PFE Welcomes Northern Bank and First Citizens Bank as Members
March 22, 2024
Our membership is growing. Two banks, Northern Bank and First Citizens Bank, have joined Partnership for Financial Equity as new members in recent weeks. Welcome! Founded in 1960, Northern Bank is a Woburn-based institution that has assets of $2.87 billion with 13 locations serving communities throughout Middlesex County. Joanne Fishlin is Head of Compliance Risk […]
Read More NewsBusinesses in Low Income Areas and Neighborhoods of Color Across Massachusetts Receive Fewer Loans Than Peers in 2021; Local Lenders Lead in Year Two of PPP
February 05, 2024
Boston, MA – Businesses in low-income tracts across the Commonwealth receive less than their respective percentage of loans, both in terms of the number of loans and the total dollar amount of loans, according to a report based on 2021 data released today by the Partnership for Financial Equity. Small Business Lending Matters was prepared […]
Read More NewsNew Paper on Special Purpose Credit Programs as Tool for Greater Equity
December 20, 2023
Boston, MA – A little-used tool that has been available since 1976 is the focus of a new report released today by the nonprofit Partnership for Financial Equity with support from MassHousing. Special Purpose Credit Programs, authorized by the federal Equal Credit Opportunity Act, offer tremendous promise, three years removed from George Floyd’s murder and […]
Read More EventsNearly 400 attend two-day Financial Equity Summit 2023
October 04, 2023
Thank you to all of our sponsors, speakers, panelists and attendees in making our second annual Financial Equity Summit a huge success. This year’s Summit featured Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell, Connecticut State Treasurer Erick Russell, Vermont State Treasurer Mike Pieciak, Jillian White, CEO of Appraisal Insights and Leah Rothstein, co-author of Just Action. […]
Read More NewsFirstGenHome – From Massachusetts to Minnesota and Beyond
August 10, 2023
It started in Dorchester. The nation’s first ever program to support first-generation homebuyers, those without the Bank of Mom and Dad, was launched here in Massachusetts in 2019 by the Massachusetts Affordable Housing Alliance. In just four short years, the concept has taken off and now eleven different locations have first-gen programs, according to a […]
Read More NewsPartnership for Financial Equity and Woodstock Institute Release Mortgage Lending Matters
June 29, 2023
Number of Mortgages to Black and Latino/a Households Remain at All-Time Highs for Second Consecutive Year; Boston Losing Buyers of Color with Gateway Cities Gaining Boston, MA – More Black and Latino/a homebuyers in Massachusetts received home- purchase mortgages in 2021, surpassing the previous high from a year earlier, than at any time in the […]
Read More EventsBanking Services Committee to Hold First Meeting of Year on March 1st
February 17, 2023
Join us for our first Banking Services Committee meeting of 2023 co-chaired by Jason Andrade from Compass Working Capital and Lena Buteau from Monson Savings Bank. We will be re-viewing requirements for Basic Banking for Massachusetts, pre-viewing a new Basic Banking website and discussing pre- and post-pandemic banking service trends. Join us! If you select […]
Read More NewsShould Massachusetts have a small business borrowers bill of rights?
February 16, 2023
Our small business lending committee tackled this question on February 16th with an excellent presentation from the Responsible Business Lending Coalition; New York State CDFI Coalition; and New Jersey Citizen Action. Co-chaired by Ana Hammock of Ascendus and George Drugas of Harbor One Bank, we discussed successful campaigns in New York and California and what it […]
Read More NewsMCBC is now the Partnership for Financial Equity
December 15, 2022
Boston, MA – Thirty-two years after its founding, the Massachusetts Community & Banking Council is finishing 2022 with a new name and is now doing business as the Partnership for Financial Equity. MCBC was formed in 1990 after a year-long effort of banks and community groups to respond to the 1989 Federal Reserve Bank of […]
Read More NewsInaugural Financial Equity Summit draws over 300 for two-day event
December 05, 2022
Our inaugural Financial Equity Summit featured an all-star lineup of speakers, panelists and moderators all focused on one word – equity. Speakers focused on issues of mortgage lending, small business lending, Special Purpose Credit Programs and FinTech before a two-day combined audience of 312 participants from financial institutions, community-based organizations and government agencies. Presenting Sponsor […]
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