Policy

Accion Opportunity Fund strongly supports a robust and inclusive Community Reinvestment Act to drive investments and services in underserved communities. Our comments follow a national trend set forth by advocates and regulators about the importance of maintaining CRA’s ability to facilitate investments into low-and-moderate income (LMI) communities.

SB 1235, authored by State Sen. Steve Glazer (D-East Bay), was supported by a coalition of more than sixty organizations, including Accion Opportunity Fund, from the private sector and non-profit lenders and advocates.

Today, the California State Assembly Committee on Jobs, Economic Development, and the Economy (JEDE) voted in favor of Senate Bill 551, which sustains a state program that helps Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) and small banks make responsible small-dollar loans to California small businesses.

Accion Opportunity Fund is a big supporter of the work that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is doing on behalf of American consumers.

Like many around the country, earlier this month Accion Opportunity Fund nervously awaited the federal budget decision (which funds our government through September).

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) recently announced their two year policy priorities, which include this vision statement about small business lending.

On Monday, the White House released its Budget outline for FY2019, to begin on October 1, 2018. As expected, the budget eliminates major funding for the CDFI Fund including essential programs that enable Opportunity Fund, the lending arm of Accion Opportunity Fund, and others to deploy capital to underserved business owners across the nation.

As a lender on the frontlines of the small business finance revolution, Accion Opportunity Fund has been calling attention to predatory lending practices for some time now. Because many of these concerning products are designed to avoid existing regulations, there is a need for policymakers to step in.

Over the weekend, California Governor Brown signed into law SB 197, which increases access to affordable capital for California’s 3.6 million small and microbusiness owners.

The strong leadership of the CFPB is critical to fulfilling its mission to protect consumers. Following the departure of CFPB Director Richard Cordray in early November, a battle over the directorship has commenced with different successors appointed by outgoing Director Cordray and the White House.