Oscar Perry Abello is a NYC-based journalist covering responses to Economic Injustice in Cities.

Next City

Senior Economics Correspondent
March 2019-present

Editor
February 2018-March 2019

Contributing Writer
August 2016-February 2018

Equitable Cities Fellow
August 2015-August 2016

Currently reporting two enterprise or news-driven stories per week, 1000-2000 words each, plus occasional long-form features (3,000+ words). Cultivating sources and conducting interviews by phone or in person. Specific topics covered include community development finance, minority- and women-owned enterprise lending and technical assistance, public procurement, worker-owned businesses, urban planning and anti-gentrification strategies, participatory budgeting.

Highlights:

• Ongoing national coverage of Opportunity Zones, the controversial investor tax break created as part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.

• Ongoing coverage of public banking campaigns — efforts in various cities and states to create new banks owned by local or state government bodies as a strategy to divest public dollars from Wall Street and leverage public deposits to support local and state policy priorities including local economic development and affordable housing.

• Recent coverage of a proposal to fund an obscure but still unfunded New York State program to help smaller local financial institutions access grants intended to help them remain in compliance with federal regulations for depository institutions as they scale up their operations.

• Delivering a keynote address for the 2020 annual membership meeting of the Sustainable Business Network of Greater Philadelphia, which focused on the historical context and framework underlying my reporting for Next City.

Freelance journalist

December 2011-present

See my bylines at:

Since 2011, my reporting has appeared online or in print for publications such as Yes! Magazine, Shelterforce, Impact Alpha, Fast Company, B the Change Media, and NextBillion. Topics covered include community and economic development, public banking, affordable housing, impact investing, and social enterprises.

Highlights:

• Breaking the news of the first not-for-profit community development loan funds going to market with their own corporate bond offerings (reported for Impact Alpha)

• Visiting North Dakota to report a feature-length story on the Bank of North Dakota, the nation’s only state-owned bank, which has been in continuous operation since 1919. In addition to interviewing the CEO of the bank, I visited several sites and businesses that have benefited from the bank’s financing and spoke with local economic development agencies and community bankers about how the bank supports their work. (published by Yes! Magazine)

• Visiting the Twin Cities to report a feature-length story on Sunrise Banks, a banking institution legally incorporated as a benefit corporation, providing legal protection for its mission-driven business model that focuses around 70 percent of the bank’s lending to businesses and projects that create opportunities, jobs or housing that benefits low-income households in the Twin Cities region. (published by B the Change Media)

CapNexus Webinar Series

June 4, 2020

I moderated a panel discussion called “Learning from the Past — CDFIs Rebuilding Communities,” with speakers Bill Bynum of Hope Credit Union/Hope Corporation, Wayne Meyer of New Jersey Community Capital, and Jessie Lee of Renaissance Economic Development Corporation.

Next City Webinar Series

April 3, 2020

I presented a breakdown of CARES Act relief and response funding and answered audience questions about accessing those funds, including the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program.

City & State NY Diversity Summit

New York, New York

February 20, 2020

I moderated a panel discussion called “Best Practices and Programs for MWBEs and Small Businesses,” with representatives from Empire State Development, the New York City Department of Citywide Administrative Services, the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York, the New York City School Construction Authority, and the New York City Department of Small Business Services.

October 10, 2019

I moderated a discussion with Rising Tide Capital, called “How Entrepreneurs Build Sustainable Communities.”

September 27, 2019

I moderated a plenary panel discussion called “Equitable Homeownership: A Blueprint for Thriving Neighborhoods,” with representatives from Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation, Cities for Financial Empowerment, Enterprise Community Partners, and Asian Americans for Equality.

Oscar Perry Abello is a journalist covering alternative economic models and policies in cities across the country. He is currently senior economic justice correspondent for Next City, an independent, not-for-profit, online publication covering cities from the lens of social, racial and environmental justice. His writing has also appeared in Yes! Magazine, City & State New York, Impact Alpha, Shelterforce, and other outlets.

Oscar is a child of immigrants descended from the former colonial subjects of the Spanish and U.S. imperial regimes in the Philippines. He was born in New York City, and raised in the inner-ring suburbs of Philadelphia. He has a bachelor's degree from Villanova University, where he majored in economics and minored in peace and justice studies. He spent several years embedded in the international development industry before transitioning into journalism full-time in 2015. He currently lives in Washington Heights with his domestic partner and the two most photogenic kitties in the world.

Representation matters.

Since July 2015, I have committed to informally track the demographics of the sources whom I quote in my reporting. It is well documented that white men are over-represented as sources in the media, even mission-oriented media such as public radio. Check back here for occasional updates on how I’m doing.