Rep. Maxine Waters Joins Rep. Ritchie Torres for Day-Long Visit to the South Bronx

Reps. Waters and Torres Held NYCHA Roundtable, Met with Community Banks and Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), and Addressed NY-15 Constituents at Fireside Chat on Arthur Avenue

BRONX, NY – Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (CA-43), Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee, joined Congressman Ritchie Torres (NY-15), who sits on the House Financial Services Committee, in the South Bronx for a full day of community engagement events, meeting with public housing leaders, minority-owned community banks, and Bronx residents to hear firsthand about the challenges facing the district and to reaffirm their shared commitment to fighting for the community in Washington.

The day opened with a roundtable where Reps. Waters and Torres sat with local NYCHA leadership and tenant association presidents from public housing developments across the district. Discussion centered on the chronic disinvestment in public housing, the need for federal Section 9 funding, and the daily conditions faced by Bronx residents living in NYCHA developments.

Reps. Waters and Torres then traveled to Ponce Bank’s main office on Westchester Avenue, where they met with the leadership of several minority depository institutions and community development financial institutions that serve New York’s most underbanked communities. The conversation focused on the CDFI Fund and Emergency Capital Investment Program, deposit insurance reform, and the impact of recent administration executive orders tying citizenship verification requirements to SBA lending and CDFI eligibility that threaten access to capital in immigrant-heavy communities like the Bronx.

The day concluded with a fireside chat and celebration at Michaelangelo’s Restaurant on Arthur Avenue, where roughly 100 community leaders, elected officials, and Bronx residents gathered. Rep. Torres interviewed Rep. Waters in a wide-ranging conversation spanning her decades of public service, the fight for public housing, financial inclusion, and the road ahead for communities like the Bronx.

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