New Impact Report: HOPE Provides $100 Million in Financing to Address Financial Services Gaps across Deep South

JACKSON, MS – Hope Enterprise Corporation/Hope Credit Union (HOPE) recently released its 2017 Impact Report, highlighting a record $100 million in financing to address financial services gaps in low-income, minority and rural communities across the Deep South. 

The report, “From Transactions to Transformations,” also details HOPE’s service region expansion with the opening of three new locations, including the first branch in Alabama.

“For 24 years, HOPE has concentrated its resources on closing the financial service gaps that limit opportunity for people and places existing on the fringe of America’s economy,” said HOPE CEO Bill Bynum. “Our direct impact was multiplied by using data and lessons gleaned from transactions conducted by HOPE’s member-owners to engage government, philanthropy, banks and others to forge policies and practices that help transform banking deserts into opportunity oases.”

Within the report, there are stories of families across the region who have been placed on a path to economic mobility and of places transformed by new schools, small businesses and expanded access to healthy food options.

The report’s release comes weeks after HOPE was named winner of The Wall Street Journal Financial Inclusion Challenge for its work to expand financial services access in the Mississippi Delta region. The Impact Report is a more comprehensive detailing of HOPE’s embeddedness in communities across Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee.

Download the report.