The bank has opened a new community center in the Crenshaw district, which will do banking and highlight local businesses, according to Chase Bank CEO Jamie Dimon. We want people to be comfortable walking in to trust this place and look at it as part of their community, Dimon said.
He added that $12 billion of Chase s $30 billion racial equity program will be set aside for home mortgages, including $5,000 grants for down payments.
But critics say that some of the banks still engage in redlining - the illegal practice of discriminating against African Americans by labeling their applications as riskier, begun in the 1930s when federal government housing programs refused to insure mortgages in or near Black neighborhoods.
New permit requirements in the city of Los Angeles have made it difficult for street vendors to sell goods in Leimert Park Village. Local organizers are working to obtain a long-term permit.