Opportunity Finance Network

Memorable Comments

Elsie Meeks... said during her comments at the first Native CDFI Awards:

"So many tribes have existed by selling poverty. We've gotten our federal support and our grants and all that by being poor.... We're not selling poverty anymore. The message is about opportunity."

Don't Miss This!

Important News Amid Election Noise. Today's elections are important. So is  a speech delivered yesterday by Janet Yellen, President of the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank. Discussing income inequality, not the usual fare of Fed Presidents, Yellen concluded:

"...there are signs that rising inequality is intensifying resistance to globalization, impairing social cohesion, and could, ultimately, undermine American democracy. Improvements in education are an imperative for reducing inequality and an easily justifiable investment, given its high social return. In contrast, improvements in the social safety net entails costs, even when policy interventions are well-designed from an efficiency standpoint. Even so, in my opinion, they deserve high policy priority. Inequality has risen to the point that it seems to me worthwhile for the U.S. to seriously consider taking the risk of making our economy more rewarding for more of the people."

I have uploaded the full speech here: Download yellen_11606_speech.pdf.

Big News from the CDFI Fund

Art Garcia to Leave. Art Garcia informed me at a meeting in his office this afternoon that he will leave the CDFI Fund on December 8th to move home to his native New Mexico. He will stay with the federal government, returning to the US Department of Agriculture's rural housing program, where he will be the New Mexico state director.

Art said that the Treasury Department will start a search for his replacement following the midterm elections.

Art has done an outstanding job and assembled a strong staff.

Congressional Quagmire?

Expert Analysis. Rich Cohen, chief House of Representative correspondent for National Journal, expects an inconclusive mess following next Tuesday's elections. Speaking at the closing plenary session at our Conference, Cohen said he expects to see a significant number of hotly contested House race results resulting in controversies that might well extend into January 2007!

Kirk Victor, Cohen's colleague covering the Senate at the National Journal, expects the Senate to be divided or nearly divided--a less surprising outlook.

Cohen and Victor both anticipate a deadlocked Congress but see some hope for pragmatic progress in the first six months of the new Congress.

Cohen said that he is not persuaded by polling data showing significant and growing Democratic trends. He said that structural barriers--incumbency and gerrymandered districts, in particular--are likely to protect the Republicans from a rout.

Wow! What a Closing Plenary!

A Senate Expert, Too. Kirk Victor, a widely read journalist who covers the U.S. Senate has agreed to join Ned Gramlich and Rich Cohen on our closing plenary panel on the upcoming midterm elections. Like Cohen, Victor writes for National Journal.

This is going to be good.

Midterm Elections @ The Conference

Closing Plenary. The closing plenary session at this year's Opportunity Finance Conference will focus on the November 7th midterm elections. The hour-long conversation will run from 1 pm to 2 pm on Thursday, November 2nd, and it will wrap up the Conference with a cliffhanger--who will win?

The panel will be outstanding: confirmed so far are Ned Gramlich, a former Federal Reserve Board Governor and former professor at the University of Michigan (not to mention a brand new Opportunity Finance Network Board Member) and Richard E. Cohen. Cohen, senior congressional correspondent for National Journal, is co-author of the Almanac of American Politics, the bible for national politics and author of many books on Congress.

Speaking of Speaking

My Speech. And that other Speaker. I have just about finished my speech for the conference, and I can promise you some important news and an embarrassing revelation about my past. I hope you can make it.

Chairman Bernanke will be speaking at about 12:45 pm on November 1st, following. Our newest Board Member, Ned Gramlich, a former Fed Governor, will introduce the Chairman.

If technology serves us well, we will post video and texts of both speeches on our new website (www.opportunityfinance.net) hours after we speak.

Pre-Conference Jitters?

It's Getting Real. Every year this time, I get excited and nervous about our Conference. This year, we are rolling out a host of new and exciting things, ranging from our responsible mortgage platform to compete with predatory lenders to several announcements about CARS(TM), our ratings system.

We will unveil our new web site, a new marketing tool for Members, and our new Opportunity Finance Policy Agenda.

The new Opportunity Finance brand will be on full display--banners, our booth, materials.

I am looking forward to seeing more than 700 of my friends. Safe travels.

I Need a Fix!

My Name is Mark and I'm a Poll Junkie. Every two years at about this time I become addicted to polling data on the upcoming elections. It's unhealthy, I know, but I can not seem to stop myself.

My favorite sites for poll data and political news are:

• Congressional Quarterly's Political Site
• Charlie Cook's Site (Charlie Cook is my favorite political analyst. He's not affiliated with either party and his analysis and writing are both clear.)
• Polling Report.

Let me know if you have a site to recommend.

Conference News

Annual Membership Meeting. We have changed the start time for the Annual Membership Meeting to 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday, November 1st. This will give the hotel staff more time to set up for the Keynote Speech by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.

Registration. Registration continues strong for the Conference. I was out of the office today so I do not know the exact count, but we are preparing for the annual last-minute surge. If you have not registered yet but plan to attend, click here.

Wachovia Excellence Awards for Opportunity Finance. The results are in. Please join us for dinner on Wednesday, November 1st, to celebrate four of your colleagues (or you!) and the industry's achievements over the past year.