Mark your calendars now, because 2025 will be here before you know it, and you do NOT want to miss the national event for community, policy, government, business and foundation leaders working toward a just economy that not only promises but delivers to all Americans opportunities to build wealth and live well. 

And if you want to relive the best moments of the 2024 Just Economy Conference, check out our conference recap!

“Dedrick is one of the economic justice movement’s brightest lights and this kind of recognition is long overdue,” said Jesse Van Tol, NCRC President and CEO. “Dedrick’s work is invaluable to our entire effort to build the just economy. I’m proud to see that truth getting the prominence it deserves from an outlet like Time Magazine.”

Recent highlights from Asante-Muhammad’s vast body of work include the report “Still A Dream: Over 500 Years to Black Economic Equity,” co-authored with the Institute for Policy Studies’ Chuck Collins and others, and a case study of race-conscious urban planning in Maryland titled “Columbia at 55: Creeping Segregation and Lack of Affordable Housing Threatens a Legacy of Black/White Integration.”

The full Time package accompanying “The Closers” can be read here.

Standard shipping charges will be waived on orders placed January 12-16, 2024 – so check it out now, and then bring your new merch to the 2024 Just Economy Conference in Washington, DC, April 3-4!

Find the shop at: www.ncrc.org/shop

Let’s fix that by giving them a warm NCRC welcome!

New organizational members in June were: 

• Friends of the Rail Park, Philadelphia, PA
• Mobilizing & Organizing Virginians for Engagement (MOVE Chamber), Falls Church, VA
• Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center,  Falls Church, VA
• United Way of Metropolitan Dallas, Dallas, TX
• Communities Unlimited, Inc., Fayetteville, AR

If your organization isn’t yet a member, check out the options here.

And if your organization is ineligible, you can join as an individual member of our Just Economy Club.

We are so happy to have you all join the team. We are stronger together!

Director, Institutional Accountability
202.770.3619 cpetrusz@ncrc.org

Catherine Petrusz joined NCRC in 2021 as a CRA Coordinator and works with NCRC members and banks on community reinvestment campaigns. Before joining NCRC, Catherine was a senior member of the legal team and head of compliance for Self-Help, a national community development financial institution. Catherine is excited to combine her legal and banking background with data analysis to help ensure that the Community Reinvestment Act achieves its original intent. She is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the UCLA School of Law Program in Public Interest Law and Policy.

Christa Murillo is a project specialist at NCRC. She is bilingual in English and Spanish and a proud native of Kansas City, Missouri. Christa received her bachelor’s degree in modern languages and marketing from the University of Central Missouri. Prior to joining NCRC, Christa worked at the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals in multiple departments including marketing, policy, and chapter support. She has contributed to several annual publications focused on Hispanic homeownership and wealth in the United States. Her expertise includes extensive experience in member engagement, research and project management. Christa is a military spouse, mother, and Poshmark ambassador. Her passions include: ice cream, barbecue, and the Kansas City Chiefs.

Juan Leyton is NCRC’s Director of Organizing. Prior to joining NCRC, Juan

 was most recently at Madison Park Development Corporation. He is the former director of the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative, Neighbor to Neighbor Massachusetts and City Life/Vida Urbana. He was a Barr Foundation and MIT Community Innovators Lab fellow. He holds Masters Degrees in Community Economic Development from Southern New Hampshire University and in Public Policy from Tufts University.

Mark Eden is NCRC’s Controller. His career spans both the for-profit and nonprofit sectors for over twenty years, with exposure to organizations operating in U.S., UK and European business environments

Initial experience in the software sector with Applied CAE, BIX and Optimad Media Systems lead to the opportunity to specialize in education, which included GM and Charter Schools, together with adult, elementary and early childhood education establishments.

The focus on mission-driven organizations continued as the Director of Finance at Behavioral Ideas Lab overseeing five-fold growth during his tenure and as a nonprofit specialist with CliftonLarsonAllen’s business outsourcing division.

Mark is a graduate from the University of Sheffield where he majored in Accountancy and Financial Management, and is a Fellow Member of Association of Chartered Certified Accountants.

LaToria Brent is the Small Business Specialist for the DC Women’s Business Center. With over 20 years of experience in sales, marketing, human resource (recruitment and selection), LaToria’s mission has always been to strategize, implement, and execute different methods to positively impact her community. A serial entrepreneur, Latoria has owned multiple businesses and has served as an adjunct instructor transferring her institutional knowledge down to young adult business students. Latoria holds a bachelor’s degree in international business, MBA, and a certification in human resource management.

As part of her dedication to civic service, LaToria is an active member of the Ward 5 community. LaToria is family oriented and is passionate about empowering the underserved families in the district. On her free time, she loves exploring the city with her 3 little girls, baking, and writing books with her oldest daughter.

jbeihler@ncrc.org

202-524-4884

sotero@ncrc.org 202-792-1283

Soraya Otero will be supporting NCRC’s COO Gregory Dyson as a Special Assistant, and support our Just Economy club as Community Liaison.

