Next City

Latest Episodes:

The Secret to Long-Term Recovery in Puerto Rico? Jan 24, 2024

Show notes

Six years after Hurricane Maria battered Puerto Rico, killing almost 3,000 people and causing $139 billion worth of damages, the island is still rebuilding. To support these vital restoration and climate resilience efforts, residents turned to a local mutual aid model known as cooperativas. When Puerto Ricans were completely isolated, with no power, communications or banking system, cooperatives opened within two days and began creating workarounds to support residents.
Today, these co-ops are undergoing an important transformation: Many are gaining recognition from the U.S. government as community development financial institutions, or CDFIs. And with that comes some important perks, namely access major new funding and grant opportunities.
“Arising from the ashes is actually a flourishing CDFI sector, and these CDFIs are actually helping bolster the island's financial system and helping the poor people prepare for other natural disasters,” says reporter Christopher Williams, who covered this movement last year. Before Maria hit, there were eight CDFIs on the island. Now, there are close to 100 institutions, serving about a third of the population.
That growth is in large part thanks to the work of Inclusiv, a New York City-based CDFI that provides access to financial tools to low-income Puerto Ricans. To support those people who had long relied on the island's cooperativas, they're helping cooperativas become certified as CDFIs with the U.S. Treasury Department.
“The way that Puerto Ricans do cooperatives and do the credit union movement is a bit different from how it's done in the U.S.,” says Rene Vargas Martinez, the director of Inclusiv's Puerto Rico Network. “It really replicates us as a people. Our culture is a culture of solidarity. We help each other when there are crises.”
This episode is based on an article that's part of our series, CDFI Futures, which explores the community development finance industry through the lenses of equity, public policy and inclusive community development. The series is generously supported by Partners for the Common Good. Sign up for PCG’s CapNexus newsletter at capnexus.org.

Can We Make Homebuying Permanently Affordable? Jan 10, 2024

Show notes

At Next City, we've covered a lot of community land trusts: CLTs developing disaster-resilient housing, CLTs helping recruit Black public school teachers through housing opportunities, CLTs helping house Indigenous foster youth aging out of the system. They're a potent and increasingly popular tool for creating permanently affordable housing amid – but CLTs also have some drawbacks.
Yet some of those pain points can be mitigated when paired with another powerful vehicle for affordable housing development: land banks. When the Next City team visited Richmond, Virginia for our annual Vanguard gathering last year, one of the most striking solutions for urban change that we encountered was the country's first combined community land trust and land bank.
The Maggie Walker Land Trust – named after a local icon who was the first woman of color to establish a bank in America, among other historic titles – expects to make its 100th home sale soon, less than a decade after its founding.
“One of MWCLT’s goals is expanding equitable access to homeownership, and we have made great strides to increase Black homeownership in our programs,” the organization's executive director, Lark Washington, told Next City earlier this year.
To learn more about community land trusts, land banks, and the impact of combining these tools, listen to this episode and subscribe to Next City.

Building a Future of Food Security with Community Fridges Jan 03, 2024

Show notes

In Richmond, Virginia access to quality food can be a challenge, particularly in marginalized communities. But mutual aid, community building, and collaboration among people working in the food justice space have made a difference in the city. Intergenerational collaboration has also been key to addressing food insecurity and promoting food sovereignty.
Barry Greene Jr., Next City’s Equitable Cities Fellows for Reparations Narratives who lives in Richmond, describes the city’s food accessibility. “Depending on what side of the river you live on, your access to grocery stores or fresh food differs. And while we have community gardens, they sometimes have issues with general maintenance and upkeep,” he says, noting that the Southside has less access.
One of the people making sure people are fed in Richmond is Taylor Scott, founder of RVA Community Fridges, one of numerous community fridge efforts that have cropped up across the country (and the world) in recent years. We hear from Scott in this episode when she spoke on a panel during Next City’s Vanguard Richmond conference in September 2023. Scott shared about what it took to get started, getting connected with people already doing similar work, and the intention of doing mutual aid work — not charity work.
“A big difference for us in charity and nonprofit is a lot of people when they do charity work, they never go back,” she says. “For us, a big part of the mutual aid work is the fact that you come back again and you get integrated into the community and actually start to be a part of that community.”To hear more about the importance of collaboration in food justice work and the ongoing mutual aid of community fridges, listen to the full episode and subscribe to Next City.

SOTY Revisit: One City Made Former Prisoners A Protected Class Dec 27, 2023

Show notes

Next City is turning 20! And our journalists are publishing a special 20th-anniversary edition of our annual Solutions of the Year magazine in which we’re talking about the solutions we want to see expand in cities over the next 20 years.
As part of the celebration, we’re re-airing some of the stories that we’ve covered here on the podcast. Today, two community organizers in Atlanta who won legal protections for themselves and other who were formerly incarcerated.

