Author: Clifford Rosenthal

Publisher:

Published: 2024-07-30

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780984690633

Clifford Rosenthal provides a 10,000-foot overview and historical context of the community development credit union (CDCU) movement, while scrutinizing his journey as a white man leading a predominantly non-white organization. In his quest for community-controlled capital, he raised directly or indirectly through his advocacy for $100 million in investments in low-income credit unions; and pioneering the community development financial institutions (CDFI) movement. His 40-year year career took Rosenthal from neighborhood co-op organizer, to credit union builder, then association president, and finally federal policymaker. Rosenthal writes as a credit union practitioner shaped by his training as a Russian historian and translator. More "co-conspirator" than ally, Rosenthal is a white man battling for capital and equity in communities of color, while acknowledging and confronting his own shortcomings as a leader.In contrast, Michael McCray gives a harrowing insider's account as a participant/eyewitness to history. McCray is a Black man fighting a federal regulator, the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), in a white man's world. He brings "receipts"-- unique access to secret transcripts, doctored financial reports, and federal court documents which undergird a compelling argument that the regulator has mistreated small credit unions, especially in minority communities. McCray takes the reader behind closed doors at an NCUA board meeting and inside the courtroom as a small credit union fights for its life against federal attorneys and the Justice Department. McCray delivers a dramatic first-person account with primary source documents and forensic insights on the landmark KAPFCU v NCUA federal court case. Justifiably jaundiced, McCray's compelling writing style takes the readers on an inside-the-car, roller-coaster ride through a regulatory "Alice in Wonderland."Rosenthal is a historian, and McCray is a whistleblower. Together, we guide the reader through a race-tinted, bifocal examination of the long and ongoing struggle to redress economic inequity. If we have succeeded, the reader will learn not only about the barriers to DEI-Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion-at the highest level of government, but gain a better understanding of the pivotal role Black organizations like the Divine Nine and Black churches play in bringing providing capital access to marginalized communities.