Solutions to Issues of Concern to Knoxvillians (SICK) produced an internal report in December of 1986 with the help of the Chicago-based National People’s Action. The report concluded that there was a high likelihood that the low-income and minority communities in Knoxville were being denied credit based upon the assumptions and practices that were potentially discriminatory.

In June of 1987, the Tennessee Network for Community Economic Development (TNCED) sponsored a conference on community development in Knoxville. At this conference, a workshop on the Community Reinvestment Act and “redlining” (the practice of not loaning money to inner-city projects) drew significant interest and participation. A working group of five inner city organizations began to research the banking community and their relationship to the deteriorated areas of Knoxville’s inner city.

In the fall of 1987, eighteen community groups from Knoxville’s inner city organized themselves as CRSC (Community Reinvestment Steering Committee) to ensure the availability of adequate credit for the purchase and rehabilitation of housing and to meet credit needs of the small business community. CRSC targeted First Tennessee Bank as one of the worst offenders and as a symbolic gesture, late one night, members of the CRSC wrapped a “RED RIBBON” around the main branch office in protest. The message was received among the banking community due to the steadfast persistence and public outcry among the members of CRSC. Because of this action, most banks in Knoxville today are ready participants in inner city projects.

The Council of Involved Neighborhoods was first formed as the Council of Inner City Neighborhoods in the fall of 1989 as outgrowth of CRSC. Albert Nelson, an organizing force in CRSC became COIN’s first president and served in that position throughout COIN’s formative years.