Soraya brings outstanding organizational competencies, capacity building knowledge and practice, and great interpersonal skills backed by a robust career in operations and finance. She is focused towards institutional strategic goals.

During her career with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and through her combined operational, corporate and capacity building experience, Soraya has built a deep understanding of organizational strategic and institutional challenges.

Through her employer, Technology Ventures, she recently consulted for Freddie Mac’s Human Resources Corporate Learning as a Senior Project Manager to develop and optimize virtual training solutions delivered to all staff.

As a Program Manager for the Leadership and Employee Development Division in the Human Resources Department of IDB she coordinated high level capacity building programs designed to strengthen leadership skills of bank staff.

She was a Business Partner for the Knowledge and Learning Department (KNL) and partnered with client Divisions in the identification of Knowledge and Learning (K&L) needs and gaps, and the design, implementation and evaluation of their K&L Plans.

Before KNL, she worked with IDB operations in areas of Modernization and Institutional Capacity of the State like citizen security and citizen participation. Her coordination role was particularly relevant in the Information, Consultation and Participation Program that built capacity of citizens to participate in development programs in Mesoamerica. Prior to her work in operations, she supported the Bank´s asset liability management in the Finance Department.

Soraya also managed operations and finance for Expocafe, a major coffee exporter in Colombia, where she designed, implemented and coordinated business alternatives for the 54 coffee cooperatives to make profitable exports and strengthened capacity of coffee production communities into financial hedging of their production and sales.

She completed undergraduate studies in business administration and postgraduate studies in political science both in Universidad de los Andes in Colombia.

mtaylor@dcwbc.org 202-464-2304

Monti Taylor is passionate about community development work, from volunteering with environmental organizations to navigating resources for programming within a community center. She has worked on small grant projects and enjoys using research to uncover hidden patterns in society, with the goal of advocating for social change.

She is currently working on her master’s degree in Sociology at Virginia Commonwealth University. Her research interests are inequality and the digital divide. She’s excited to be joining the team at NCRC- DC Women’s Business Center to help coordinate resources to support women in business.

jbuell@ncrc.org

202.792.1281

Jamie Buell has been working with NCRC since January 2020. Growing up in Los Angeles, Jamie has been familiar with America’s economic inequality and how race worsened the wealth gap from a young age. Her multiracial upbringing melded together the differing realities of wealth and financial health among White Americans and minority groups. Jamie obtained a bachelor’s degree in Sociology with a minor in Civic Engagement from UCLA, which developed a deep understanding of the history and theoretical frameworks that have allowed for the U.S.’s pervasive and disparate racial wealth divide. Jamie is a strong believer that racial justice cannot happen without economic justice, and liberation of all working class people cannot happen without first the liberation of Black and Brown people. Aside from working with NCRC’s Racial Economic Equity, Jamie is passionate about local mutual aid efforts and local politics in the Los Angeles area, where she resides. In her free time, Jamie finds herself drawing, reading in the park or cooking a hearty vegan meal to unwind!

smckoy@dcwbc.org

202-393-8307

Sade McKoy joined NCRC in October 2019.  She has had an extensive career in Marketing and Communications. Sade has six years of experience helping entrepreneurs, brands and businesses create social media strategies. She’s worked with several noteworthy creative agencies and publications. Some of her expertise includes managing marketing campaigns and social media planning. Sade received a Bachelor of Art in Journalism and Communications from Howard University.

hsheppard@dcwbc.org

  202-524-4874

Heidi Sheppard has extensive experience working to support economic development efforts ranging from entrepreneurial assistance to manufacturing communities to technology transfer.  She served on the Partnership Team at the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) developing strategic partnerships with other federal agencies to further MEP’s mission.  She led the Advanced Manufacturing Jobs and Innovation Challenge initiative, a five federal agency effort to grow and strengthen manufacturing industries in regional economies. While at MEP, Heidi went on a detail to the National Endowment for the Arts where she researched the value of industrial design for small and medium sized manufacturers and co-authored a report, “Industrial Design: A Competitive Edge for U. S. Manufacturing Success in the Global Economy”.

Prior to her work at MEP, she was the Senior Program Manager for the Maryland Incubator Program at the Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO).  During that time, she was instrumental in expanding both the incubator assistance program and the network of incubator facilities.

Her economic development experience also includes working as the Director of the Loudoun County Small Business Development Center (SBDC) and as the Assistant Director of the Lafayette, Louisiana SBDC.  There, she provided entrepreneurial assistance to start-up businesses, helping them to write business plans, obtain loans, and grow their small businesses.

Heidi is an artist, cook, and entrepreneur.  She founded and operated her own manufacturing company- Endless Pastabilities- and has an MBA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.