SOTY Revisit: Boston Is Helping To Buy Up Buildings And Keep Rents Affordable Dec 20, 2023

Show notes

Next City is turning 20! And our journalists are publishing a special 20th-anniversary edition of our annual Solutions of the Year magazine in which we’re talking about the solutions we want to see expand in cities over the next 20 years.
As part of the celebration, we’re re-airing some of the stories that we’ve covered here on the podcast. Today, how community-owned real estate in East Boston is keeping rents affordable.

SOTY Revisit: Why So Many People Attend City Meetings in Lexington Dec 13, 2023

Show notes

Next City is turning 20! And our journalists are publishing a special 20th-anniversary edition of our annual Solutions of the Year magazine in which we’re talking about the solutions we want to see expand in cities over the next 20 years.
As part of the celebration, we’re re-airing some of the stories that we’ve covered here on the podcast. Today, how a Kentucky non-profit increased participation in Lexington’s local government.

SOTY Revisit: The Black Barber Who Launched A Credit Union from His Shop Dec 06, 2023

Show notes

Next City is turning 20! And our journalists are publishing a special 20th-anniversary edition of our annual Solutions of the Year magazine in which we’re talking about the solutions we want to see expand in cities over the next 20 years. As part of the celebration, we’re re-airing some of the stories that we’ve covered here on the podcast. Today, the Black barber whose work inspired him to launch a credit union to help his clients and neighbors in Arkansas.

Latino Loan Funds Supporting Latino Business Owners Nov 08, 2023

Show notes

When Latinx entrepreneurs go to the bank to seek a loan to build or grow their businesses, they often leave empty-handed.
Now, Greenline Access Capital, a community development financial institution (CDFI) in Philadelphia, is trying to change that – and help advance prosperity for the city's quarter-million Latinx residents. To do that, they're offering bilingual services, character-based lending, in-depth technical assistance and business consulting for small businesses. And, importanttly, they're connecting clients with ongoing resources to help these businesses flourish and succeed in the long run.
“Having a conversation with a client is like peeling an onion,” Kersy Azocar, a veteran of the microlending industry who founded Greenline Access Capital in 2021. "Let me start asking you questions to better understand what you need. Sometimes somebody can say, 'Well, I need $20,000,' and by the time we finish our review, you need $150,000. Or you need $20,000, but let's work on A, B, C first...or let me connect you with one of our partners to get your business plan ready."
On this episode of the Next City podcast, we look at what's needed to help Latinx small business owners and how the community finance development industry is stepping in.
This episode is based on an article that's part of our series, CDFI Futures, which explores the community development finance industry through the lenses of equity, public policy and inclusive community development. The series is generously supported by Partners for the Common Good. Sign up for PCG’s CapNexus newsletter at capnexus.org.

If The NFL Can Do It, So Can You Nov 01, 2023

Show notes

More than giving back, the NFL acknowledges it makes money by depending on Black athletes, and its new investments are considering the communities where its athletes come from.
In 2021, 71% of players in the NFL in 2021 were people of color, according to the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at the University of Central Florida. So when the NFL needed to borrow $78 million last year, they worked with the National Black Bank Foundation to choose 16 Minority Depository Institutions, community development financial institutions (CDFIs) and women-focused banks.
“It's a way of showing that you are putting your money where your mouth is and helping to build community – and particularly the communities that the players and the talent come from,” says Brandon Comer, the co-founder of the National Black Bank Foundation. He helps small banks work together to land these bigger deals and create a seamless lending experience that can compete with traditional big banks.
Comer says previous loans made to the Atlanta Hawks and Major League Soccer offered a crucial proof of concept that helped make the NFL and other large institutions comfortable on the foundation's ability to deliver both the loan as well as the community impact. And the NFL deal has put an even bigger spotlight on these banks' power.
“If there is a pretty good size manufacturing company, for example, that's in the footprint of one of these banks, when they see a headline that a bank has executed a deal with the NFL, it serves as a strong validator,” Comer says. “We've seen several examples where businesses have gone into these banks and said, Hey, we'd like to open an account, or we'd like to do business with you because we saw this headline. We didn't even know you were here, or we certainly didn't think you were of the size that you could handle our business.”
On this episode of the podcast, we speak to Comer and the Community Development Bankers Association's Brian Blake about the impact of the NFL's work with small Black-led banks and the ripple effects of these types of financing deals in minority communities.
This episode is based on an article that's part of our series, CDFI Futures, which explores the community development finance industry through the lenses of equity, public policy and inclusive community development. The series is generously supported by Partners for the Common Good. Sign up for PCG’s CapNexus newsletter at capnexus.org.

Can Development Be Anti-Racist? This Report Shows Us How Oct 23, 2023

Show notes

Today, we’re partnering with ThirdSpace Action Lab on this sponsored episode about The Anti-Racist Community Development research project, which has documented the range of ways that structural racism still shows up in community development and the many ways that people are trying to make community development anti-racist.

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected