Oscar Perry Abello
@oscarthinks.bsky.social
Senior Economic Justice Correspondent, @nextcity.org. Author of The Banks We Deserve https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-banks-we-deserve-reclaiming-community-banking-for-a-just-economy-oscar-perry-abello/21374823 Based in NYC. oscar@nextcity.org 🇵🇭
But so far, examples like Partners in Equity remain exceptions to the rule, according to Brett Theodos, Brady Meixell & the research team at the Urban Institute. More on the researchers’ latest findings in my latest for Next City: nextcity.org/urbanist-new...
The Next Round of Opportunity Zones Is Coming. New Data Shows How Cities Can Help Get Them Right.
New research finds most Opportunity Zone dollars flow to neighborhoods that were already booming. As governors redraw the map, local communities can help zero in on the “Goldilocks” zones.
nextcity.org
November 4, 2025 at 4:32 PM
But so far, examples like Partners in Equity remain exceptions to the rule, according to Brett Theodos, Brady Meixell & the research team at the Urban Institute. More on the researchers’ latest findings in my latest for Next City: nextcity.org/urbanist-new...
The OZ tax break “was fruitful in opening up the doors for us,” Wilson Lester of Partners in Equity, told me. “People in low-income communities aren’t necessarily the ones who have capital gains."
November 4, 2025 at 4:32 PM
The OZ tax break “was fruitful in opening up the doors for us,” Wilson Lester of Partners in Equity, told me. “People in low-income communities aren’t necessarily the ones who have capital gains."
More than five years later, there are indeed some examples of those bridges being built successfully – like in North Carolina, where Partners in Equity worked with a wealthy family using the tax break to support Black entrepreneurs in acquiring real estate for their businesses.
November 4, 2025 at 4:32 PM
More than five years later, there are indeed some examples of those bridges being built successfully – like in North Carolina, where Partners in Equity worked with a wealthy family using the tax break to support Black entrepreneurs in acquiring real estate for their businesses.
We covered stories focusing on local concerns about how distant these investors felt to those working in the tax break’s target communities, as well as local efforts to bridge those gaps.
From Philly nextcity.org/urbanist-new...
From Philly nextcity.org/urbanist-new...
The Long Odds of Getting Opportunity Zone Capital to Opportunity Zone Businesses
Even with the new tax break drumming up interest, a vast array of challenges remain to connect Opportunity Zone investors and businesses that could use the money.
nextcity.org
November 4, 2025 at 4:32 PM
We covered stories focusing on local concerns about how distant these investors felt to those working in the tax break’s target communities, as well as local efforts to bridge those gaps.
From Philly nextcity.org/urbanist-new...
From Philly nextcity.org/urbanist-new...
When we first started covering the OZ tax break, back in 2018, the story we found hinged on the fact that OZ investors as a group — predominantly wealthy families & corporations — were being given a tax break to invest in low-income communities with whom they had almost no prior connection.
November 4, 2025 at 4:32 PM
When we first started covering the OZ tax break, back in 2018, the story we found hinged on the fact that OZ investors as a group — predominantly wealthy families & corporations — were being given a tax break to invest in low-income communities with whom they had almost no prior connection.
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nextcity.org
October 14, 2025 at 8:14 PM
Sign up here to stay in the loop on my latest reporting about community banking, credit unions, community controlled investment, community-controlled real estate, community development finance and more nextcity.org/thebottomlin...
If I've learned one thing from my reporting for @nextcity.org over the past decade, it's that locally-owned and locally-controlled banking can do big things, but it's something that requires collective work to build and protect. I wrote a whole book about it. bookshop.org/p/books/the-...
The Banks We Deserve: Reclaiming Community Banking for a Just Economy
Reclaiming Community Banking for a Just Economy
bookshop.org
October 14, 2025 at 8:14 PM
If I've learned one thing from my reporting for @nextcity.org over the past decade, it's that locally-owned and locally-controlled banking can do big things, but it's something that requires collective work to build and protect. I wrote a whole book about it. bookshop.org/p/books/the-...
If I were a tyrannical, authoritarian regime wanting to ensure economic power was consolidated in a few large corporations I could hold hostage to my demands, I'd certainly eliminate anything communities could use as a tool to take power over any piece of the banking system, no matter how small.
October 14, 2025 at 8:14 PM
If I were a tyrannical, authoritarian regime wanting to ensure economic power was consolidated in a few large corporations I could hold hostage to my demands, I'd certainly eliminate anything communities could use as a tool to take power over any piece of the banking system, no matter how small.
Going back to the 1980s, the original vision for the CDFI Fund was a reliable source of startup and growth capital for financial institutions serving and rooted in historically underserved communities. It hasn't worked out entirely as envisioned, but these are a few examples that show it's possible.
October 14, 2025 at 8:14 PM
Going back to the 1980s, the original vision for the CDFI Fund was a reliable source of startup and growth capital for financial institutions serving and rooted in historically underserved communities. It hasn't worked out entirely as envisioned, but these are a few examples that show it's possible.
Or in Little Rock, Arlo Washington was basically running a loan fund out of his own pocket since 2009. In 2018, he obtained CDFI certification to help raise $ to expand the fund. In 2022 the loan fund obtained a credit union charter and now has nearly 2,000 members. nextcity.org/urbanist-new...
