Keynote Remarks by Marcia L. Fudge + Housing and Community Development in the National Spotlight
Date: Monday, Oct. 4
Time: 9:00 am - 10:00 am PDT (12:00 pm - 1:00 pm EDT)
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Keynote:
Secretary Marcia L Fudge, U.S. Dept. Housing and Urban Development
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Description:
Secretary Fudge will discuss the critical role of community development organizations in the Biden administration's recovery agenda, which prioritizes equitable resource distribution, community power, and accountability. She will also share her vision for HUD’s role in advancing racial equity and addressing structural racism in the housing and community development sector.
After Secretary Fudge’s remarks, we will explore how the community development field can meet this critical moment. Over the past 18 months, our field has been on the national stage in a way never experienced. From the pandemic-driven acceleration of inequities in the housing market, to the eviction crisis, to the mainstream recognition of racial inequities, to the uneven health and economic impact among LMI neighborhoods, our issues are finally front and center in mainstream America. Federal resources are being dedicated and proposed for our work at a level that we're unlikely to experience again. How do we as a field use this moment to better serve our communities? What are the consequences for our movement?
Arts and Community Development: Best Practices for Partnerships
Date: Monday, Oct. 4
Time: 10:30 am - 11:30 am PDT (1:30 pm -2:30 pm EDT)
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Moderator:
Lyz Crane, ArtsPlace America
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Panelists:
Olivia Jiménez, Foundation Communities
Sarah Combs, University Area Community Development Corporation
Jun-Li Wang, Springboard for the Arts
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Description:
Leaders in the community development and arts sectors continue to find creative ways to collaborate on common goals, but how do they overcome the well-documented differences between their ways of working? While community development and much of the funding and policy infrastructure that surrounds it focus on working backwards from specific outcomes, arts-based groups and artists strive to create a forward-moving community process that makes for authentic collaboration. Join this session to learn from community development and arts leaders who aim to bring together these different approaches in order to accomplish common goals centered on community empowerment.
Supporting BIPOC-Owned Small Businesses in the Aftermath of the Pandemic
Date: Monday, Oct. 4
Time: 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm PDT (3:00 pm - 4:00 pm EDT)
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Description:
BIPOC-owned small businesses were hit hard by the pandemic, which exposed the inequities and other challenges they face accessing resources and capital to stay in business. Their struggles have provided an opportunity for community leaders to rethink how we support small businesses. Hear from community leaders as they discuss what they've learned and what needs to be done to foster an environment of support, inclusion, growth, and resiliency for BIPOC-owned small businesses.
Community Development and Public Health as Pandemic Partners
Date: Tuesday, Oct. 5
Time: 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm PDT (3:00 pm - 4:00 pm EDT)
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Panelists:
Dr. Bambie Hayes-Brown, CEO, Geogria ACT
Sherrell Byrd
Liz Coyle
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Description:
In the middle of the pandemic, the City of Albany was labeled the COVID epicenter of south Georgia. Hear how one community organization in Albany implemented programs to support a community with health challenges that provided the perfect breeding ground for the spread of the virus. Georgia ACT will also share what they encountered around the state on their 42-city 3V (Vaccines, Visions and Votes) Liberation Tour, and discuss their grant-funded partnership with Georgia Watch, the Morehouse School of Medicine, Georgians for Healthy Future, Public Agenda and Altarum - an initiative focused on training community healthcare workers to engage with local community leaders and elected officials in support of funding, programs, and services for their communities.
The Big Questions Surrounding CRA Reform
DATE: Monday, Oct. 4
TIME: 10:30 am - 11:30 am PDT (1:30 pm -2:30 pm EDT)
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PANELISTS:
Sharon Legenza, Housing Action Illinois
Horacio Mendez, Woodstock Institute
Frank Woodruff, National Alliance of Community Economic Development Associations
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DESCRIPTION:
Keeping banks and investors accountable to communities and community development goals is a significant and complex undertaking – but critical to advancing the civil rights goals inherent in the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). Federal regulators charged with implementing the CRA are currently working through responses from this year's Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and potentially proposing a draft rule in 2022, if not sooner. At the same time, some states are advancing their own CRA laws to increase lending accountability and transparency. Come hear the most recent updates and engage with our expert roundtable about the big questions being raised by these CRA reform efforts, including how we as a sector might want to see them resolved in order to benefit the communities we work with and serve.
