For our birthday, we’re sharing some of the significant events and actions that shaped our organization
For 37 years Rise Economy, formerly the California Reinvestment Coalition, has worked to combat generations of economic inequities and racial injustices by holding financial institutions accountable for harms and challenging systems of oppression. Founded on Oct. 11, 1986, as the “California Reinvestment Committee,” we’ve helped negotiate billions in investments for California communities by tackling bank branch closures, lending discrimination and much more head-on through Community Benefits Agreements.
Take a look at the list of some of our most memorable moments below to learn more about our history and work.
Oct. 13, 1986: Our Founding
CRC, then known as the “California Reinvestment Committee,” is founded.
May 1986
Jan. 1, 1999
Sharon Kinlaw, Executive Director at Fair Housing Council of the San Fernando Valley and CRC’s longest-sitting board member and fair housing activist, was appointed to the CRC board.
April 2008
Kevin Stein, then CRC Associate Director, testified before the Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity amidst the 2008 financial crisis saying, “There is no issue more important for California’s communities today than foreclosure prevention.”
March 2011
The Federal Reserve Board names Kevin Stein as one of 10 members of its Consumer Advisory Council.
July 2012
We organized to pass the first-in-the-nation Homeowners’ Bill of Rights, which gives homeowners a meaningful chance to avoid foreclosure as well as the right to a fair process to determine whether their loans can be modified.
April 2013
We award then-California Attorney General Kamala Harris with the “Screaming Eagle Award” to uplift her dedication to civil service.
January 2014
Paulina Gonzlez-Brito is hired as the successor of CRC’s first Executive Director, Alan Fisher. September 2014
We held our largest bank merger protest after it was announced that CIT Bank moved to acquire OneWest Bank.October 2014
Alongside 50 organizations, we submit letters to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency opposing the “Too Big To Fail” merger of CIT Group and OneWest Bank.
May 2019: Trump Administration Lawsuit
We sued the Trump Administration for unlawfully halting a rulemaking mandating minority-owned small business data collection.
October 2019
Our actions and advocacy around Wall Street banks is featured in Pulitzer Prize finalist Aaron Glantz’s book, “Homewreckers: How a Gang of Wall Street Kingpins, Hedge Fund Magnates, Crooked Banks, and Vulture Capitalists Suckered Millions Out of Their Homes and Demolished the American Dream.”
January 2020
We helped strengthen the consumer protection infrastructure in California by expanding the authority of the Department of Business Oversight (DBO), now the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI).
January 2020
Gonzalez-Brito testifies before Congress at the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Financial Institutions hearing, “The Community Reinvestment Act: Reviewing Who Wins and Who Loses with Comptroller Otting’s Proposal.”
June 2020
We launched our Economic Equity Promotoras Program, which works to ensure that the design of financial services takes into account the social, cultural and particular needs of Latinx/e, immigrant, low-income communities and women.
October 2020: Reimagining Systems of Capital
In response to the Movement for Black Lives and following the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, we published our Strategic Plan, which laid out CRC’s intentions and goals to rectify years of discrimination and violence toward marginalized communities.
March 2021
Gonzalez-Brito testified again before the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services at a hearing, “Justice for All: Achieving Racial Equity Through Fair Access to Housing and Financial Services.”
April 2021
We launched the Racial and Economic Justice Cohort, a program that selects working professionals from across California with the drive to create tools for addressing structural racism.
September 2021
In a “win for the little guy and a defeat for Wall Street” Gov. Newsom signed our sponsored bill, SB 1079, which helped establish the first-ever right to purchase for tenants, community land trusts, nonprofit affordable housing providers and families at foreclosure auctions.
October 2021
The California Public Banking Option Act, AB 1177 (Santiago), was signed into law establishing CalAccount, which guarantees all Californians a no-fee, no-penalty debit account, with no overdraft fees, no minimum balance requirement, automatic bill pay capacity and free ATM access at participating banks.
February 2022
We welcomed the inaugural Resilience Fund Program cohort, which aims to support the next generation of BIPOC-led CDFIs through trainings and financial support.
March 2022
With a three-year, $5 million commitment of support from JPMorgan Chase, Rise Economy along with Inclusive Action for the City, Public Counsel and the East LA Community Corporation establish a partnership called the Open Air Economy Collaborative to serve “open air” businesses owned by Black and Latina women across Los Angeles County.
May 2022
We collaboratively negotiated one of the largest, community-focused Community Benefits Agreements in history, a 5-year, $100 billion CBA with U.S. Bank during its acquisition of UnionBank.
August 2022
The Senate Rules Committee appoints Paulina to the CalAccount Blue Ribbon Commission.
August 2022
We rallied our members and allies to submit comments to the regulators on the first Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in 25 years.
September 2022
Our annual celebration to honor community changemakers receives a facelift, going from the Community Heroes event to the Equitable Futures Awards (EFAs), to better reflect our growth and strategic plan. The event, held each year in Los Angeles and the Bay Area, celebrates stellar advocates for change. We also introduced the Alan Fisher Economic Justice Award, which is given to an honoree who embodies the spirit of bank accountability hero and Rise Economy’s founding director Alan Fisher.
October 2022
January 2023
Chancella Mansour, Executive Director of Housing Rights Center and first Southern California recipient of the Alan Fisher Economic Justice Award, is appointed Rise Economy board chair.
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra accepts the Alan Fisher Economic Justice Award at our second annual EFAs in Oakland, California.June 2023: Rise Economy Rebrand
July 2023
Our Economic Equity Promotoras serve their 400th client.
October 2023
Rise Economy recognizes its 37th birthday, celebrating more than $100 billion in community reinvestments since 2016, three distinctive, community-centered programs and numerous groundbreaking reports.
In 37 years of existence, our work has never been more important. Consider supporting our alliance and current fights