Hire advances Umpqua’s commitment to provide financial products and services that address affordable housing and access challenges in its communities
Umpqua Bank, a subsidiary of Columbia Banking System Inc., announced the appointment of Nicole Bascomb-Green as Head of Community Lending. In this role, Bascomb-Green is responsible for the management of the community lending team, harnessing Umpqua’s full resources and expertise—including the Umpqua Bank Charitable Foundation, and the bank’s Community Reinvestment Act experts, product and retail banking leaders—to deliver innovative products and programs that address housing affordability and access issues focused on low-to-moderate income BIPOC communities.
“This appointment underscores our commitment to address the affordable housing challenges our communities continue to face,” said Chris Merrywell, President, Consumer Banking. “Nicole’s experience as a banker, underwriter, loan officer, and real estate broker, as well as her passion to make real progress in bringing housing opportunities to these underserved communities are critical to serving customers pursuing affordable homeownership and a path to building generational wealth.”
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Bascomb-Green brings more than 30 years of banking, real estate, and nonprofit experience to the role. Prior to joining Umpqua Bank, she served as community affairs manager for Washington State and Idaho at U.S. Bank. She is currently president for Western Washington Realtist, the local board of the National Association of Real Estate Brokers (NAREB), and is assistant vice president for NAREB’s Region XV. Bascomb-Green was recently named state chair for Washington State’s Housing Finance Commission. She holds an MBA from the University of Phoenix and a BA in marketing from The University of Washington.
“Through the Community Lending team, we are putting forth the investment to strategically develop and deploy innovative programs that provide financial opportunities to our BIPOC communities,” Bascomb-Green said. “I am looking forward to working collaboratively with our teams to further build upon the foundation that was laid by my predecessor and our incredible team of community lending professionals.”
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Today, the Black homeownership rate is only modestly higher than it was at the time of the passage of the 1968 Fair Housing Act. The gap in homeownership rates between Blacks and whites is actually larger than it was at the time of the passage of the Act: 29.3% in 2022 versus 23.8% in 1970, according to NAREB’s 2022 State of Housing in Black America.
Community Lending
Umpqua Bank’s Community Lending team serves and supports low-to-moderate and minority communities across the bank’s footprint to achieve their dream of homeownership. The team works with nonprofit housing organizations and ethnically diverse realtor associations. It also engages with local elected officials and state agencies to address housing affordability and access issues.
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