New Economy Project

New Economy Project is a nonprofit economic justice organization founded to build a fair economy for all New Yorkers. Operating primarily through community organizing, legal advocacy, and education, the organization works directly with low-income residents and community groups to combat financial extraction and systemic inequality in New York City and statewide. The organization's work spans multiple interconnected approaches to economic justice rather than serving as a traditional consumer finance company.

The organization offers free legal advice and information through its NYC Financial Justice Hotline, impact litigation services to remedy financial harms and establish legal protections, Know Your Rights educational resources, and community workshops analyzing systemic economic injustice. They also provide flexible low-cost loans through the New Economy Loan Fund to support cooperative businesses, create research and policy reports identifying threats to economic justice, and produce mapping tools helping communities understand and resist economic extraction. Additionally, they convene coalitions focused on specific policy changes: the NY Community Equity Agenda for statewide financial justice, Public Bank NYC coalition advocating for municipal banking, and NYCCLI alliance promoting community land trusts for affordable housing.

New Economy Project distinguishes itself through its systemic, organizing-focused approach rather than individual consumer services. They combine direct legal aid with policy advocacy, litigation, and coalition-building to address root causes of financial inequality. Their work explicitly targets systemic problems like predatory lending, housing unaffordability, and corporate extraction rather than treating individual financial crises in isolation. They are researcher-driven, producing original reports and analysis that identify emerging threats to economic justice.

This organization is genuinely free and genuinely nonprofit, with no profit motive or hidden costs. However, they are not a traditional credit counseling service—they focus on systemic change and legal advocacy rather than individual credit repair or debt management. Their hotline and legal resources serve individuals, but the organization's primary mission involves broader economic transformation through organizing and policy change. Prospective users should understand they're accessing advocacy-oriented legal aid rather than conventional consumer finance services.