In the years following 1990, when home mortgage data began to be tracked for the individual applicant's ethnicity, gender, income and location, suddenly financial institutions went from ignoring applicants of color to competing for their business. CRC and its members wrote to the Fed encouraging this change of regulations. After all, no bank has to do it. It is voluntary. There is tremendous potential for minority business owners and small business people in low-income communities to revitalize their communities and by that all communities.
Small businesses can become the productive piston to expand employment and improve the economy.
For example, small businesses created most net new jobs between 1988 and 1990 in the United States. To accomplish this difficult task, they need access to credit. Access to capital is crucial to the growth of small business. The current business lending data that is available still tells us little about the business owner because it only looks at entire metropolitan areas rather than individuals. It is critical that financial institutions that are willing to collect race and gender information on business loans to individuals be allowed to do so.