This Black Barber Opened The First Credit Union In Arkansas Since 1996
After years of making loans from his Little Rock barbershop, Arlo Washington has chartered the state’s newest credit union – offering a blueprint for communities to create their own financial institut...
nextcity.org
October 14, 2025 at 8:14 PM
Or in Little Rock, Arlo Washington was basically running a loan fund out of his own pocket since 2009. In 2018, he obtained CDFI certification to help raise $ to expand the fund. In 2022 the loan fund obtained a credit union charter and now has nearly 2,000 members. nextcity.org/urbanist-new...
Founded in 2007, New Covenant Dominion FCU is even tinier, just $4.6 million in assets. It used grants from the CDFI Fund to help reposition itself as a small business lender to its neighborhood in the South Bronx. nextcity.org/features/the...
The Seeds of Economic Recovery Are Already Sprouting Roots in the Bronx
A tiny credit union in the South Bronx is punching above its weight as an active small business lender, even as banks nationwide brace for a credit crunch. Here’s how.
nextcity.org
October 14, 2025 at 8:14 PM
Founded in 2007, New Covenant Dominion FCU is even tinier, just $4.6 million in assets. It used grants from the CDFI Fund to help reposition itself as a small business lender to its neighborhood in the South Bronx. nextcity.org/features/the...
Founded in 2000, Brooklyn Cooperative Federal Credit Union used CDFI grants as runway capital in its early days. While still tiny today, just $50m in assets, it's one of the most prominent small business lenders in Brooklyn. nextcity.org/features/the...
The Tiny Credit Union Powering Brooklyn’s Economy
What makes this particular credit union so special, how did it come to be – and what if there were more of them?
nextcity.org
October 14, 2025 at 8:14 PM
Founded in 2000, Brooklyn Cooperative Federal Credit Union used CDFI grants as runway capital in its early days. While still tiny today, just $50m in assets, it's one of the most prominent small business lenders in Brooklyn. nextcity.org/features/the...
Located in Albany, Georgia, Albany Community Together applied for and won $1.1 million from the CDFI Fund in 2024. The nonprofit community loan fund is using 85% of that as balance sheet capital, or in other words, funds to attract additional private funding to grow its portfolio this year.
October 14, 2025 at 8:14 PM
Located in Albany, Georgia, Albany Community Together applied for and won $1.1 million from the CDFI Fund in 2024. The nonprofit community loan fund is using 85% of that as balance sheet capital, or in other words, funds to attract additional private funding to grow its portfolio this year.
“From the very beginning, what we argued for was to make sure the CDFI Fund invests in institution building,” Rosenthal tells Next City. “It is not transaction-based. They have performance goals and things like that they want to see on your application, but it invests in the institution.”
October 14, 2025 at 8:14 PM
“From the very beginning, what we argued for was to make sure the CDFI Fund invests in institution building,” Rosenthal tells Next City. “It is not transaction-based. They have performance goals and things like that they want to see on your application, but it invests in the institution.”
This structure allows for leverage. It's the money that allows recipients to get more money from other sources. The CDFI Fund estimates for every $1 it has awarded, recipient institutions have leveraged $8 in funding from other sources, including private investors and larger financial institutions.
October 14, 2025 at 8:14 PM
This structure allows for leverage. It's the money that allows recipients to get more money from other sources. The CDFI Fund estimates for every $1 it has awarded, recipient institutions have leveraged $8 in funding from other sources, including private investors and larger financial institutions.
The CDFI Fund’s primary financial assistance program works more like a private sector investment fund — applicants submit business plans and evidence of past success, then the fund selects the strongest proposals and provides the award amount upfront, usually as a grant with no requirement to repay.
October 14, 2025 at 8:14 PM
The CDFI Fund’s primary financial assistance program works more like a private sector investment fund — applicants submit business plans and evidence of past success, then the fund selects the strongest proposals and provides the award amount upfront, usually as a grant with no requirement to repay.
Typically, federal grant programs work on a reimbursement basis. The project has a budget, and as the recipient spends its own money upfront providing goods or services in line with the grant contract, then the recipient submits reimbursement requests with receipts to the federal government.
October 14, 2025 at 8:14 PM
Typically, federal grant programs work on a reimbursement basis. The project has a budget, and as the recipient spends its own money upfront providing goods or services in line with the grant contract, then the recipient submits reimbursement requests with receipts to the federal government.
In this piece on the administration's previous attempt to do so earlier this year, I talk about why the CDFI Fund matters, its impact since inception, the unique way in which it works and its origins as an idea.
This is a vehicle unlike any other in the federal govt.
nextcity.org/urbanist-new...
This is a vehicle unlike any other in the federal govt.
nextcity.org/urbanist-new...
The CDFI Fund Is Under Fire. What Does That Mean for Community Development?
Trump’s executive order won’t kill the CDFI Fund. But it could slow down one of our most powerful tools for community-based banking.
nextcity.org
October 14, 2025 at 8:14 PM
In this piece on the administration's previous attempt to do so earlier this year, I talk about why the CDFI Fund matters, its impact since inception, the unique way in which it works and its origins as an idea.
This is a vehicle unlike any other in the federal govt.
nextcity.org/urbanist-new...
This is a vehicle unlike any other in the federal govt.
nextcity.org/urbanist-new...