Angelenos Turn Out for Public Banking
We’re so excited about the turnout for our Los Angeles public banking listening session at Mercado La Paloma. Community members spoke about the barriers they face accessing capital and how a city-owned public bank could help close gaps in affordable housing, small and micro-business lending, infrastructure, and other urgent needs.
Councilmember Ysabel Jurado voiced her support for moving a public bank forward as a tool to help alleviate the struggles Angelenos are facing. Former Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs named the urgency for bold tools to confront economic inequality head-on. Our thanks to team leads for facilitated the evening: Trinity Tran, Patrice Berry, Luz Castro, Gisele Mata, and Larry Fondation.
Thank you to End Poverty in California, Inclusive Action for the City, ACCE Action, United Parents and Students, California Public Banking Alliance, and Public Bank LA team, and everyone who organized, showed up, and made their voices heard.
See photos from the event on our Instagram. Event footage coming soon!
A People’s Budget Includes a Public Bank
LA budget season is here. The Public Bank LA coalition showed up at the UCLA Labor Center with Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez, City Controller Kenneth Mejia, and community leaders from Black Lives Matter, RepresentLA, LA Forward, and IDEPSCA to demand a 2026 City budget that reflects the people’s priorities, including immigration services, care-first investments in housing and mental health support, and moving the public bank plan forward.
Inclusive Action for the City and Public Bank LA coalition’s Luz Castro put it powerfully: “Investing in a public bank is immigrant justice. With federal attacks on sanctuary cities escalating, a public bank helps protect local resources and put public dollars to work here at home, supporting entrepreneurs with fair loans and financing and investing in community stability, not systems that criminalize and harm our neighbors.”
Grateful for coalition leaders from ACCE Action and United Parents and Students who stood with us!
Public Banking Makes the CA Democratic Party’s 2026 Platform
The final, official CA Democratic Party 2026 platform includes support for converting the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank (IBank) into a depository bank, strengthening small business loan guarantees, backing community and municipal banking, and expanding low-interest financing for small businesses, farmers, land trusts, and cooperative housing.
Thank you to the California Democratic Party Platform Committee members for the continued support on public banking!
Read the full platform here.
Momentum Building in Sacramento + Press Coverage!
A standing-room-only crowd at the Sacramento Public Bank Town Hall. Momentum is building across California!
In the Sacramento Observer, PBLA and CPBA Executive Director Trinity Tran said it clearly: “The question isn’t just is there enough money. The question is who decides where our common dollars go today, how they’re used, and whether they stay in communities and benefit our localities, or [whether] they keep getting signed out to private institutions that don’t answer to our communities.”
Read the full story: How Sacramento’s Public Banking Movement Plans to Keep Taxpayer Money at Home.
San Francisco Moves Toward a Public Bank Fund
We’re excited to see SF Supervisor Jackie Fielder advancing a measure to fund the nation’s first municipal public bank in San Francisco. This is the kind of concrete step cities need.
Her proposal would generate an estimated $40 to $50 million annually for a Public Bank Fund, creating a dedicated revenue stream to launch and sustain the bank. Keep public dollars working for affordable housing, small businesses, and clean energy instead of feeding big bank profits. Public banking is a practical tool to cut borrowing costs, save cities money, and reinvest in community priorities!
