By Charlene Crowell For most consumers, buying a home is the single-largest investment of their lifetimes. But for Black America, home equity – the increase in market value from the time of purchase – is often the dominant, if not sole source of wealth-building. Home equity represents 65 percent of all Black wealth, according to […]
EXCEPT WHERE INDICATED, THE OPINIONS EXPRESSED ON THIS PAGE ARE NOT NECESSARILY THOSE OF THE MADISON TIMES
Record Inflation Shrinks Housing Affordability, Worsens Racial Wealth Gaps
Homeownership, historically a reliable building block to family wealth, is more of a challenge today for first-time homebuyers. As of 2022’s first quarter, the median price of an existing single- family home grew to $368,200, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), 15.7 percent higher than a year ago. By Charlene Crowell NNPA Newswire […]
EXCEPT WHERE INDICATED, THE OPINIONS EXPRESSED ON THIS PAGE ARE NOT NECESSARILY THOSE OF THE MADISON TIMES
FY 2021 White House Budget Proposal Cuts $66.6 Billion from Education More Than $2 Billion Directed to Short-Term Career and Technical Training
By Charlene Crowell NNPA Newswire Contributor For consumers, businesses, organizations and governments alike, annual budgets typically reflect not only line items but priorities as well. As A. Philip Randolph reminded us more than 50 years ago with the release of the “Freedom Budget,” such documents reflect the morals of our nation. Especially when they show […]
Senate Education Chair Blocks Bipartisan Bill to Extend HBCU Funding
By Charlene Crowell Deputy Communications Director for the Center for Responsible Lending Each year as families beam with pride at seeing a son, daughter or another relative graduate from college, that achievement is nearly always the result of a family’s commitment to higher education. And when these institutions are among the more than 100 Historically […]
EXCEPT WHERE INDICATED, THE OPINIONS EXPRESSED ON THIS PAGE ARE NOT NECESSARILY THOSE OF THE MADISON TIMES
Remembering Dr. King and “The Other America”
By Charlene Crowell NNPA Newswire Contributor Once again on the third Monday in January, much of the nation will mark the anniversary of the death of the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Countless programs and events will no doubt recall several of his famous speeches from the 1963 March on Washington’s “I Have […]
EXCEPT WHERE INDICATED, THE OPINIONS EXPRESSED ON THIS PAGE ARE NOT NECESSARILY THOSE OF THE MADISON TIMES
Racial Divides Found in Student Loan Defaults
Unsustainable Debt Trajectory Needs to Be Managed By Charlene Crowell With 44 million consumers owing student debt that now reaches $1.5 trillion and still climbing, a lot of people want to better understand how and why this unsustainable debt trajectory can be better managed. For Black consumers who typically have less family wealth than other […]
EXCEPT WHERE INDICATED, THE OPINIONS EXPRESSED ON THIS PAGE ARE NOT NECESSARILY THOSE OF THE MADISON TIMES
Fighting Discrimination in the Housing Market Takes a Strong FHA
By Charlene Crowell (Deputy Communications Director, Center for Responsible Lending) In the classic movie film, “Gone with the Wind,” the owner of the Tara plantation admonished his daughter for remarking that she didn’t care about her home. In a sharp rebuke, Gerald O-Hara declared that “land was the only thing worth living for, worth fighting […]
EXCEPT WHERE INDICATED, THE OPINIONS EXPRESSED ON THIS PAGE ARE NOT NECESSARILY THOSE OF THE MADISON TIMES
Senate Lawmakers Seek to Gut Fair Housing
Senate Lawmakers’ Housing Reform Plan Threatens Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac By Charlene Crowell (NNPA Newswire Columnist) In just a few weeks, civil rights and housing advocates will commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Fair Housing Act. Just six days after the assassination of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., Congress passed the law on April […]
Black Students Hit Hard by For-Profit College Debt
New Center for Responsible Lending Report Says For-Profit Education “a Risky Proposition” By Charlene Crowell (Communications Deputy Director, Center for Responsible Lending) Mounting student debt is a nagging problem for most families these days. As the cost of higher education rises, borrowing to cover those costs often becomes a family concern across multiple generations including […]
Dream Deferred: Despite Incomes, Black Families Still Denied Access to Home Loans
By Charlene Crowell NNPA Newswire Columnist In recent weeks, a spate of news coverage has referred to America’s “inner cities.” Some may even interpret it as a new code word for minorities, usually referring to Blacks and Latinos. Yet today, according to Richard Rothstein, a research associate with the Economic Policy Institute, the inner city […]