do with generational wealth and giving a voice.

 That brings me back to my blog. Exploring the policies, history, and little known or seemingly unrelated happenings that affect Black people globally, those things that could change the way that we move within our spaces domestically and abroad is what this blog is now about. Instead of starting a new one and having the archived fashion posts be hidden, I'll just continue to let it evolve here. When there is enough consistency in this space I will go ahead and make those decisions.

Men Playing Checkers - Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe

Welcome back! Today we continue our look at the Moynihan Report as we dive into Chapter 1: The Negro American Revolution. For those just joining us, take a look back at the introductory post to get caught up on Daniel P. Moynihan, who he is, how I found out about him, and the background on his report The Negro Family: The Case for National Action.

Chapter 1: the Negro American Revolution, as I interpret it, is a recap of how Moynihan sees the state of Negro life in general and his suggestions on creating an amicable and equitable environment for the race. It is split into three sections, The End of the Beginning, The Demand for Equality, and The Prospect for Equality.

Below are select passages from this chapter that stood out to me, whether it be for its connection to the state of the Black America today, or the controversial nature of the language, I encourage you to go and read the chapter in whole for yourself.

Intro: 

"The course of world events will be profoundly affected by the success or failure of the Negro American Revolution seeking peaceful assimilations of the races of the US"

When I read this I was immediately taken to the time magazine on the right. I feel as if any hope of assimilation has now been resigned, and that at this point a mutual existence is what is desired. Back at the time of the writing of this report segregation was just ending so "assimilation" would have been a reasonable desire for the Black community at the time.

The End of the Beginning: 

Photo Source

This portion of the chapter is where the past and present began to parallel embodying the magazine cover above. Moynihan writes of the major events that onsets the Negro Revolution coming in three forms Political, Administrative, and Legal. In the past 3-5 years we have seen all three of these take form.

• Political: Moynihan writes "The Negros themselves organized as a mass movement" - Black Lives Matter is a modern-day embodiment of this notion. 
• Administrative: Moynihan mentions the Economic Opportunity Act and Civil Rights Act, both of 1964 as examples of the administrative events. During the Obama presidency the administrative events that I have identified as relevant to this post are as follows: 
• White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans (Links: Executive Order, Twitter (which I personally enjoy), Events Page)
• My Brother's Keeper (Links: A Day of Action National Summit with complete livestream)

•  Legal: At the time Brown v Board of Education (1954) was a major legal event for the Black community in desegregating schools. In present day, it is the investigations of cities and their police departments that have become the major legal events of the movement. See the Department of Justice reports for the cities of Ferguson, MO and Baltimore, MD following the killings of Mike Brown and Freddie Gray respectively.

The Demand for Equality: 

"Liberty and Equality are the twin ideals of American democracy. But they are not the same thing. Nor most importantly, are they equally attractive to all groups at any given time nor yet are they always compatible, with one another.

Many person who would gladly die for liberty are appalled by equality. Many who are devoted to equality are puzzled and even troubled by liberty. Much of the political history of the American nation can be seen as competition between these two ideals, as for example, the unending troubles between capital and labor" 

"American democracy has not always been successful in maintaining a balance between these two ideals, and notably so where the Negro American is concerned. 'Lincoln freed the slaves' but they were given liberty, not equality. It was therefore possible in the century that followed to deprive their descendants of much of their liberty as well." 

The Prospect for Equality: 
Here Moynihan wraps up the first chapter with the conclusion that not enough data was available to present a clear conclusion on how the future will pan out for the Negro people with any particular recommended course of action. However, he does start his conclusion with the sentence:

"The time, therefore, is at hand for an unflinching look at the present potential of Negro Americans to move from where they now are to where they want and ought to be"

 This reminded me of a video David Banner posted after the 2016 Presidential Election concluded with a call to action for Black people to galvanize and not look to one specific leader to heal the hurting community. 

Again, my goal is to spark conversation, and just to inform you that this report even exists. As we delve into the other chapters we will see more examples of how Moynihan's words were relevant to the current times. The next post will be on Chapter 2: The Negro American Family.

Post 1: Intro

For our first installment in the Economic Forum we will begin with the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 (CRA, or The Act). Watch the video below provided by the Federal Bank of San Fransisco for a brief explanation of the act and what it means for low-moderate income communities.


My first question regarding the CRA was "Who is keeping them accountable?" The video mentions an evaluation system which is actually completed by the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC). You can view the exam schedule here. I tried searching for the exam schedule in my home town of Cleveland, but the process was a bit tedious and I can't seem to locate a small bank in the city. Exams are scheduled to occur every 48-60 months and members of the public may submit on a banks performance by commenting on FederalReserveConsumerHelp.gov.

Back in 2010 the CRA held public meetings in 4 major cities, Arlington, VA, Atlanta, GA, Chicago, IL, and Los Angeles, CA. These meetings were regarding the public's input on modernizing the CRA's regulations. The press release and call for comment collection was posted one (1) month before the first meeting was held in July of that year.

 The public is also encouraged to engage with their local bank to create a Strategic Plan. The Act allow an institution to develop a plan with the community input detailing how the institution proposes to meet its CRA obligation. Here are the basics of the process:

• The bank informally seeks suggestions from the public 
• Notice of the plan is published 
• The public has 30 days of that publishing to comment 
• The plan is submitted for approval

This is the basic information of the CRA and how it functions. There will be a more concentrated post on Community Development and the CRA will once again make an appearance, but for now you have some background information.

However, before I end this post I must be honest, the basic information and links provided above where the low hanging fruit. I still have yet to identify a bank that has been approved of a strategic plan in a predominantly-Black neighborhood, known to me anyway, and I can't find any information on what an example of "informally seeks suggestions" really means. The more research I do on the community development efforts of the Federal Reserve and all its supporting acts, policies, and affiliates I have found that they operate in an odd form of opaque transparency. One thing I may do at some point is call one of the banks listed that have an approved strategic plan to see if it is posted somewhere, ask how they collected their information, etc. as I am truly curious has to how this information is collected and the true turn time from suggestion to Fed approval. If I do so, I will be sure to update you all on it!

Until next time...