Blending Affordable Housing, Community Wealth-Building, and Small Business Success
Date: Thursday, Oct. 7
Time: 9:00 am - 10:00 am PDT (12:00 pm - 1:00 pm EDT)
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Moderator:
Steven White, Attorney, Oregon office of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP
Panelists:
John W. Haines, Executive Director, Community Investment Trust, Mercy Corps
Maggie Reilly, Vice President and Lender, Craft3
Bill Van Vliet, Executive Director, Network for Oregon Affordable Housing (NOAH)
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Description:
Awakened by COVID and the George Floyd murder in Minneapolis, a renewed focus and funding support is attempting to accelerate a range of long-term racial and rural disparities with an array of priorities in housing, community wealth building and small business survival and incubation. How do we avoid silo thinking and funding to foster collaboration and more integrated impact in neighborhoods? Join us in a discussion with long-time Oregon housing leader NOAH (Network for Oregon Affordable Housing), the leading regional CDFI, Craft3, and the Community Investment Trust (CIT) of Mercy Corps. Panel will be moderated by Steven White, Attorney with Orrick, Herrington and Sutcliffe, LLP.
Preschools & Housing: Integrating early childhood learning centers in affordable housing development
Date: Friday, Oct. 8
Time: 1:30 pm - 2:30 pm PDT (4:30 pm - 5:30 pm EDT)
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Moderator:
Brian Stewart, VP Director of Client & Community Relations, Oregon/Washington, PNC Bank
Panelists:
Leslee Barnes, Director, Preschools for All, Preschool and Early Learning Division Director, Department of County Human Services, Multnomah County
Jilian Saurage Felton, Housing Development Director, Community Partners for Affordable Housing
Rick Ruzicka, Senior Operations & Policy Analyst, Oregon Housing and Community Services
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Description:
Recently approved Oregon legislation and a voter approved universal preschool measure in Multnomah County suggest new opportunities for the integration of early childhood learning centers in affordable housing developments. HB 5011 directs OHCS and the Oregon Department of Education Early Learning Division to produce a research study by winter 2022 and then develop a pilot grant proposal to support the co-location of affordable housing and early learning or childcare centers. Housing developers see opportunity to provide a critical resource for residents and neighbors by adding commercial spaces to accommodate early childhood learning centers in new housing developments. Hear from governmental, developer and preschool administrator perspectives on the challenges and opportunities related to expanding childcare services for low-income households throughout Oregon.
Oregon Community Reinvestment Coalition Organized to Work with NCRC on Bank Merger CBAs
For years, the Pacific Northwest had trailed other parts of the country in bank investments under the Community Reinvestment Act. This began to change when Oregon and Washington organizations joined with the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) to negotiate Community Benefits Agreements (CBAs) with the merger of Umpqua and Columbia Banks and with US Bank’s purchase of Union Bank.
These agreements were built on the convening of the Oregon Reinvestment Summit in 2017, which Housing Oregon helped convene. This past month on October 11, Housing Oregon and NCRC brought together fifty people from a diverse range of organizations as the Oregon Community Reinvestment Coalition to begin identifying strategies for engaging with these banks as their CBAs go into effect in 2023.
Through these and additional agreements, Oregon organizations have an opportunity to build the capacity of Communities of Color led organizations, to implement Communities of Color mortgage initiatives, to transform community and housing development lending and to partner on Communities of Color and rural wealth creation strategies.
Many of the same organizations participated in a meeting last fall 2021 with the CEOs of Umpqua and Columbia banks to share priorities for investments in their communities. As a result of those meetings, and with the leadership of NCRC, the banks have agreed to strong CBAs that include many of the priorities advocated for.
We now have a renewed sense of urgency to come together to identify strategies and action steps to hold the banks accountable to follow through on implementation of their respective Community Benefit Agreements.
Umpqua/Columbia Bank’s merger is committing a total of $8.1 billion, of which Oregon and Washington are the primary states. While a smaller dollar amount, this is a significant investment for Oregon. US Bank is committed to a $100 billion multi-state agreement.
In addition, NCRC is nearing completion of a CBA with BMO Harris which is acquiring Bank of the West, which has numerous branches in Oregon.
Housing Oregon wants to thank both Jerry Kellman, Senior Advisor for Organizing, and Catherine Petrsz, CRA Coordinator, both with NCRC, for their leadership on these efforts.
Several workgroups being organized will prepare a strategy and process for meetings with Umpqua Bank in early 2023, in areas already prioritized in the Umpqua Community Benefits Agreement. We are also exploring organizing a second Oregon Reinvestment Summit in autumn 2023.
If interested in getting involved, contact Brian Hoop at 503-475-6056 or brian@housingoregon.org.