What We've Done

• Our organizing led to the passage of the state Neighborhood Revitalization Law in 1978. This law gave each Iowa city the power to declare a designated part of its community an “urban revitalization area”. The area was then eligible to receive tax breaks for making home improvements as an incentive to upgrade housing
  
  
• Chapters of CCI in Waterloo and Des Moines negotiated lending agreements with 10 lending institutions that have resulted in over $100 million in mortgage loans in low- to moderate- income neighborhoods.
  
  
• In 1989, we became the first group in the US to use the Community Reinvestment Act to negotiate family farm loan agreements with banks. These agreements helped more than 1,200 small and mid-sized farmers in 27 Iowa communities obtain nearly $37 million in credit for a variety of agricultural purpose
  
  
• We provided technical assistance to groups in other states, including Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, Nebraska, Kentucky, and South Dakota that wanted to learn how to use the Community Reinvestment Act to address rural credit issues.
  
  
• Des Moines Citizens for Community Improvement members convinced the city council to establish a policy whereby the city uses a bank’s record of lending in lower income neighborhoods as 1 of 2 main factors in determining where city funds are deposited.