Financial Justice Mapping Project

NEDAP provides geographic information systems (GIS) mapping support to community groups, advocacy coalitions, and legal services advocates in New York City.  NEDAP's maps are clear and compelling, and illustrate financial services access and other economic conditions in NYC neighborhoods, such as:

• Prime and subprime mortgage lending patterns
• Foreclosure actions filed by neighborhood
• Absence of bank branches in low-income neighborhoods and neighborhoods of color
• Distribution of tax refund loans (aka "rapid refunds")
• Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) cash access points
• Rent-a-Center store locations
• Individual corporate practices

See sample maps posted in our Map Gallery.

Examples and Impact

Groups have used NEDAP's maps to expose redlining and discriminatory economic practices; document Fair Housing Act violations; educate elected officials about the need for policy reform; bolster corporate accountability campaigns; and support civil rights litigation and community organizing. 

Examples of how groups have used NEDAP's maps include:

• NEDAP and other members of New Yorkers for Responsible Lending have used NEDAP's subprime lending and foreclosure maps to educate community residents, elected officials and the media about predatory lending, and to advocate for strong anti-predatory lending legislation in New York State.

• NEDAP's map of Rent-A-Center store locations in NYC shows that they are located primarily in neighborhoods that are both low income and nonwhite.  The map has been used by community groups to educate their members about the negative impact of rent-to-own stores on families and communities.  A youth activist group in Bedford-Stuyvesant distributed the map to local residents, along with a fact sheet about the true costs of "renting-to-own."

• "Rapid refunds" - or tax refund anticipation loans - drain millions from New York families and communities each year.  NEDAP has mapped tax refund lending throughout the state, illustrating their concentration in low income neighborhoods and communities of color.  New Yorkers for Responsible Lending has used the maps in press conferences calling for improved regulation of the loans.  Community groups, Earned Income Tax Credit advocates and free tax preparation providers have also used the maps in their outreach and education.

• A community group in Queens looking to start a community development credit union to serve local immigrants asked NEDAP to create a map showing the absence of mainstream banking services in Jackson Heights, East Elmhurst, and North Corona.

• Organizers of a Western Union boycott used NEDAP's map of money transmitter locations to support their campaign.

• Several community development credit unions seeking to expand their fields of membership have requested maps from NEDAP showing the distribution of their membership and loans made.

For more information

NEDAP provides mapping services to NYC community groups on a sliding-fee basis or at no cost, depending on organizational budget.  To inquire about mapping assistance, please contact us by email or at (212) 680-5100.

Click here to view sample maps from NEDAP’s Map Gallery.