Truist $60B

AfDiDi Announces Major African American Economic Impact Plan for Philadelphia

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PRESS RELEASE:  January 14th, 2020 

CONTACT: Stanley Crawford / BMCCP (215) 275-4015 stanleycrawford6@gmail.com

THE BLACK MALE COMMUNITY COUNCIL OF PHILADELPHIA ANNOUNCES MAJOR AFRICAN AMERICAN ECONOMIC IMPACT TO PHILADELPHIA

“THE BLACK FOLKS PLAN FOR PHILADELPHIA” A MULTI-BIILION DOLLAR GRASSROOTS INITIATIVE

On Thursday January 16, 2020 at 12:00 Noon EST at the Guardian Civic League, 1516 W. Girard Ave. The Black Male Community Council of Philadelphia (BMCCP) in conjunction with The Friends of the African Union (FAU) and the African Diaspora Directorate (@AfDiDi2063) will announce “The Black Folks Plan for Philadelphia” a Multi-Billion grassroots initiative that will have a direct impact on Real Estate, development, Employment, Human Service, and Culture in the City of Philadelphia.

The Black Male Community Counsel of Philadelphia (BMCCP) was selected by the FAU to organize African American grassroot non-profits and for-profits projects to be founding members of what is now “The Philadelphia smartWISE Project Coalition”, a co-sponsor of The Black Folks Plan for Philadelphia which is be known online as the #BlackFolksPlanfoPhiladelphia. BMCCP has gained a track record of Boots on the Ground, All Hands on Deck efforts for the betterment and upliftment of the Black Community.  It is now joined in these efforts by FAU and the African Diaspora Directorate.

The African Diaspora Directorate (www.AfricanDiasporaDirectorate.org), a member of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC), along with Friends of the African Union, will use the newly approved on Dec 7th 2019 $60B Truist Bank Community Benefit Agreement “CBA” to focus, through The Black Folks Plan for Philadelphia, on the needs of Black Folk and allies in Philadelphia. Together we will create  within The Black Folks Plan for Philadelphia a plan of action to mobilize this CBA in 2020.

The largest to date NCRC led CBA is a three-year $60 billion agreement for the region served by Truist Financial Corporation, which includes Philadelphia.  The combined company to be created through the merger started operations with over $450B in assets and is the 6th largest bank in the USA. Truist committed $31 billion towards specific home purchase lending to people of color and LMI Communities. It dedicated $7.8 billion in lending to small businesses with annual revenue of less than $1 million, $17.2 billion to Community Development loans and $3.48 billion to Community Development Investments. 

Truist also pledged $120 million for CRA-qualified grants. In addition to the monetary obligations of the agreement, Truist pledged to open 15 new branches in LMI Neighborhoods and Communities of color and to create a Signature Capacity Building program with a focus on Racial Equity and Economic Mobility. Truist will to strive to spend 10% of their third-party vendor spending on diverse suppliers. Lastly, Truist committed to creating a Community Advisory Board in collaboration with NCRC. 

“Banks have an important role to play in our Communities, and these Community Benefits Agreements help ensure they fulfill that role for everyone, including low- and moderate-income Communities and Communities of Color,” said John Taylor, President and CEO of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC), the driving force behind the recent proliferation of bank CBAs.

Since 2016, NCRC has facilitated the creation of CBAs worth nearly $150 billion with these Banking Groups: KeyBank in March 2016 for $16.5 billion; Huntington Bancshares in May 2016 for $16.1 billion; Fifth Third Bank in November 2016 for $30 billion; First Financial Bank in October 2017 for $1.7 billion; Santander Bank in November 2017 for $11 billion; IBERIABANK in November 2017 for $6.7 billion; First Tennessee Bank in April 2018 for $4 billion; Wells Fargo & Company (DC) in October 2018 for $1.6 billion; Fifth Third updated agreement in October 2018 for an additional $2 billion; and, the latest with BB&T and Suntrust in July 2019 for $60 billion.  

Our operations in Philadelphia including The Philadelphia smartWISE Project Coalition and FAU Philadelphia will be joining NCRC this year.  Together we plan to leverage the Trusit CBA to benefit the people of Philadelphia through the creation of the Friends of the African Union smartWISE Community Reinvestment Coalition of greater Philadelphia to reach out beyond just the 600,000 black folk in the city. The FAU smartWISE Community Reinvestment Coalition Model will use technology and branding labeled smartWISE, which is inclusive of “wisdom based” or “Wise” models. The FAU smartWISE business model is meant to collect unfathomable amounts of data through FAU Philadelphia Chapter memberships, but also do so at the speed of digital Cloud. Then, and very importantly, data can then be mined to allow the next step of decisions and action based on this “Wise” technology. FAU smartWISE is based on a vision, in Philadelphia, of the future that believes that the exponential growth of hardware and a secure “Internet of Things” that can surpass the non-exponential growth capabilities of the human mind.  This then will be incorporated into the Black Folks Plan for Philadelphia.

