In the News
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Daily News: An Idea New York Should Invest In: A Municipal Bank Makes Great Sense
Daily News — New York has been making slow, halting moves in the direction of creating a public bank — a publicly owned financial institution that would facilitate financial services, especially loans, to help students, families and small businesses, using the billions of dollars in tax revenue, fees and fines and operating cash the city…
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Newsday: Banks Accused of Soaking Poor With Fees Amid Pandemic
Newsday — Banks have charged Long Islanders an estimated $120 million in overdraft, ATM and maintenance fees since the start of the pandemic, compounding the economic hardships experienced by low-income residents, according to a report issued by a coalition of progressive groups Wednesday.
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Gotham Gazette Op-Ed: New York City Gets Back in Bed with a Bad Bank — But There’s a Better Way
Gotham Gazette- Reopening the door to Wells Fargo suggests that city officials have not learned the lessons of the past year, or decades. In the face of New York’s severe affordable housing shortage, climate devastation, and extreme racial wealth inequality—all exacerbated by COVID-19—we need bold action. A public bank would build wealth and power in…
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The Capitol Pressroom: Creating an economy that works for all New Yorkers
New Economy Project founder and co-director Sarah Ludwig discusses a new state law protecting stimulus checks from debt collectors and makes the case for legislation enabling New York municipalities to create public banks.
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Gotham Gazette: Competing Visions of Public Banking in New York City
Gotham Gazette — In recent memory public banking was an idea that belonged either to a distant utopian future or a distant populist past. But today, not only is public banking on the agenda of major New York politicians, but competing visions of public banking are on offer.
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Capital Tonight: Sen. James Sanders’ Public Banking Bill: How it Could Work in New York
Capital Tonight — For decades, many banks in the U.S. denied mortgages to people of color based strictly on race or the neighborhood where they lived. The practice, which started in the 1930s, was called red-lining and it was backed by the U.S. government. It’s one of the reasons that black families lost out on…
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Spectrum News: Debt Collectors Would Be Barred From Taking COVID-19 Stimulus Money
Spectrum News — Consumer groups are applauding a bill that is meant to keep debt collectors from garnishing the stimulus payments and other direct aid approved by the federal government to offset the financial strain created by the pandemic.
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City Limits: Council Weighs ‘Public Banking’ Bills as Advocates Push City to Divest from Corporate Banks
City Limits — The City Council’s finance committee took up a slate of bills Wednesday that aim to increase public transparency around where the city does its banking—what advocates say would be the “first key steps” towards starting a public bank in New York City.
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NY State of Politics: Why Lawmakers Want to Create Public Banks
NY State of Politics — State lawmakers in New York want to lay down the regulatory framework for municipalities to create local public banks in order to extend and expand access to communities of color in the post-COVID-19 economy.
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Strong, Prosperous, And Resilient Communities Challenge: Community Ownership Collaborations for Resilience and Impact
This report from the Strong, Prosperous, And Resilient Communities Challenge (SPARCC) examines successful community ownership strategies across the United States, including the work of New Economy Project and the New York City Community Land Initiative (NYCCLI) to expand community land trusts in NYC.