Community Development Innovation Review

February 2009
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CRA 2.0: Communities 2.0

Author(s):

Congress predicated the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) on one principle and two key facts when it passed the act in 1977. The principle is core and remains true. The facts point to what can and should change to make the CRA more effective in what has become a different kind of marketplace. The principle is that banks had an affirmative responsibility to serve everyone in their markets equally well without regard to place, race, gender, or ethnicity. This principle serves the fundamental precept of our nation—freedom of opportunity and justice for all—and fulfills the purposes of a robust financial services sector.

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Other articles in this issue

CRA Lending During the Subprime Meltdown

A Banker’s Quick Reference Guide to CRA

The Community Reinvestment Act: Good Goals, Flawed Concept

A Principle-Based Redesign of HMDA and CRA Data

Community Reinvestment Emerging from the Housing Crisis

Putting Race Explicitly into the CRA

The CRA as a Means to Provide Public Goods

The Community Reinvestment Act: 30 Years of Wealth Building and What We Must Do to Finish the Job

What Lessons Does the CRA Offer the Insurance Industry?

Expanding the CRA to All Financial Institutions

A Framework for Revisiting the CRA

A More Modern CRA for Consumers

The Community Reinvestment Act: Past Successes and Future Opportunities

A Tradable Obligation Approach to the Community Reinvestment Act

The Community Reinvestment Act at 30 Years

It’s the Rating, Stupid: A Banker’s Perspective on the CRA

The Community Reinvestment Act: Outstanding, and Needs to Improve

The CRA within a Changing Financial Landscape

The 30th Anniversary of the CRA: Restructuring the CRA to Address the Mortgage Finance Revolution

The Community Reinvestment Act and the Recent Mortgage Crisis