Making Advocacy Happen

Since HOPE’s inception, the organization has placed a high priority on advocacy. Drawing on the experiences of its members and by advancing thought leadership, the organization leverages its influence to challenge the policies and practices of government and private institutions that have systemically limited access to financial resources in the Deep South.

Economic Mobility Forums Advance Thought Leadership
Banking on Financial Inclusion
During Black History Month, over 200 advocates, bankers, nonprofit leaders and students gathered at Jackson State University for the HOPE Economic Mobility Forum: Banking on Financial Inclusion at Jackson State University. Governor Michael Barr, Vice Chair of Supervision of the Federal Reserve System, provided keynote remarks and spent additional time in Jackson, Mississippi meeting with HBCU students to discuss career opportunities within the banking and community development fields. Another highlight included a presentation shared by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Institute for Economic Equity that made the economic case for equitable banking system. Throughout the Forum, leaders from the Delta Regional Authority, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Opportunity Insights, the Urban League, CDFIs and higher education advanced policy and thought leadership on solutions to close banking and capital gaps.

Defending Financial Democracy
In November, HOPE hosted its second Economic Mobility Forum of 2023: Defending Financial Democracy. At the time, a first round of legal challenges had been mounted against community development organizations in Georgia and Texas for prioritizing investments in people of color.

The Forum convened a group of national and regional experts to discuss the importance of CDFIs and the CFPB and to shine a light on the role these institutions play in building and protecting wealth for people living in under-resourced communities. During the Forum, leaders from the CFPB presented groundbreaking research on credit access and banking needs in the South shared. Following the presentation, the Hope Policy Institute and the Urban League of Louisiana, transitioned elevated policy proposals for advancing small business, home and bank account ownership among people living in historically under-resourced communities. Bill Bynum and Amber Koonce, Assistant Counsel at the Legal Defense Fund, concluded the day with a discussion on strategies for weathering the current legal threats facing the community development finance movement.

Coalition Stops Bill to End Affirmative Action in Arkansas
A coalition of advocates, Community Development Financial Institutions and philanthropic leaders joined together to successfully defeat SB71 – a bill authored to effectively end affirmative action and other programs designed to increase investment in businesses owned by people of color in Arkansas. HOPE Senior Vice President of Community & Economic Development, Charity Hallman, testified in opposition to the bill. In her testimony, she drew on data that found Black-owned businesses receive, on average, the full amount of a financing request 40% of the time, in contrast to white-owned businesses with similar credit profiles at 68%. Additionally, she highlighted the success of previous Arkansas-based programs that included provisions to ensure businesses owned by people of color and women would receive funding in response to the pandemic. “This bill is bad for business and will limit the growth of our economy. It will constrain the flow of capital into our state and, by extension, that which is available to small businesses,” she said.

Affordable Housing Breakthrough Challenge
In Mississippi and Alabama, over 5,000 households that rent, 75% of which are Black, are at risk of eviction due to the sunsetting of federal affordable housing requirements associated with the Low Income Housing Tax Credit Program. In response, HOPE envisioned a program to transition the renters to homeownership through the creative use of down payment assistance, 100% financing, and loan loss reserves. The innovation caught the attention of Enterprise Community Partners, which selected HOPE as one of six organizations nationwide out of a pool of over 300 submissions for the Housing Affordability Breakthrough Challenge. With the selection, HOPE joins a cohort of organizations that receive both grant funding and technical support to launch the project. Partners in the project will include HBCU students from Mississippi Valley State University and Delta Design Build to retrofit the homes with energy-efficient upgrades.