Breaking SF Public Bank: New Poll Shows 2 in 3 likely SF voters support starting a San Francisco Public Bank!
Read the story: https://www.kqed.org/news/12058853/san-francisco-public-bank-supporters-eye-2026-ballot-measure
We co-hosted Fresnoâs first public banking conversation with the community, alongside EPIC (End Poverty in California) and local partners: Academy of Financial Education, Central Valley Urban Institute, CVIIC (Central Valley Immigrant Integration Collaborative), and ELF (Education & Leadership Foundation).
Held at Fresno City College on September 25, the session brought together dozens of community members, renters, small business owners, and advocates for a great conversation about unfair banking practices and what a city-run public bank could look like in Fresno. People shared stories, priorities, and ideas for how local dollars could better serve local needs, from funding affordable housing and small businesses to creating a bank with democratic, accountable governance rooted in community priorities.
Read the coverage in Fresnoland: A city-owned bank? Fresno enters the chat on public banking
Earlier that day, the California Public Banking Alliance (CPBA) and the Central Valley Urban Institute presented a Public Banking 101 workshop for the Fresno City Council to explain how public banks work and their benefits for the city.
CPBAâs Executive Director Trinity Tran and Vice Chair Rick Girling also joined Central Valley Urban Instituteâs Executive Director Eric Payne for the Council presentation.
Public banking flyer | Spanish version
CalAccount flyer | Spanish version
In the new year, CPBA and EPIC will co-host additional Public Banking Listening Sessions in Los Angeles and the Bay Area.
EAST BAY
In early September, Friends of the Public Bank East Bay hosted a happy hour designed to bring endorsers and allies up to date on the progress of the group, and get community input on some next steps under discussion. About 50 people attended the event. It was truly amazing to spend an evening in community with our supporters and hear what was on people’s minds.
LOS ANGELES
In Los Angeles, the public banking motion cleared the Government Operations Committee in September 2025. PBLAâs Trinity Tran and Move LAâs Executive Director Eli Lipmen presented at City Hall, backed by community allies including SEIU 721, ACCE Los Angeles, Inclusive Action for the City, United Parents and Students, and PBLA members. The motion has unanimous support in Council, with nine councilmembers including Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson contributing their own discretionary dollars to move the work forward.
NORTH COAST
Join us at Cal Poly Humboldt for the Next System Teach-In on November 8 organized by David Cobb from CPBA affiliate, North Coast Progressive Alliance. A public banking workshop will be conducted by Debbie Notkin (Public Bank East Bay) and Rick Girling (SF Public Banking Coalition) to give participants ideas about how public banking can be part of building the next world that is democratic, sustainable, and just.
CPBAâs Executive Director, Trinity Tran, joined the 2025 Fellowship Class of Social Justice Partners LA, a network of local changemakers working on equity and systems change in Los Angeles. The fellowship will help support our volunteer-driven work to make real, transformative financial change across California.
Join the fight to build local public banks and a California State Bank. Letâs build a movement and a banking system that actually works for the people of California.
We co-hosted Fresnoâs first public banking conversation with the community, alongside EPIC (End Poverty in California) and local partners: Academy of Financial Education, Central Valley Urban Institute, CVIIC (Central Valley Immigrant Integration Collaborative), and ELF (Education & Leadership Foundation).
Held at Fresno City College on September 25, the session brought together dozens of community members, renters, small business owners, and advocates for a great conversation about unfair banking practices and what a city-run public bank could look like in Fresno. People shared stories, priorities, and ideas for how local dollars could better serve local needs, from funding affordable housing and small businesses to creating a bank with democratic, accountable governance rooted in community priorities.
Read the coverage in Fresnoland: A city-owned bank? Fresno enters the chat on public banking
Earlier that day, the California Public Banking Alliance (CPBA) and the Central Valley Urban Institute presented a Public Banking 101 workshop for the Fresno City Council to explain how public banks work and their benefits for the city.
CPBAâs Executive Director Trinity Tran and Vice Chair Rick Girling also joined Central Valley Urban Instituteâs Executive Director Eric Payne for the Council presentation.
Public banking flyer | Spanish version
CalAccount flyer | Spanish version
In the new year, CPBA and EPIC will co-host additional Public Banking Listening Sessions in Los Angeles and the Bay Area.
Fresno just entered the public banking chat! And the community is driving it. From local organizers to small-business owners, folks packed the West Fresno Center to keep public dollars working for Fresno’s working families. @fresnoland has the story.
https://fresnoland.org/2025/09/29/fresno-public-bank/
Huge thanks to every community member that showed up and spoke at the listening session, and to the lead groups who coordinated the event with us: End Poverty in California, The Academy of Financial Education, The Central Valley Urban Institute, CVIIC, Education & Leadership Foundation.
California is facing budget deficits, federal rollbacks, and deep cuts to housing, climate, CDFI funding, and small business programs. Just as our communities need support, the federal government is pulling back. Californians cannot depend on the Trump Administration to help solve these problems. We must assert our State’s authority to manage our substantial financial resources for addressing critical needs. For nearly 40 million Californians, the time to act is now.
The California Public Banking Alliance has released a new State Public Bank Brief to show a path forward. A State Public Bank would keep Californiaâs money working for Californians by protecting public funds, expanding credit to our communities where it is needed and lowering borrowing costs.
View and download here: California Needs a State Public Bank
Local public banks are already moving forward across the state. City-and-regional-level public banks keep dollars circulating in neighborhoods, supporting small businesses, housing, and community projects. A State Public Bank creates an ecosystem of public financial infrastructure. It brings the strength of the worldâs fourth-largest economy, pooling deposits, providing liquidity, and technical assistance to help local banks launch and grow. The state bank provides the scale, support, and reach to finance housing, climate resilience, and infrastructure on a statewide level.
