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How Chinatown's Community Bank Has Survived Crisis After Crisis

Oscar Perry Abello

March 30, 2021 |

Next City |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, New York, New York

Community banking empowers marginalized communities that are not able to secure financing for homes and businesses through traditional financing. Establishing community banks allows members of these communities to bypass structural and institutional barriers in order to invest in themselves. Abacus Bank has a long history of advocating for businesses and families in Chinatown.

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Obawole: Neglected by banks, rescued by PoS agents

Samson Akintaro

March 25, 2021 |

New Telegraph |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Nigeria, Obawole, Lagos State

Agency banking and point-of-sales terminals provide financial services to Obawole, a community under-served by banks despite its proximity to Nigeria's banking center. Agents are third parties representing banks. They provide services such as accepting deposits and making withdrawals, replacing often-decrepit and unreliable ATM machines. Technical failures and distrust can mar relationships with the banking public, but the services provide a needed convenience, and create jobs as well.

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Susu as a Vehicle to Advance Economic Mobility

Nana AmaAddo

March 19, 2021 |

FunTimes Magazine |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States

A traditional African method of mutual aid, Susu, is helping members of the African Diaspora access capital for businesses, education, housing, and more. The informal loan network enables people to contribute periodically to a group fund with each contributor taking turns receiving the collected money. The informal loan club is a centuries-old African tradition that serves as a security net and can also provide economic mobility.

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Fighting Gentrification

Chris Rudisill

March 19, 2021 |

QNotes Carolinas |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Houston, Texas

When gentrification made housing unaffordable for many people in Houston's historically Black Third Ward neighborhood, local activists sought remedies beyond standard federal tax incentives for affordable housing. A city-sponsored Community Land Trust developed a plan for more affordable housing. At the same time, a development catering to low-income, older LGBTQ residents, adjacent to the Third Ward, got developed on donated land. Charlotte has many similar challenges, making Houston a model for what is possible.

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Gen Z Angels: How A Younger Generation Of Investors Is Getting In On Deals

Sophia Kunthara

March 16, 2021 |

Crunchbase News |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States

Gen Z VCs supports early-career and aspiring venture capitalists who want to become angel investors. The group was founded in November 2020, after the Securities and Exchange Commission loosened the rules about who can invest in early-stage startups and allowed start-ups to raise money through crowd-funding. The group, which has grown to more than 6,000 members, moderates Slack channels where members can post deals, help make connections, and share information to demystify the world of angel investing.

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What Can Biden's Plan Do for Poverty? Look to Bangladesh.

Nicholas Kristof

March 10, 2021 |

The New York Times |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: Bangladesh

Bangladesh has made huge strides in reducing poverty by investing in women experiencing the most economic hardships. As a result, children have lower rates of malnutrition, fewer child marriages, higher rates of completing elementary school, and women have more job opportunities. Over the course of 15 years, 25 million Bangladeshis have been able to break out of poverty. Progress in Bangladesh is a model of success that could be possible in America with Biden's American Rescue Plan which has provisions that would mitigate childhood poverty in America.

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Once destined for raw bars, 5 million oysters are being rerouted to coastal restoration efforts

Lela Nargi

February 23, 2021 |

The Counter |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, New Jersey

The Supporting Oyster Aquaculture and Restoration initiative (SOAR), coordinated by the Pew Charitable Trusts, The Nature Conservancy, and various state agencies, NGOs, and universities, spent millions buying oysters from 100 farms in seven states to put back into the oceans for reef restoration. Working in areas that already have reef monitoring programs, SOAR is supporting 20 reef restoration projects to create habitat for more oysters and other marine species, clean the water, and mitigate coastal flooding. SOAR also helped mitigate potential losses for shellfish farmers due to COVID-19.

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How Vermont's Energy Efficiency Utility Is Helping Businesses Sweat the Small Stuff

Chad Small

February 23, 2021 |

Next City |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Bennington, Vermont

To make their restaurant more energy efficient and to cut its carbon footprint, The Publyk House utilized the services of Efficiency Vermont, a publicly funded energy efficiency utility. As part of their Deep Energy Retrofit program, the utility helped install insulation, LED lighting, and high-efficiency appliances at the restaurant, allowing them to save 50 percent on energy in two years. Since the start of the program, 10 businesses have been able to cut their energy consumption in half.

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Instead of Eviction, Landlords and Tenants Talk It Out

Emily Nonko

February 19, 2021 |

Reasons to be Cheerful |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia's Eviction Diversion Program has helped keep more than 400 landlord-tenant disputes out of eviction court proceedings, mainly by using volunteer mediators to work out mutually agreeable plans for tenants to get caught up on their rent payments. The program started in 2020 as a way to keep people housed during the pandemic. By giving landlords and tenants a place to talk out their issues without the expense and repercussions of going to court, and by connecting tenants with rent-assistance aid, the program's launch was successful enough to win an extension throughout 2021.

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Durham, NC Just Finished Erasing $2.7 Million In Traffic Debt

Cinnamon Janzer

February 17, 2021 |

Next City |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Durham, North Carolina

The DEAR program (Durham Expunction and Restoration) put 11,084 drivers back on the road legally and waived $2.7 million in fines in a purge of old cases that had revoked driving privileges for unpaid fines and fees. The two-year amnesty program, part of a national movement, took aim at the often racially disparate enforcement of state laws that burden the formerly incarcerated and others with unaffordable monetary penalties. Deprived of the right to drive, people either miss out on work and educational opportunities, or risk more traffic tickets, arrests, and fines.

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