CPBA Featured in New Demos + NEP Report on Public Banks and Racial Equity

At a national convening in Washington, D.C., marking the launch of Demos and New Economy Project’s report, Public Banks for Racial Equity: Democratizing Finance to Build Community Wealth,CPBA’s Executive Director Trinity Tran and Legislative Director Sylvia Chi presented Dispatches From the Field: Wins, Lessons, What’s Next for California, a look at the statewide public banking movement’s milestones and future trajectory.

The report covers the California Public Banking Alliance’s leadership in passing the California Public Banking Act (AB 857), the first legislation in the nation to create a pathway for municipal public banks. CPBA’s work is cited as a model for how public financial institutions can “move public dollars out of extractive banking institutions and into investments that benefit working-class communities of color.”

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, “A public bank must be rooted in public interest and accountability to the communities it serves. We’re building the financial architecture to fund affordable housing, small businesses, and green infrastructure in communities that Wall Street has long ignored.”

The report features insights from CPBA along with Public Bank LA’s 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: Public Banks for Racial Equity.