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Administrating the City of Cleveland's Community Reinvestment (CRA) program, Bank Relations supports an ordinance passed in 1994 to address the relative lack of credit and related services, especially for minorities, low-income persons, and city neighborhoods.
The objectives of the CRA program include:
- Convene cross-sector stakeholders around community reinvestment-related issues to advance financial and economic opportunities for all residents.
- Partner with over 14 financial institutions to create pathways for equitable access to financial tools and products.
- Negotiate annual lending goals & commitments with area lenders and monitor progress.
- Coordinate evaluation of applicants receiving city deposits (based on service and investment to residents and businesses) with the Finance Department.
- Undertake initiatives or special projects related to credit, credit-related services, and housing finance
In 2021, the Office of Bank Relations, in partnership with Enterprise Community Partners (Cleveland), launched Cleveland's first Bank On Coalition. Through this initiative, the Office partners with over 25 banks, housing providers, social services organizations, and area nonprofits to ensure that all residents have the opportunity to achieve financial and economic stability. Through this citywide collaboration, we are working to connect people to safe, affordable, and certified banking accounts.
Our efforts toward a more equitable financial system center on placing racial equity at the forefront of our work. Through this collaboration, we seek to unite people and organizations around a collective mission: to dismantle barriers to financial and economic mobility.