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This Bank Hired a Community Organizer and Here's What Happened Next

Oscar Perry Abello

January 28, 2020 |

Next City |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Boston, Massachusetts

Reducing inequality in the financial sector requires creating connections to underserved communities of color. In Boston, Berkshire Bank has begun an initiative to reach those who are “underbanked.” The bank’s new Reevex Labs facilities use coworking and event spaces to facilitate connections between communities and financial institutions. At Reevex locations, community members can connect to organizations like The Runway Project, which facilitates low-interest loans to entrepreneurs of color.

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Microlending Sparks Hope and Renewal in Rochester, N.Y.

David Kidd

January 07, 2020 |

Governing |

Multi-Media |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Rochester, New York

In 2016, the city of Rochester, NY partnered with Kiva—a crowd-funded microlender—to serve aspiring or established small-business owners. Their partnership offers interest-free loans, and already 20 of the loans have been fully repaid. This article looks at six different case studies of residents who have benefitted from the program.

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Are 'ableist' economies depriving themselves of the purple pound?

Mathilda Mallinson

December 20, 2019 |

Pioneers Post |

Multi-Media |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Indonesia, Gunungkidul, Yogyakarta

Although Indonesia is making efforts to improve disability rights, progress is slow. In the meantime, a group called Economic Empowerment for Entrepreneurs with Disability (EEED) was formed in partnership with the British Council’s DICE (Developing Inclusive Creative Economies) program. Participants in the program learn entrepreneurial skills by creating their own social enterprise, supplemented by lessons in things like marketing and management. This helps those in Indonesia with disabilities become socioeconomically independent and able to envision a develop a meaningful vision of the future.

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Seattle program makes homes affordable in a pricey market. Is it a model for Charlotte?

Lauren Lindstrom

December 10, 2019 |

The Charlotte Observer |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Seattle, Washington

The Homestead Community Land Trust offers affordable home ownership in Seattle and the rest of King County, Washington, ensuring that there is always permanently affordable homes available. This opens up homeowner opportunities for those who have historically been excluded and serves as a stem in the tide of gentrification. This article includes personal testimony from people who live in the housing, and already the program has reduced buyers' costs by 30%.

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A New Kind of Cooperative in Oakland Fights Against Speculative Development

Oscar Perry Abello

December 03, 2019 |

Next City |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Oakland, California

Real estate cooperatives are able to raise capital from their members, ensuring re-investment in the communitie they serve. In Oakland, California, the East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative (EB PREC) finances real estate acquisitions through California’s cooperative ownership model. EB PREC also works with partners from the Sustainable Economies Law Center and the People of Color Housing Network, which provide additional resources and expertise.

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Making a More Democratic Economy, One Revolving Loan Fund at a Time

Oscar Perry Abello

November 14, 2019 |

Next City |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Berkeley, California

Advancing the model of worker ownership requires expanding access to loans for cooperative businesses. In California, Berkeley City Council recently adopted changes to its Loan Fund for small businesses, allowing businesses without a CEO to apply for a loan. The City Council and Loan Administration board approved an idea put forth by the Sustainable Economics Law Center (SELC), which will permit coops to appoint a panel of owners to serve as guarantors of a loan, in lieu of a single CEO.

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In Borneo, healthy people equals healthy forests

Adam Wernick

November 12, 2019 |

Public Radio International (PRI) |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Indonesia, Borneo

Those who live on the island of Borneo understand that their well-being comes from the Gunung Palung National Park, but logging remained rampant because it was the only way to make money to pay for healthcare. Thus, an organization named "Health in Harmony" was borne through "radically listening" to locals to find out what they needed. This organization accepts creative forms of payment for healthcare and offers incentives to cease logging, including a chainsaw buyback program. As a result, ten years later they saw a 90% drop in logging households and a re-growth of 52,000 acres of forest.

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After cyclone Fani, women in a migrant fishing community start resilience fund

Sahana Ghosh

November 12, 2019 |

Mongabay |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: India, Penthakatha, Odisha

After an unexpected summer cyclone in the Indian state of Odisha, hundreds of women from slums across the region formed a community fund for disaster preparedness. The women all try to contribute 10 rupees per month to the fund, slowly building their security net in case of another natural disaster.

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Changing Lives by Building Credit History — One Microloan at a Time

Farida Jhabvala Romero

November 08, 2019 |

KQED |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, San Francisco, California

A program through the Mission Asset Fund, based in San Francisco, helps low-income communities get loans and good credit from an unlikely source: each other. The initiative pools together funds from family members and neighbors and distributes the loan to one of the contributors each month; the loans are interest free and allow community members to build credit without the difficulties of breaking into the typical microfinance realm.

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This Conservative City Built a $132 Million Park Using One Weird Trick

Zach Mortice

October 11, 2019 |

Bloomberg CityLab |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

After falling behind in urban planning and innovation in the 1990s and early 2000s, Oklahoma City created a limited-time sales tax called MAPS to pay for capital projects, like the new Scissortail Park. The tax consisted of a series of one-cent sales taxes and has brought in over $1.5 billion and has helped fund convention centers, other urban green areas, and more.

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