NALCAB Calls on Congress for a Balanced Economic Stimulus

March 16, 2009

NALCAB’s Legislative Priority Recommendations:
Ensure Economic Recovery in Latino Communities by
Supporting Strategies for Community Development and Family Wealth Creation

Allow the judiciary to protect homeowners at risk of foreclosure; track the effectiveness of foreclosure prevention efforts

• Actively support legislation to allow the federal bankruptcy judges to modify mortgages on a primary residence for owners at risk of foreclosure due to a predatory loan or extraordinary market conditions.
• Ensure that the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data reporting requirements are expanded to include loan restructuring transactions.

Ensure that federal funding for community development and small business support reach Latino communities

• Require NeighborWorks America to document the extent to which they support Latino-led non-profit organizations and to develop a strategy for serving all minority communities moving forward.
• Direct HUD to utilize new national networks for delivering technical assistance and capital to minority-led non-profits.
• Require that the Small Business Administration (SBA) document the extent to which the Small Business Development Centers (SBDC) program serves Latino small businesses and direct SBA to utilize new national networks for delivering technical assistance and capital to minority businesses.
• Fully fund the Community Development Block Grant and HOME programs in US HUD.
• In addition to existing appropriations, set aside funding for housing and financial counseling for organizations that serve individuals with Limited English Proficiency.

Protect consumers and sustain economic recovery with financial services regulatory reform

• Cap the interest rate that can be charged on payday loans, title loans and tax refund loans below 36%.
• Apply the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) to insurance companies and the largest credit unions.
• Pass comprehensive anti-predatory mortgage lending legislation.

Increase transparency for private foundations that receive the tax exempt status as public charities

• Require public charities to report the extent of their giving in communities with 20% or more poverty.

Address the pressing needs of colonia communities on the US-Mexico Border

• Fund US HUD’s Colonia Program.
• Pass legislation to explicitly allow Neighborhood Stabilization Funds to be used to convert contracts-for-deed into clear titles.

Support Family Wealth Building

• Preserve and expand the Earned Income Tax Credit and invest in the IRS’ Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) Grant Program, especially for individuals with Limited English Proficiency.

NALCAB – The National Association for Latino Community Asset Builders represents and serves a geographically and ethnically diverse group of non-profit community and economic development organizations that are anchor institutions in our nation’s Latino communities. NALCAB members are experts in implementing responsible, market-based strategies for creating jobs, building neighborhood assets and increasing family wealth.

Contact: Noel Poyo, Executive Director,

January 29, 2009

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE HONORABLE MEMBERS OF CONGRESS AND THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION

The Economic Stimulus Plan Should Put Greater Focus On
Community and Economic Development and Asset Building

NALCAB Members and Allies call on Congress and the Obama Administration to include the following specific appropriations in the Economic Stimulus Package.

• Retain the significant increases in funding for programs within the Small Business Administration.
• Increase funding for the Department of Health and Human Services Community Economic Development (CED) Program to $500 million;
• Retain the currently proposed $500 million in funding for the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Rural Housing Program;
• Retain the currently proposed $250 million in funding for the U.S. Treasury Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) Program;
• Invest in colonia communities on the U.S. Mexico Border by appropriating $100 million for the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Colonia Program;
• Increase the Internal Revenue Services’ Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) Grant Program to $50 million.

Further, in order to make the community development industry more effective in low-income minority communities, we urge Congress and the Obama Administration to act on the following issues.

Issue # 1: The anticipated dramatic reduction in Community Reinvestment Act contributions from banks in 2009 and 2010 will cripple the nation’s community and economic development industry at the time when our nation needs it most.

Issue # 2: NeighborWorks America, the largest intermediary that directs federal community development funding, needs to do a better job of equitably serving all minority communities.

Issue # 3: Similarly, the Small Business Administration (SBA) Small Business Development Centers Program needs to more equitably target all minority small businesses.

