Jackson, MS – Hope Credit Union has received an Advocacy Award from the Mississippi Credit Union Association. The honor recognizes credit unions for extraordinary efforts to protect, strengthen and expand credit unions, creating additional opportunities to improve the lives of members that choose credit unions as their financial services partner.

“HOPE is proud to receive this award as part of our work to preserve assets in local markets during the recession and as mainstream banks are closing their doors in poor and rural communities,” said HOPE CEO Bill Bynum. “Our efforts over the past several years have significantly increased the number of people and communities HOPE reaches, providing thousands with easy access to affordable, responsibly structured financial services.”

Since 2008, as other institutions were closing their doors in underserved communities, Hope Credit Union (HOPE) has responded by extending a lifeline to Mid South residents. During this period, HOPE has expanded from three to 15 branches; increased its member-owners from 9,000 to 28,000, and closed more than 7,200 consumer, mortgage and small business loans totaling over $260 million.

At the 2012 Clinton Global Initiative America conference, HOPE announced its commitment to double the number of people and places it serves in bank deserts across the Mid South. By 2016, through innovative branch models, partnerships and technology HOPE will:

  • Expand electronic/remote access services and open mini-branch/automated locations to reach unbanked and underbanked communities;
  • Provide responsible financial services to more than 30,000 new member-owners; and
  • Make 13,000 new loans totaling over $500 million.

“We see families and businesses every day that still struggle to cope with recent economic turmoil or that have fallen victim to predatory lenders that are all too common in low-income neighborhoods,” said Bynum. “We provide them with resources that so many people take for granted—financial education and affordable accounts—but which make a dramatic improvement in their financial situation.”

HOPE was recognized for its achievement at the Mississippi Credit Union Association Annual Meeting and Convention, recently held in Biloxi, Mississippi.