We do this work using the Cross-Cutting Topics Covered in the FAU smartWISE Community Reinvestment Coalition model that works with the African Diaspora Directorate to create representation for People of African Descent in Pennsylvania, in the United Nations, in the African Union and other international forums. A example of this is creating the FAU Pennsylvania Assembly Black Family Reunion:

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A $60B Bank based community benefit agreement

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The African Diaspora Directorate and its Co-Founder plans to take advantage for itself and members of a three-year, $60 billion community benefits plan for the region served by Truist Financial Corporation

The three-year, $60 billion plan, based upon discussions between the banks that formed Truist (BB&T Corporation and SunTrust Banks, Inc.), the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC)  and its community-based members, like t he African Diaspora Directorate, will increase financial resources for low- and moderate-income (LMI) communities across the eastern United States.

The plan’s specific goals include:

  • $31 billion for home purchase mortgage loans to LMI borrowers, LMI geographies, minority borrowers and/or majority-minority geographies
  • $7.8 billion for lending to small businesses, to support the growth of businesses with revenues less than $1 million.
  • $17.2 billion in Community Development Lending (CDL) supporting affordable housing development, small business growth and lending to nonprofits that support the LMI community
  • $3.6 billion in Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) Qualified Investments and Philanthropy, of which $120 million will be designated for CRA-qualified philanthropic giving

The plan was developed through direct participation in six input and listening sessions held in urban and rural communities throughout the bank service areas, as well as input from participants in the regulator-hosted public meetings. It focuses on affordable housing and small business development, economic stability and mobility, workforce development and public safety.

Participants of the Community Benefits Plan announcement. Leaders from NCRC, BB&T, SunTrust and community organizations attended the $60 billion community benefits plan announced July 16, 2019, in Charlotte, North Carolina.

“Many bank mergers proceed without any detail on how communities will benefit from the combination,” said NCRC CEO Jesse Van Tol. “However, BB&T and SunTrust showed tremendous leadership by participating in a collaborative process with NCRC and our community-based member organizations to establish the largest-to-date community benefits plan. This plan spells out a substantive and detailed commitment of loans, investments and services to LMI people and neighborhoods across 17 states and the District of Columbia.”

Under the plan, the banks also committed to opening at least 15 new branches in LMI and/or minority communities and to work with a community advisory board made up of representatives from community organizations that work within LMI neighborhoods, to provide updates on the progress of the plan. Truist will work with NCRC to mutually identify proposed members of the Community Advisory Board.

“This plan will provide a much-needed influx of investment into critical programs that improve affordable housing, mortgage lending, small business development and economic development projects to LMI people and communities across most of the eastern half of the country,” said NCRC President and Founder John Taylor. “We very much appreciate the strong collaboration demonstrated by the executive leadership of BB&T and SunTrust banks, as well as the critical role our members played in our discussions with the banks.”

In February 2019, BB&T and SunTrust announced a proposed merger that would result in the sixth-largest U.S. commercial bank based on assets and deposits. The merger is expected to close in the third or fourth quarter of 2019, subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals and approval of both companies’ shareholders.

Since 2016, NCRC has negotiated community benefits plans with seven banking groups for lending, investments and philanthropy worth a combined $150 billion in the communities served by the banks.

“The Community Benefits Plan exemplifies what Truist will stand for and how it will support local communities in the years to come,” said BB&T Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Kelly S. King (Current Chairman and CEO of Truist Financial), . “Both BB&T and SunTrust have a long legacy of serving the community, but together as Truist we will be uniquely positioned to invest in ways we never could on our own. We are committed to building growing, diverse and vibrant neighborhoods in the regions where we work and live.”

“Truist is creating the premier financial institution to serve the diverse needs of our clients and communities, and this plan is an initial stake in the ground as to our values and commitments. Our legacy companies share a strong history of being more than members of the communities we serve, but also partners in developing affordable housing, promoting financial literacy, and promoting access to critical programs and services. Today’s announcement is a reflection of that history and a look ahead at what we can collectively achieve as one combined institution,” said SunTrust Chairman and Chief Executive Officer William H. Rogers, Jr. (Current president and chief operating officer of Truist Financial Corporation)