Research Will Help Create a Financial System That Enhances Economic Stability and Wealth-Building for Underserved Households

WASHINGTON, DC – The Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) today announced the creation of the Julian Bond Financial Equity Research Institute, named for civil rights icon and founding CRL board member Julian Bond.

The Julian Bond Institute (JBI), the first new research entity in CRL’s history, will be a dynamic hub for trusted, community-inclusive research insights designed to create fairer and more inclusive financial products and policies that support the economic well-being of the nation’s increasingly diverse population. Bond served as a member of the CRL board of directors from the organization’s founding in 2002 until his death in August 2015.

"Financial equity and environmental justice always were a focus of Julian’s work. The launch of the CRL Julian Bond Institute reaffirms his commitment to fight every day to ensure that the nation’s promises of justice and equity are a reality for everyone, in every community,” said Pamela Horowitz, Bond’s surviving widow.

Aligning with CRL’s mission to promote fairness and economic opportunity for all, JBI’s collaborative structure integrates community leadership—bringing together varied academic voices and community leaders —to shape an inclusive and responsive financial market.

JBI research will inform stakeholders on how the financial system can better serve a growing racially, geographically, and financially diverse population that far too often is left out of efforts to address mainstream financial market needs.

The research will focus on six areas that are key to financial security and wealth building:

  • Managing everyday expenses
  • Paying for higher education
  • Housing affordability and ownership
  • Expanding small business capital and credit
  • The clean energy transition, and
  • Using technology responsibly to expand financial inclusion.

Sara Weiss, Ph.D. and Mitria Spotser, J.D., who have had long careers in research, law, and policy rooted in economic justice and equality, will lead the Institute as Executive Director and President, respectively. "We've designed the JBI to integrate each facet of Julian Bond's career as a community organizer, government official, nonprofit leader, and academic,” said Weiss. “By bringing together these communities with the financial industry, we can conduct high-quality, community-informed research on the crucial financial equity issues facing our country today.”

“Our goal is to build a financial system that is not only responsive to the needs of America’s increasingly diverse population but also embraces that diversity as an opportunity to strengthen the nation’s economy as a whole,” said Mitria Spotser, president of JBI. “As we approach the tenth anniversary of Julian Bond’s passing, this challenging historical moment compels us to put his values into action by embracing a community-driven approach to closing America’s racial wealth gap. The Institute will serve as a nucleus for research and collaboration designed to create a financial future that is more fair, inclusive and sustainable for us all.”​​

Background: Extending a Legacy of Leadership

Julian Bond was one of the most influential civil rights leaders in the United States. From his cofounding of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee in 1960, his service in and battles with the Georgia Legislature, his leadership of the NAACP and decades of teaching civil rights history to new generations, Bond’s extraordinary life moved the United States significantly closer to it promises and ideals.

He was known for his pioneering and long-time work to increase inclusiveness and equity in financial services to ensure opportunity and advancement for all communities to fully and fairly contribute to, and benefit from, economic growth of the United States.

Bond in 1982 decried efforts to avoid assessments of the impact of race in unequal financial outcomes, saying: “This assault on civil rights is coupled with an all-out attack on the yet unfulfilled right of every American to be free of want and economic worry…” (from 1982 speech, “A New Social Darwinism: The Survival of the Richest” as presented in Race Man, Selected Works, 1960-2015, edited by Michael G. Long)

In a 2001 speech on the precedent-setting Mount Laurel legal ruling which led to the first housing development in the New Jersey suburbs that was affordable for low-income people, Bond decried “institutionalized discrimination in the real estate and banking industries” as well as federal government policies and practices that add to inequality and “create the black/white, city/suburban divide we see today.” (Speech concerning the National Housing Act of 1949 and the continued need for fair housing delivered at the Ethel Lawrence Homes Dedication, Mount Laurel, New Jersey, 2001 September 15.)

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Press Contact: Alfred King alfred.king@responsiblelending.org