What is the Partnership for Financial Equity?
• partnership (noun): a relationship involving close cooperation to advance mutual interests
• financial (adjective): pertaining or relating to money matters
• equity (noun): fairness or justice in the way people are treated AND the ownership of any asset after any liabilities associated with the asset are cleared.
We are a partnership of financial industry professionals, community leaders and government officials dedicated to closing racial wealth gaps and improving the financial futures of low- and moderate-income households.
We started in 1990 as the Massachusetts Community & Banking Council (MCBC) to provide a forum for Massachusetts financial institutions and community organizations to meet and share information with the goal of affecting positive change in the availability of credit and financial services in traditionally underserved communities across the Commonwealth.
We have a proud history as the sponsor of Basic Banking for Massachusetts, the first voluntary statewide low-cost checking and savings account program established in 1994. Two years later, we played a leading role in the formation of the Massachusetts Homeownership Collaborative, bringing together lenders and housing counseling organizations to provide create standards for homebuyer education. in 1999, we developed the Don’t Borrow Trouble anti-predatory lending campaign, which was adopted by the City of Boston and later expanded nationally by Freddie Mac. For over twenty-five years we have produced high-quality research reports on home mortgage lending and small business lending patterns. Those reports led to the passage of the Mortgage Lender Community Investment law in 2007 as Massachusetts became the first state in the nation to cover independent mortgage companies for community reinvestment activities.
Today, the Partnership for Financial Equity continues to help financial institutions advance equity while helping to connect with community-based organizations operating innovative programs in low- to moderate-income neighborhoods. Each fall since 2022, PFE has sponsored a Financial Equity Summit bringing together bankers, non-profit practitioners, government officials and other thought leaders, locally and from around the nation. In 2024, we launched the Elevating Equity Awards to recognize outstanding partnerships that advance equity through mortgage lending, small business lending, and asset building. Last year, we formed a Bank On Massachusetts coalition, linking our Commonwealth to a nation-wide movement of 98 local coalitions working for greater banking access for underserved households. We also released Trust in Banking, a groundbreaking statewide survey of lower-income households conducted in partnership with the MassINC Polling Group that provided insight into how consumers view banks, financial institutions, and the pathways to greater financial inclusion.
Join us. Contact tcallahan@financialequity.net or 857-309-3096.