Woodstock Institute's CRA 101: Tools for Improving Community Development Lending, Services and Investments is a training guide to using the Community Reinvestment Act for community organizations. The guide is designed to inform community development practioners at the local level and give them the tools they need to work with banks to increase access to credit and financial services in their communities.
Presentation made at the Illinois State University Stevenson Center for Community and Economic Development conference entitled Micro-credit: An Alternative to Predatory Lending. The presentation lays out the features of many of the most
popular forms of high cost emergency credit available to Illinois
borrowers.It continues by examining why
these types of loans are attractive options for many borrowers despite their
high cost and potentially predatory features and considers the possible
community development impacts of this type of lending when it is concentrated
in lower-income communities.Finally, it
discusses several forms of consumer credit that may serve as lower cost
alternatives.
Presentation made to the Consumer Federation of America as part of their November 2005 Second Annual Payday Loan Advocates’ Summit. The presentation includes descriptions of several payday loan alternatives offered by community development and mainstream credit unions.
Presentation made at the Illinois Attorney General's Homeownership Preservation Summit describing recent national and regional subprime lending and foreclosure trends.
Presentation made to the Masters of Community Development program at
North Park University on the proliferation of high cost finance in
lower-income and minority communities and how research and advocacy
organizations help shape the debate on appropriately
priced-alternatives.
