Equity
Takes Root

Spotlight

Modernizing the Community Reinvestment Act

2023 presented a historic opportunity to update the Community Reinvestment Act, the nation’s landmark anti-redlining legislation, with regulators calling on the public to offer recommendations to update the law in order to more effectively meet its original intent: ensuring banks play their role in addressing the harm inflicted on redlined communities.

Greenlining mobilized partners to urge regulators to modernize and strengthen the CRA.

Greenlining led a national working group to develop recommendations for incorporating race-based solutions as well as climate resilience measures into the provisions of the updated CRA. We led the development of a comment letter with over 90 co-signers, and delivered in-person community guidance with coalition members to federal financial regulators in Washington, D.C.

When the final rule came out later that year, we were encouraged to see new provisions in the CRA that will hold banks accountable to investing in some climate resilience activities.

However, the new rule ultimately failed again to explicitly name race as a criteria, and did not adequately prioritize investments in communities most vulnerable to climate change impacts—often the same communities of color that endured persistent redlining.

Spotlight

Federal Engagement on Equity Implementation

Having a robust regulatory environment is critical for building wealth in communities of color to protect against predatory and harmful practices that exacerbate the racial wealth gap

Climate change is a threat multiplier with communities of color facing disproportionately greater health and wealth impacts from pollution and climate disasters. Through Greenlining’s work in California, we’ve developed best practices to help remove barriers to wealth building and inform equitable implementation of laws designed to protect communities of color.

Greenlining’s Economic Equity policy team traveled to Washington D.C. to meet with federal agencies including the Federal Reserve, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The team raised the importance of centering racial equity in all applications of our laws to reverse the consequences of redlining. In particular, our team emphasized how critical it is to center communities of color in the implementation of newly issued rules for the Community Reinvestment Act and HUD’s Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule.

Greenlining also met with the White House Council on Environmental Quality, and submitted over 20 regulatory advocacy letters to federal and state agencies to advance our race-conscious climate policy solutions.

Spotlight

Greenlining The Block:
A Catalyst for Community Transformation

Greenlining launched Greenlining the Block, our initiative to strengthen BIPOC-led community-based organizations that are advancing climate justice neighborhood projects across the country.

The goal of Greenlining the Block is to support CBOs to successfully access and deploy federal resources through Justice40 for their climate projects.

This initiative seeks to address major structural capacity building challenges for community groups to access these resources, resulting from decades of disinvestment, and ultimately improve community engagement and empowerment through the process.

Cohort organizations receive direct capacity building annual grants, tailored capacity building, and facilitated peer-to-peer learning through a Community of Practice to support partners to advance climate justice neighborhood projects leveraging federal and state infrastructure funding.

Since completing our first two rounds of investments, the initiative is already showing exciting progress and successfully leveraging state and federal funding sources for their capital projects.

Spotlight

Deepening Local Capacity

Greenlining’s Capacity Building policy team continued to co-lead Towards Equitable Electric Mobility with Forth, bringing together over 30 organizations from Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, Virginia, and North Carolina to advance equitable electric mobility policies.

Through TEEM’s Community of Practice, we supported organizations to advance individual state priorities, including the Michigan cohort which successfully advocated for an increased 2024 state transportation budget by $110 million for public transit, $125 million for electric school buses, and $25 million for other e-mobility programs.

Greenlining deepened local capacity building efforts across California in Stockton, Oakland, San Diego, and Eastern Los Angeles County to strengthen local ecosystems to engage in and advance economic and climate equity priorities through efforts such as submitting comment letters on the Oakland Environmental Justice element.

We also provided community leaders in Eastern L.A. County with the capacity, resources, and partnerships needed to secure a $22 million Transformative Climate Communities grant to fund their visions for climate resilience and equity.

We completed a bilingual climate justice workshop series in partnership with three community organizations in the San Gabriel and Pomona Valleys—Latino/a Roundtable, the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, and Lopez Urban Farm. The workshop series convened a wide range of participants including residents, day laborers, students, urban farmers, and economic justice advocates

Spotlight

In October 2023, The Greenlining Institute hosted the Just Future Summit bringing together more than 1,100 racial justice advocates from around the country. Our event featured leading experts and commentators on the state of race today on our main stage including W. Kamau Bell, Dolores Huerta, Olivia Julianna, Linda Sarsour, and Alicia Garza. And, as 2023 marked Greenlining’s 30th anniversary, our largest conference in Greenlining’s history served as a pivotal moment to bring together the most important voices in the movement for equity and to build momentum for transformative change.

The powerful conversations continued as participants gathered in equity workshops and over 20 breakout sessions on the most pressing issues facing communities of color, including equitable wealth building, accountability and transparency in financial institutions, access to clean energy, housing and homeownership, and algorithmic bias.

Leaders, experts, and practitioners dove deep into the innovative strategies and holistic solutions they’re exploring to tear down systemic racism and build a just future where race is never a barrier to opportunity.

Thanks to our attendees, speakers, volunteers, and donors for making this event a major success.

Our People

Who We Are

The Greenlining Institute is proud to be run and led by a majority women of color team who are committed to advancing equity-centered solutions. Over 90% of Greenlining’s staff identify as people of color and 75% identify as women. This diversity is reflected in all levels of our organization including in Greenlining’s executive leadership. We are also proud to include 15% of staff who identify as LGBTQ+ and 12% that identify as having a learning, physical, or otherwise non-visible disability. We see the diversity of the lived experiences represented in our staff, Board, and coalition as a source of strength, beauty, and creativity.