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NALCAB represents and serves a geographically and ethnically diverse group of non-profit community and economic development organizations. NALCAB’s members are anchor institutions in our nation’s Latino communities and are experts in implementing responsible, market-based strategies for building neighborhood assets and family wealth, which produce economic growth and family financial stability.

In addition to the specific recommendation provided here, NALCAB supports the recommendations on national economic recovery expressed by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) and CFED.

October 15, 2008

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE HONORABLE MEMBERS OF CONGRESS

NALCAB – The National Association for Latino Community Asset Builders – represents and serves a geographically and ethnically diverse group of non-profit community and economic development organizations. NALCAB’s members are anchor institutions in our nation’s Latino communities and are experts in implementing responsible, market-based strategies for building neighborhood assets and family wealth, which produce economic growth and family financial stability in our nation’s hard-working, lower- and middle-income communities.

We recognize the decisive action taken by Congress to rescue Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the broader efforts to stabilize our financial system, however, these economic rescue plans do not address the roots of the financial crisis. NALCAB’s members see the real impacts of the current economic crisis in our neighborhoods and in the families with whom we work every day – foreclosures crashing through our communities like mud slides, construction workers laid off, restaurant owners closing their doors, and payday lenders ready to take advantage of people who have fallen on hard times. This crisis began for Main Street America long before the recent crisis on Wall Street, and we fear it will last far longer.

Grim though our economy seems, we see a way forward, working neighborhood by neighborhood, rural community by rural community, family by family. As a member of NALCAB, I call on you to address the root causes of our current economic crisis in the following ways:

• Provide real relief for homeowners who are in or on the brink of foreclosure – Empower a government agency and/or the judiciary to adjust the terms of loans on primary residences to ensure that families can afford to stay in their homes under reasonable terms. By keeping owners in their homes, we will be protecting value of the underlying assets upon which mortgage-backed securities are based and protecting the communities in which these homes are located. Vandalism and negative market response to vacant properties will strip value from these assets much faster than an adjusted interest rate or a homeowner missing a few payments.

• Ensure access to capital for small business people – Increase funding for the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) successful small business loan guarantees and the intermediary microlending program as well as for the U.S. Treasury’s innovative Community Development Financial Institutions Program (CDFI).

• Stimulate the construction and housing sectors by investing in infrastructure, affordable housing and commercial development in low-income communities – Catalyze long-term, sustainable economic stimulus by investing in communities through the successful Community Development Block Grant and HOME Programs. Further, action needs to be taken to ensure that an ailing financial sector can continue to invest in Low Income Housing Tax Credits and the New Markets Tax Credits.

• Create a responsible regulatory structure to hold financial institutions accountable and end predatory market practices in the mortgage lending, consumer finance and credit markets - While irresponsible and predatory mortgage lending has precipitated the current economic crisis, our communities are beset by a wide range of predatory market practices. We need a strong regulatory framework for the financial services sector including (1) a national predatory lending law, (2) a credit card holder’s bill of rights, (3) and interest rate and fee caps on pay day lenders. Further, we must strengthen the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) and reject the false and illogical attempts to characterize the CRA as a cause of the financial crisis.

• Support consumer education for underserved and low-income people, especially those with Limited English Proficiency – Well educated consumer-participants in the financial sector are the critical foundation for our nation’s economic health. The U.S. Treasury Department should recognize this and invest more robustly in consumer financial education in financial underserved markets, including tax-related outreach and education in partnership with community-based institutions.

• Build capacity and accountability in the non-profit community and economic development sector – Non-profit community and economic development organizations make up a critical part of our country’s economic infrastructure, particularly as it relates to lower- and middle-income communities. Congress should enhance its investments in the community and economic development field, and ensure that these investments are equitable across racial and ethnic communities.

For the sake of our communities – your communities – we hope that you will pursue this agenda and support local community and economic development work. Together we will keep America strong.

Respectfully,

 

Bea Stotzer, Chair of the Board of Directors

 

Noel Poyo, Executive Director