Credit Union Focuses on Expanding Services in Underbanked Communities

NOTE: Learn more about HOPE’s participation at CGI America and its work to eliminate bank deserts.

Jackson, MS–Hope Credit Union, a regional community development financial institution, will join some of the nation’s other leading public, private and nonprofit organizations this week at Clinton Global Initiative America (CGI America). For more than 18 years, HOPE has worked to close financial service gaps in the Mid South, and the credit union will focus on issues of financial inclusion during the meeting this week in Chicago.

President Clinton established CGI America to address economic recovery in the United States. CGI America brings together leaders in business, government and civil society to generate and implement commitments to create jobs, stimulate economic growth, foster innovation, and support workforce development in the United States. Since CGI America’s first meeting in June 2011, participants have made more than 100 commitments valued at $11.8 billion.

One in four American households lacks access to key financial products and services, including savings and checking accounts. Fourteen of the nation’s poorest 30 counties are located in HOPE’s service area, which encompasses Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee. This contributes to a disproportionate absence of banking services in the region, a fact that severely limits the economic prospects of families, businesses and communities.

In the Mid South region, entrepreneurs face limited access to capital to start, grow and sustain their businesses; individuals fall victim to predatory lenders that target underbanked, low-income, elderly and other vulnerable populations; and communities erode as vital health care, housing and other infrastructure decline in the absence of capital and investment.

HOPE tackles these challenges by tailoring its services to economically distressed and underserved populations, particularly those targeted by high-cost payday lenders.

“Since the recession, HOPE has filled the financial service gap for thousands of low-income residents in the Mid South by establishing a presence in towns that were losing financial services,” said HOPE CEO Bill Bynum. “Our aim is to make sure that no one is victimized by the growing number of predatory lenders that prey on these communities when they are abandoned by traditional banks.”

HOPE is in a unique position to leverage its work in strengthening communities, helping individuals build assets, and improving lives in economically distressed areas of the Mid South as part of a plan to eliminate bank deserts and enhance financial inclusion in the region.

Joining the CGI community is a critical step in furthering HOPE’s efforts, particularly as the nonprofit seeks partners to help maximize the benefit its experience can provide to underserved nations and populations. The Financial Inclusion Working Group will promote greater economic opportunities and advance financial capabilities for underserved populations.

When fully funded and implemented, the commitments made by CGI America participants will improve the lives of three million people, create or fill more than 150,000 jobs, and invest and loan $354 million to small and medium enterprises in the United States.

Since 1994, HOPE (Hope Enterprise Corporation and Hope Credit Union) has assisted more than 120,000 individuals in financially distressed communities throughout Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee – the Mid South. HOPE provides affordable, responsible financing and related services to individuals, entrepreneurs, homeowners and community development projects.

The exodus of traditional banks from vulnerable areas, the frailty of small credit unions, debilitating economic conditions, and the Mid South’s entrenched poverty require that HOPE deepen its reach into bank deserts. Through mergers, acquisitions, new branches and mobile technology, HOPE is working to double its impact in underserved communities.

HOPE needs broad support from across the nation to eliminate bank deserts and create opportunities for families, businesses and communities in the nation’s poorest region.

For more information about HOPE and partnering in this work, please contact us at www.hope-ec.org or 1-866-321-HOPE.

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NOTE: Learn more about HOPE’s participation at CGI America and its work to eliminate bank deserts.

About the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI)  

Established in 2005 by President Bill Clinton, the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) convenes global leaders to create and implement innovative solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges. CGI Annual Meetings have brought together more than 150 heads of state, 20 Nobel Prize laureates, and hundreds of leading CEOs, heads of foundations and NGOs, major philanthropists, and members of the media. To date CGI members have made more than 2,100 commitments, which are already improving the lives of nearly 400 million people in more than 180 countries. When fully funded and implemented, these commitments will be valued at $69.2 billion.

CGI’s Annual Meeting is held each September in New York City. CGI also convenes CGI America, a meeting focused on collaborative solutions to economic recovery in the United States, and CGI University (CGI U), which brings together undergraduate and graduate students to address pressing challenges in their community or around the world. For more information, visit clintonglobalinitiative.org and follow us on Twitter @ClintonGlobal and Facebook at facebook.com/clintonglobalinitiative.

About CGI America

President Clinton established the Clinton Global Initiative America (CGI America) to address economic recovery in the United States. CGI America brings together leaders in business, government, and civil society to generate and implement commitments to create jobs, stimulate economic growth, foster innovation, and support workforce development in the United States. Since its first meeting in June 2011, CGI America participants have made more than 100 commitments valued at $11.8 billion.

When fully funded and implemented, these commitments will improve the lives of three million people, create or fill more than 150,000 jobs, and invest and loan $354 million to small and medium enterprises in the United States. The 2012 CGI America meeting will take place June 7-8 in Chicago. To learn more, visit cgiamerica.org.