Beneficial State Foundation

10/16/2026

For nearly 50 years, the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) has helped ensure that banks serve their entire communities, including low- and moderate-income neighborhoods that have historically faced barriers to credit and investment.

Proposed changes to CRA regulations could weaken accountability, reduce transparency, and put community development financing at risk. We believe a fair financial system requires accountability, investment, and a commitment to communities that have too often been left behind. That’s why we submitted comments to the FDIC and OCC urging the protection of a strong CRA. Along with Beneficial State Bank, we also joined nearly 500 organizations in signing onto NCRC's comment letter.

In our latest blog post, we explain what's at stake, why the CRA matters, and what bank leaders can do to continue investing in and serving their communities, regardless of the regulatory environment.

Read more and see our full comments: https://bit.ly/4Bc2KQw

Federal regulators have proposed weakening the Community Reinvestment Act, putting affordable housing, small business lending, and community investment at risk.

10/14/2026

Traditional lending models can’t meet every community need.

CDFI Loan Funds can provide flexible financing for small businesses, affordable housing, and community projects that may face barriers to accessing traditional sources of capital.

Our first Pathways to Financial Inclusion episode features John Holdsclaw IV of Rochdale Capital and Steve Saltzman of CDFI Coalition and New Hampshire Community Loan Fund sharing how CDFI Loan Funds work, why flexible financing can help address gaps in access to capital, and how banks can support and partner with loan funds to advance community priorities.

Building a fairer financial system means recognizing the limits of traditional approaches and supporting tools designed to meet a broader range of community needs.

🎥 Watch the full episode: https://youtu.be/6vv2rNm6P0A

Produced by Bond Studio.

10/08/2026

Building a more inclusive financial system requires partnership, accountability, and a commitment to community needs.

Our Pathways to Financial Inclusion series explores four approaches to advancing financial inclusion: CDFI Loan Funds, CDFI Banks, Community Benefits Agreements, and Minority Depository Institutions.

Together, these videos highlight practical lessons and ways that all banks can partner to expand access to capital, strengthen community voice, and create economic opportunity.

Explore the full series: https://bit.ly/pathways-to-financial-inclusion

Produced by Bond Studio.

09/30/2026

From bank mergers to major infrastructure projects, Community Benefits Agreements can help secure investments that strengthen communities at key moments. But meaningful outcomes require more than an invitation to participate. Communities need to be organized, aligned, and able to shape the decisions that affect them.

At The Greenlining Institute's Just Future Summit, our Senior Industry Relations Director, Francis Janes, will moderate a conversation with Bulbul Gupta of Pacific Community Ventures - PCV, Kevin Stein of Rise Economy, and Kirin Kumar of the Greenlining Institute.

Together, they’ll explore how communities can have greater influence over development and investment decisions, and the strategies and organizing efforts that can lead to greater accountability, community reinvestment, and economic justice.

Francis has previously joined the Greenlining Institute to discuss how Community Benefits Agreements can center community priorities and strengthen accountability. Learn more about that work: https://bit.ly/47qCN24

Greenlining hosted an Equity Lab in Los Angeles, a solutions-oriented workshop for equity advocates, practitioners, partners, and community members.

09/25/2026

Our Executive Director, Erin Kilmer Neel, will join Lianne Dillon, Kimberlee Archie, Chanell Fletcher, and Dr. Carolyn Johnson at The Greenlining Institute’s Just Future Summit for “Equity by Design: Building Structural Change Into Our California Institutions.”

Communities of color continue to face disproportionate impacts from economic instability and climate challenges because the systems that shape opportunity and access are not working fairly for everyone.
This conversation will focus on what it takes to move beyond individual programs and build institutions that are accountable, inclusive, and capable of delivering lasting change.

Learn more about the summit: https://bit.ly/3TSTaRQ

This moment calls us to build power out of love for our communities. We are challenging inequitable systems, reinvesting in movement infrastructure, and reclaiming the power that makes justice durable.

09/10/2026

Our Senior Industry Relations Director, Francis Janes, attended the PolicyLink Summit 2026, joining more than 2,600 leaders, advocates, practitioners, community partners, and funders from across the country around a powerful idea: the story of American democracy remains unfinished.

Conversations explored how we can strengthen communities, expand economic opportunity and financial inclusion, and build partnerships across sectors to support a thriving multiracial democracy.

Meaningful and lasting change requires more than good ideas. It requires listening to communities, building trust, sharing power, and working together to create systems that enable people and communities to thrive.

We’re grateful for the opportunity to learn, share perspectives from our work, and connect with others committed to building a more just and inclusive future.

08/28/2026

Francis Janes, our Senior Industry Relations Director, will join the Just Future Summit 2026, hosted by The Greenlining Institute, October 8–9 in San Francisco.

Francis will moderate a panel on how communities can leverage Community Benefits Agreements to advance fair development and lasting benefits for communities. He’ll be joined by Bulbul Guptal, President and CEO of Pacific Community Ventures - PCV; Kevin Stein, Chief of Legal and Strategy at Rise Economy; and Kirin Kumar, Vice President of Policy at The Greenlining Institute.

Community Benefits Agreements help ensure communities have a meaningful voice in decisions that shape their neighborhoods and futures, and that development reflects their needs and priorities.

Learn more and register: https://bit.ly/4gBZrZB

08/21/2026

Beneficial State Foundation’s Senior Manager of Equitable Bank Standards, Maria Sennett, will lead a session at the 2026 Bank On Washington Economic Justice Forum, hosted by Financial Empowerment Network, along with Evelin Martinez from Washington Homeownership Resource Center and David Puszczewicz from WSECU.

Their session, “Rewriting the Rules of Credit: Advancing Housing Stability Through Equity-Centered Underwriting,” will explore how financial institutions can rethink underwriting practices that create barriers to credit, expand opportunity, and support housing stability.

📅 September 2, 12–1 p.m.

Learn more and register: https://www.fenwa.org/bowa-forum-faq

08/18/2026

New research from the Urban Institute explores Beneficial State Foundation’s Underwriting for Racial Justice (URJ) program and what lenders learned during a 2-year pilot as they put more inclusive underwriting practices into action.

The report highlights practical ways lenders can advance racial equity in underwriting, including rethinking how risk is assessed, testing new underwriting approaches, providing trauma-informed support, and exploring responsible uses of AI.

A more just financial system is only possible when we rethink the practices that have historically limited access to credit. We’re proud to see the lessons from URJ contributing to a larger conversation about how financial institutions can build fairer pathways to credit and wealth-building.

Read the Urban Institute report: https://urbn.is/4hFYRfF

To address the systemic underwriting challenges that undermine financial inclusion and wealth building for historically disadvantaged communities, Beneficial…

06/19/2026

Rodney A. Brooks explains how the collapse of Freedman’s Savings Bank connects to the racial wealth gap we see today.

full webinar 🔗 in comments
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Angelique Rose, Industry Relations and Partnerships Manager at Beneficial State Foundation, interviewed historian and author Rodney A. Brooks to explore one of the most important, overlooked chapters in American financial history.

Together, they examine how Freedman’s Savings Bank was created to serve African Americans after the Civil War, how the bank collapsed nine years later, and what that collapse meant for generations of Black families who had placed their trust and savings inside it.

They also reflect on what this history reveals about ongoing financial exclusion, and what accountability and repair must look like today.