This is how California can build lasting economic power and resilience in the face of a hostile federal administration!
Join the fight and be part of the team building the State Bank campaign. This is only the starting point. Legislation is still being developed, and core details on capitalization, governance, and oversight will be shaped with coalition leaders, stakeholders, and legislative champions. Our aim is simple and urgent: build a strong, lasting movement and a financial system that truly serves the people of California!
Volunteer with us!Â
Our new brief, âPublic Banking in California: Learning from the Bank of North Dakota,â with the University of Michigan is out! This is the most comprehensive U.S. economic report focused on CA public banks, and the first academic, data-driven analysis to use the BND as a case study for how public banks can save money, expand affordable housing and access to capital for small businesses, and help close racial wealth gaps.
We would like to thank Terri Friedline and the University of Michigan team, Trinity Tran and Rick Girling with the California Public Banking Alliance, Erin Kilmer-Neel and the Beneficial State Foundation team, Bianca Blomquist and the Small Business Majority team, and Lydia Casmier at Demos.
Our goal with this report was to give Californiaâs public banking movement a data-driven foundation. It provides clear, evidence-based findings that support what we as advocates have been saying for years and helps lay the groundwork for policy frameworks to establish public banks across the state.
Read it here! Public Banking in California: Learning from the Bank of North Dakota
Landing page on Poverty Solutions.
Thanks to everyone who joined The New School’s Public Banking Panel featuring Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib and CPBA’s Trinity Tran! Watch the recording and hear about how Public Banking and Guaranteed Income can work together to tackle income inequality, provide immediate relief, and build long-term structural change!
Watch the discussion: https://vimeo.com/1094198348/1982f4784b
Our team answered 50 questions from pre-registration and the live chat. Read them here!
https://mailchi.mp/newschool/2025-june-public-banking-research-virtual-roundtable-thank-you?e=19280256d6
Thank you to all panelists:
– Representative Rashida Tlaib, U.S. Representative, 12th Congressional District of Michigan
– Terri Friedline, Professor of Social Work, University of Michigan
– Darrick Hamilton, University Professor and Founding Director, Institute on Race, Power and Political Economy, The New School
– Amy Castro, Co-Founder and Faculty Director, Center for Guaranteed Income Research, and Associate Professor, University of Pennsylvania
– Trinity Tran, Executive Director, Co-Founder, and Lead Organizer, California Public Banking Alliance
– Graham Steele, Academic Fellow, Rock Center for Corporate Governance, Stanford Law School/Stanford Graduate School of Business, and Fellow, Financial Regulation, Roosevelt Institute
Public Banking: Financial Infrastructure for Guaranteed Income and a Just Economy
Tuesday, June 17 | 11:00 AM â 12:00 PM PT | Zoom
Register Online via Zoom
As federal support for climate and infrastructure shrinks, cities are turning to bold tools to build local economic power. Public banking is one of them.
Join us for a virtual roundtable, featuring our very own Trinity Tran, on how public banks can support guaranteed income programs and help build more inclusive, community-rooted economies. The event will spotlight new research from the Institute on Race, Power and Political Economy at The New School and feature leaders in public banking, economic justice, and guaranteed income.
Featuring:
Hosted by: The Institute on Race, Power and Political Economy, The New School.
Read and download two new reports on how public banking can support economic equity and strengthen financial infrastructure for guaranteed income programs.
Public Banking A Public Option to Build an Inclusive and Sustainable Economy includes a brief overview of Public Bank LA.
How Public Banking Could Support Guaranteed Income includes a mention of the California Public Banking Alliance and CalAccount.
At a national convening in Washington, D.C., marking the launch of Demos and New Economy Projectâs report, Public Banks for Racial Equity: Democratizing Finance to Build Community Wealth,CPBAâs Executive Director Trinity Tran and Legislative Director Sylvia Chi presented Dispatches From the Field: Wins, Lessons, Whatâs Next for California, a look at the statewide public banking movementâs milestones and future trajectory.
The report covers the California Public Banking Allianceâs leadership in passing the California Public Banking Act (AB 857), the first legislation in the nation to create a pathway for municipal public banks. CPBAâs work is cited as a model for how public financial institutions can âmove public dollars out of extractive banking institutions and into investments that benefit working-class communities of color.â
CPBA is proud to be featured alongside organizers and public banking advocates from across the country committed to reimagining finance for racial and economic justice. As Trinity Tran notes in the report, âA public bank must be rooted in public interest and accountability to the communities it serves. Weâre building the financial architecture to fund affordable housing, small businesses, and green infrastructure in communities that Wall Street has long ignored.â
The report features insights from CPBA along with Public Bank LAâs Legislative Director David Jette, showing how California is laying the groundwork for a network of socially and environmentally responsible public banks, designed to build economic power in low-income communities of color.
Read the full report:Â Public Banks for Racial Equity.
The California Public Banking Alliance’s Executive Director Trinity Tran led the passage of the first law in the U.S. to let cities and regions form public banks, backed by our California alliance of activists. We did this not by playing by Wall Streetâs rules but by organizing across the state to build people power. Trinity then helped lead lead the passing of a second public banking bill now on its way to becoming to first universal banking services program in the U.S. Now we’re building the next phase: public banks that move billions into affordable housing, climate infrastructure, and community resilience.
Read LA’s LA’s Next Urban Revolution: A Public Bank in The Urban Activist: https://theurbanactivist.com/economy/public-bank-los-angeles-urban-revolution/
