Projects
Center for Community Capital research projects examine how low- and moderate-income people access, use and benefit from mortgage, consumer and community financial markets.
Here are examples of center research projects.
Innovative Practices in the Affordable Mortgage Market
| Funder: |
The Ford Foundation |
| Partners: |
Self-Help, RTI International, Fannie Mae |
|
The center has undertaken research since 2002 on the impact of an innovative mortgage product made to low- to moderate-income borrowers through a groundbreaking program created by Self-Help, a leading nationwide community development financial institution, in partnership with The Ford Foundation and Fannie Mae. The Community Advantage Program (CAP) created a secondary market for affordable mortgage loans to extend the capital and capacity available for lending to low- income and minority households. The center's research is generating a wealth of data and insight into the lending practices that can create the greatest benefits for low- to moderate-income families, and for the mortgage industry.
Related reports:
Understanding Mortgage Loss and Foreclosure
| Funder: |
State Foreclosure Prevention Working Group |
|
Center researchers track the nationwide foreclosure crisis by collecting data on mortgage delinquencies, foreclosures and loss-mitigation efforts from 13 of the largest subprime loan servicers. This project is for the State Foreclosure Prevention Working Group, a consortium of state attorneys general, state bank regulators and the Conference of State Bank Supervisors. The center's analysis has been used in five reports to date that provide recommendations on how to alleviate the current foreclosure crisis. Researchers have identified principle reduction as the loan modification feature associated with the greatest reduction in short-term redefault rates.
Related reports:
Reducing Subprime Foreclosures and Improving Consumer Financial Services in North Carolina
| Funder: |
North Carolina Commissioner of Banks |
| Partner: |
State Home Foreclosure Prevention Project |
|
Center researchers track monthly foreclosure starts by county in its home state of North Carolina on behalf of the State Home Foreclosure Prevention Project, a partnership led by the N.C. Commissioner of Banks to reduce subprime foreclosures. The center collects data from servicers to understand what is being done to modify loans or prevent foreclosure. The center also analyzes the state's consumer financial service companies to identify a model that best aligns consumer and business interests.
Related reports:
Obstacles to Low-income Communities Accessing Mortgage Capital
| Funder: |
Enterprise Community Partners |
|
The center is examining the obstacles low-income and minority communities face when trying to access mortgage capital, focusing in particular on communities targeted for assistance by the U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development's Neighborhood Stabilization Program. Researchers seek to determine what exist in communities hit hard by foreclosures and identify solutions to expand the availability of sustainable mortgage lending.
Asset-building in North Carolina
The center is a member of the North Carolina Assets Alliance, a statewide coalition of public, private and nonprofit organizations focused on expanding economic opportunity and building a more stable financial future for all North Carolinians through effective asset-building strategies. The center helps steer the work of the Alliance and its research committee. It helps plan the biennial N.C. Statewide Financial Education and Asset Building Conference. Center researchers co-authored the Alliance report, "A Prosperity Grid for North Carolina: Connecting Households and Communities to Economic Opportunity."
Related reports:
Reducing Racial Wealth Disparities in North Carolina
| Funder: |
Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation |
| Partner: |
Insight Center for Community Economic Development |
|
Center researchers worked with the Insight Center for Community Economic Development to examine the racial and gender wealth gaps in North Carolina and promising practices in the asset-building field that can reduce them. The Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation funded the project to explore how it can deepen its impact in the area of community economic development.
Related reports:
Report on the Consumer Finance Industry in North Carolina
| Partner: |
NC Commissioner of Banks |
|
The center evaluated North Carolina’s consumer finance industry as part of its research partnership with the N.C. Commissioner of Banks. This project aimed to help state policymakers strike the right balance between industry and consumer interests in the provision of retail consumer installment lending. The research focused on two key questions: what role does the consumer finance industry play in meeting the credit needs of consumers, and is the consumer finance industry sustainable and profitable under the current regulatory approach.
Related reports:
Community-Based Interventions for Foreclosure Prevention and Mitigation
| Funder: |
Genworth Financial |
|
Center researchers are evaluating six community development organizations that received funding from Genworth Financial to implement foreclosure prevention and mitigation programs. The purpose is to identify elements of innovation in each organization's approach, and how this innovation could be brought to scale or replicated. The research team is also tracking all of the intake data from each organization as a means of measuring intervention outcomes.
