Be your own community reinvestment act: how this Durham entrepreneur brings innovation to Walltown and beyond
The Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) is a United States federal law that was passed in 1977 to decrease discriminatory credit practices against low-income neighborhoods, infamously known as redlining, by encouraging commercial banks and savings associations that serve potential borrowers in communities where they are located. The CRA requires federal regulators to evaluate how well each bank fulfills its obligations to these communities. While I’m certain there is data to suggest community banks and other financial institutions are fulfilling this goal, anecdotal and qualitative accounts reflect many feel severely underserved and invested in when it comes to accessing wealth building entrepreneurial and real estate investing opportunities.
Founder of Knox St. Studios Talib Graves-Manns is not waiting for monied financial institutions to fulfill their CRA obligations to serve the community. He believes it is critical for community stakeholders to reinvest their time, intellectual capital, and money into the communities they grew up in and want to see thrive. He has done just that with the creation of Knox St. Studios in Durham’s historic Walltown neighborhood. This community is named after Talib's great-great-great grandfather Frank Wall who served as a janitor at Duke University until he died in 1930. He was such a vital person in the community, it was named after him.
Innovators of all kinds have participated in Knox St. Studios’ trainings, events, and workshops. It is open to anyone that wants to improve their quality of life and those around them by providing workshops on workforce development, economic development, and mobile coding. Learn more on how to plug into Knox St. Studios and become a part of the movement!
Photo by Talib Graves-Manns
Photo by Talib Graves-Manns