{"id":264831,"date":"2025-09-30T10:00:04","date_gmt":"2025-09-30T14:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ncrc.org\/?p=264831"},"modified":"2025-09-26T09:20:06","modified_gmt":"2025-09-26T13:20:06","slug":"representing-the-voice-of-the-community-rise-economy-advocates-for-equitable-community-development-efforts-across-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ncrc.org\/representing-the-voice-of-the-community-rise-economy-advocates-for-equitable-community-development-efforts-across-california\/","title":{"rendered":"Representing the voice of the community: Rise Economy advocates for equitable community development efforts across California"},"content":{"rendered":"

BIPOC-led affordable housing organizations in California have few options to turn to for help with capacity building and grant funding, but one organization is trying to change that.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Rise Economy was founded in 1986 by a group of legal aid attorneys and other advocates who wanted to improve affordable housing access in California. The organization promotes policies that improve access to credit and capital in low-income communities and communities of color.<\/span><\/p>\n

Today, Rise Economy\u2019s coalition includes 300 members ranging from affordable housing developers and community land trusts to legal aid providers, small business technical assistance providers and tenants\u2019 unions.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOur members give us [our] strength,\u201d said Kevin Stein, Rise Economy\u2019s Chief of Legal and Strategy. \u201cThat’s what helps us identify our priorities. Those are the voices that we bring to the table \u2013 folks representing their communities.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The diversity of voices in Rise Economy\u2019s coalition has also strengthened its advocacy work. For instance, Rise Economy has negotiated numerous Community Benefit Agreements (CBAs) with local banks towards reinvesting more than $100 billion in California communities over the last five years. Those agreements require banks to reinvest between 10% and 20% of their deposits in local communities.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere aren’t a lot of folks that are pushing banks to make these kinds of investments at a large scale,\u201d said Doni Tadesse, Southern California organizer for Rise Economy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Most recently, the organization negotiated an <\/span>extension of the CBA<\/span><\/a> it has with Mechanics Bank. The agreement requires the bank to commit $15 million to small business lending, $2.5 million in direct donations to local nonprofits and $5 million for homeowners’ assistance programs.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBecause of the members that we have and the diversity of issues that they cover, our community benefits agreements and our advocacy are also just as varied and expansive,\u201d said Tadesse.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The organization has also created a technical assistance program called <\/span>the Resilience Fund. <\/span><\/a>The fund is a two-year, $4 million initiative that offers capacity building support, technical assistance and grant funding opportunities to BIPOC-led Community Financial Development Institutions (CDFIs). The Resilience Fund also acts as an \u201cincubation program\u201d for organizations that want to deploy capital in their communities strategically.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Participants receive technical assistance as they work toward becoming licensed, assistance with setting up their lending programs and the necessary capital to start providing loans to community members. Some of the fund\u2019s partners include The San Francisco Foundation, Wells Fargo and Mechanics Bank. Recently, <\/span>Rise Economy<\/span><\/a> has expanded its services to include a program for nonprofits on the pathway toward becoming financially sustainable CDFIs.<\/span><\/p>\n

NCRC has helped Rise Economy by giving them the information they need to strengthen their programs and grow their statewide coalition. NCRC\u2019s research team has also helped bolster the organization\u2019s advocacy efforts by providing impactful maps that were used to show where banks were providing lending services during the foreclosure crisis.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

NCRC\u2019s annual conferences and networking opportunities have also helped the organization meet other like-minded partners.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe get to engage with folks who are doing exciting things throughout the country,\u201d Stein said. \u201cThere’s a lot of great networking that can happen.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Robert Davis is a Contributing Writer with NCRC’s Communications team.<\/em><\/p>\n

Photo courtesy of the Rise Economy team.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BIPOC-led affordable housing organizations in California have few options to turn to for help with capacity building and grant funding, but one organization is trying to change that.\u00a0 Rise Economy was founded in 1986 by a group of legal aid attorneys and other advocates who wanted to improve affordable housing access in California. The organization 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Davis","author_link":"https:\/\/www.robertdaviswrites.com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"BIPOC-led affordable housing organizations in California have few options to turn to for help with capacity building and grant funding, but one organization is trying to change that.\u00a0 Rise Economy was founded in 1986 by a group of legal aid attorneys and other advocates who wanted to improve affordable housing access in California. 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