$aveNYC Accounts: Asset-Building for Low-Income Populations
| Funder: |
Ford Foundation |
| Partners: |
New York City Department of Consumer Affairs Office of Financial Empowerment, New America Foundation |
|
The center is in its third year of data collection to determine the efficacy of matched savings accounts as a strategy for increasing financial security and building assets for low-income populations. $aveNYC-matched savings accounts allow low-income tax filers to direct a portion of their tax refund to a special account and receive a 50% match on their funds up to $500 if they have maintained their initial deposit balance after a year. Data is being analyzed to determine the impact of the simple matched savings offer on savings behavior and the implications of the program for scale and replication.
Related presentation:
Increasing College Retention and Educational Attainment in North Carolina
| Funder: |
Lumina Foundation for Education |
| Partners: |
Winston-Salem State University, North Carolina Central University, University of North Carolina at Pembroke, Fayetteville State University, Elizabeth City State University, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University |
|
The center is collaborating with N.C.’s six minority-serving educational institutions to identify successful models for increasing retention and graduation rates. The project is part of a three-part research agenda to increase the efficacy of educational attainment as a strategy for wealth building. Center researchers aim to increase educational attainment by developing a model for comprehensive, academic, social and financial support that can help address the barriers to college completion for many minority students.
Improving Financial Literacy for Minority College Students
| Funder: |
Jessie Ball duPont Foundation |
| Partners |
Winston-Salem State University, North Carolina Central University, University of North Carolina at Pembroke, Elizabeth City State University, Bennett College |
|
The Reality Education and Assets Partnership (REAP) assessed the money management habits and attitudes of students attending North Carolina minority-serving colleges and universities. The goal was to determine the feasibility of establishing on-campus programmatic responses to improve students' financial knowledge, better prepare them to manage loans and decrease the number of students who drop out due to financial hardships. A subsequent phase of REAP aspires to pilot initiatives that help college students of color develop money-management skills that promote financially secure futures by integrating financial education and social marketing into campus services.
Related reports:
The Housing Crisis and Latino Families
| Funder: |
The Atlantic Philanthropies |
| Partner: |
National Council on La Raza |
|
Center researchers, using data from interviews conducted through five partners in the National Council on La Raza Homeownership Network, gained insights into the triggering events that have led to foreclosure for Latino homeowners and the damaging and far-reaching effects foreclosure has had on their families. The final report identifies the "pile-on" effect of multiple triggers, such as job loss, health issues, mortgage payment increase and lack of counseling, as the causes of foreclosure, increased stress on family relations and changes to long-term financial plans.
Related reports:
Anti-Predatory Lending and Preemption Legislation
| Funder: |
National State Attorneys General Program |
| Partners: |
Alan White, Valparaiso University School of Law, and Lei Ding, Wayne State University |
|
Two companion reports examine the effect of state anti-predatory lending laws and the federal government's preemption of state anti-predatory lending (APL) legislation for national banks in 2004. The Center determined that APL, designed to protect consumers from abusive and unfair mortgage practices, saved many people from losing their homes during the foreclosure crisis. However, analysis of a large sample of privately-securitized nonprime mortgages showed that lenders in APL states that were exempt by the 2004 preemption exhibited increased subprime characteristics subsequent default rates in their lending portfolios.
Related reports:
Understanding the Value of Borrower Counseling
| Funder: |
NeighborWorks America |
|
Center researchers are evaluating the performance of loans made to first-time and low-income borrowers who received services from local NeighborWorks America affiliates in order to determine the effect of pre-purchase borrower counseling on the type of loan borrowers secured and their ability to remain current on repayment. The final report will look closely at four NeighborWorks affiliate agencies and the people who bought homes with those affiliates' support to identify the practices and procedures in borrower counseling that were associated with borrowers receiving better mortgage rates and being at lower risk of default.
Expanded Income and Educational Attainment in Ohio
The center works with Living Cities, a philanthropic collaborative, to convene and support working groups that bring together policymakers, funders and nonprofit organizations to create transformative policy agendas. The center supports a working group on expanded income with an audit and assessment of all expanded income programs to identify ways to create a more streamlined system and greater program enrollment. It supports a working group on college access and success by analyzing all in-school and out-of-school programs in Cleveland that focus on college and career preparation with the goal of increasing college and vocational school enrollment and completion by achieving better alignment of existing programs and increasing access to programs.
