Small Businesses and Lack of Access to Capital Testimony Final 160125.pdf Testimony of Spencer Cowan before the Senate Financial Institutions Committee. In this testimony Cowan discussed the lack of access to capital for many small businesses in Illinois and the...
150514_woodstock_CFPB_studentloans.pdf Testimony of Katie Buitrago before the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Field Hearing on Student Loans. In this testimony Buitrago discussed the impact for-profit colleges have on students’ economic opportunities, with these students graduating with more debt and fewer...
cowan_cfpb_testimony_131002 Testimony of Spencer Cowan before the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau field hearing on the impact of the Credit CARD Act. Cowan thanked the CFPB for enforcement actions against credit card issuers and urged them to assess the pricing...
130328_woodstock_CFPB_complaintdatabase.pdf Testimony of Spencer Cowan before the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau field hearing on its consumer complaint database discussing how the data could be used and how it should be expanded to include the critical elements of fair lending analysis.
130115_landbank_testimony_0.pdf Testimony of Dory Rand before the Finance Committee of the Cook County Board of Commissioners in support of the Cook County Land Bank Authority. Woodstock Institute research shows that distressed, vacant properties are significantly more likely to be concentrated...
130114_payday_zoning_testimony_Final_0.pdf Testimony of Courtney Eccles in support of zoning restrictions for payday loan, title loan, and pawn shops. Alternative financial services strip wealth from low-wage workers and communities of color. The proposed ordinance would limit over-concentration of potentially predatory...
121023_cowan_IRMB.pdf Testimony of Spencer Cowan before the Illinois Residential Mortgage Board Public Hearing on housing trends in the Chicago region, particularly the disparate housing recovery in low-wealth communities in communities of color.
120814_chicagocitycouncil_feltner_writtentestimony_eminentdomain_0.pdf Testimony of Tom Feltner in favor of further consideration, targeted application, and public participation in the use of eminent domain to seize and restructure underwater mortgages.
120724_cookcounty_landbank_advisory_writtentestimony_0.pdf Testimony of Tom Feltner in favor of the creation of an Advisory Committee to consider the establishment of a Cook County Land Bank. Woodstock Institute research shows that lender-owned, likely vacant properties in low-wealth communities and communities of...
120605_bphc_negativeequity_fieldhearing_0.pdf Testimony of Katie Buitrago, policy and communications associate at Woodstock Institute, on the issue of concentrated negative equity in communities of color.