Community Development Financial Institutions and the Rhetoric of Financial Sustainability

• In Event: 095 - Section on Community and Urban Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 14. Community Development and Civic Life

Abstract

In light of the global financial crisis in 2008 and the Great Recession, this paper examines the deployment of the term “sustainability” in recent attempts by CDFI’s to mitigate the deleterious effects of neoliberal capitalism. Delineating between “strong” and “weak” conceptualizations of “sustainability,” this paper argues that the concept of sustainable financial practice reveals the contours and limits of the neoliberal policy workout after the Great Recession. Paying attention to the proliferation of financial education programs, the paper concludes by arguing that “sustainability,” when applied in the financial realm, fails to challenge the defects of the financial system directly.

Authors

• Miranda J. Martinez, The Ohio State University

• Matt Brenn, The Ohio State University