Our History

The Reinvestment Partners' mission is to promote and protect community wealth. We advocate for change in the lending practices of financial institutions to promote wealth building of underserved communities and to end predatory lending practices that strip wealth.

Formed in 1986 as a project of the North Carolina Legal Services, Reinvestment Partners has played a key role in shaping the attitudes and policies of North Carolina's banks toward CRA and community development. Through challenges of bank mergers, Reinvestment Partners has secured agreements totaling more than $40 billion in mortgages, small business lending, and community development investments for low wealth communities. These agreements have led to countless partnerships between banks and nonprofits.

In 1999, Reinvestment Partners began its fight against predatory mortgage lending with its research and protests helping to secure North Carolina's model anti-predatory mortgage laws. In 2001, it printed the book Too Much Month at the End of the Paycheck, Payday Lending in North Carolina as the beginning of its five year campaign to end payday lending in North Carolina. It published This is My Home, Opportunities and Challenges for Manufactured Housing in the pursuit of improvements in financing and protections this housing sector.We targeted refund anticipation loans as a predatory product and contributed to its national demise over a four year campaign. We are persistent in our pursuit of our mission.

We provide financial literacy through media and community outreach. Reinvestment Partners is the producer and distributor of Nuestro Barrio, an innovate approach of providing education through entertainment in a tele-novella format. It has been distributed into more than 25 million households nationwide and won awards for its effectiveness.

The agency is active in housing and community development. We financed North Carolina's first nonprofit manufactured housing land trust community in Burnsville. We are engaged in the redevelopment of the E. Geer St. neighborhood through commercial revitalization.

Reinvestment Partners is a Volunteer Income Tax Assistance site that provides job development training and employment to workers providing free tax preparation service. We are also designated by the IRS as a Low Income Tax Clinic that provides educational services statewide on tax filer rights. This program informs our advocacy on client needs and utilizes our media program.

Reinvestment Partners says no to what is wrong, yes to what is right, and helps build the alternative. We work with who we can, when we can, with what we have to make a difference.

Agency Awards

• National Community Reinvestment Coalition James Rouse Award for Outstanding Contribution to Economic Justice
• National Association of REALTORS HOPE Award for Promotion of Minority Homeownership through Excellence in Media
• North Carolina Housing Coalition Barbara Sullivan Award for Fair Housing Advocacy
• City of Durham Human Relations Award for the Promotion of Fair and Affordable Housing
• Triangle Community Foundation, Finalist for Innovation Award

Individual Call Outs for CRA-NC Employees

Dilsey Davis

• Diamante Award for the Promotion of Latino Culture

Peter Skillern

• Reliable Ally Award, Southern Anti-Racism Network
• National Fair Housing Alliance Award for Exemplary Contribution to Fair Lending
• News and Observer, Tarheel of the Week
• Eisenhower Fellowship
• Member of the HUD/Treasury Task Force on Predatory Lending
• Testimony Given Before United States House and Senate Banking Committees