HOPENotes
Author: Mallory
Get all the latest news about products, services, and programs. Printed copies are distributed in our quarterly statements and available online with your e-statements or at our local branch locations.
HOPE CEO Bill Bynum appointed to formal committee advising Secretary, Deputy Secretary
WASHINGTON – In conjunction with today’s annual Freedman’s Bank Forum, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, Janet L. Yellen, announced the inaugural members of the Treasury Advisory Committee on Racial Equity. The first-of-its-kind committee will provide advice and recommendations to Secretary Yellen and Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyemo on efforts to advance racial equity in the economy and address acute disparities for communities of color.
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The 5,200-seat venue in Jackson, Mississippi, will hold the conference championship for the next three years beginning in 2023
JACKSON, Miss. – Today, Gulf Coast Athletic Conference (GCAC) Commissioner Dr. Kiki Baker Barnes announced that baseball is returning to the league as a sponsored sport, and along with that news was revealing that the Hank Aaron Sports Academy (HASA) will serve as the host site for the 2023 GCAC Baseball Championship Presented by Hope Credit Union (HOPE).
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New Appointments Will Help HOPE Provide Premier Banking Services to Deep South
Jackson, MS – Today, HOPE announced major leadership announcements, appointing Kiyadh Burt to Vice President of Policy & Advocacy & Interim Director; Cheryol Cowan to HOPE’s Vice President of Retail Banking Administrator; Charity Hallman to Senior Vice President of Community & Economic Development; Alex Lawson to Senior Vice President for Strategic Initiatives; and Danielle J. Ware to Senior Vice President, Commercial Credit Officer.
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Credit Union selected as the “Official Financial Institution of the GCAC
NEW ORLEANS – Today, Gulf Coast Athletic Conference (GCAC) Commissioner Dr. Kiki Baker Barnes announced Hope Credit Union (HOPE) has signed on to become an official sponsor of the league.
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(WASHINGTON, August 30, 2022) – William J. (Bill) Bynum has been named the 2022 recipient of Independent Sector’s John W. Gardner Leadership Award. Bynum will receive the prestigious award in recognition of his extraordinary leadership as President and CEO of the HOPE family of organizations, which strengthens communities, build assets, and improve lives in economically distressed areas of the Deep South by providing access to high-quality financial products and services.
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Dear Friends,
In the late nineties, HOPE worked with federal officials, bank regulators, community development advocates, potential investors and others to ensure that the promise of the nascent New Markets Tax Credits Program (NMTC) would be realized in places like the Mississippi Delta, where the dearth of investment, combined with a deep-rooted neglect of Black and high-poverty communities, had long undermined economic opportunity for the region’s most vulnerable residents.
This advocacy produced regulatory guidance and IRS rulings that have been used in almost every subsequent NMTC transaction, generating over a half trillion dollars of investment, and more than 800,000 jobs in capital-starved communities.
Today, HOPE continues to advocate for, provide and leverage investments that improve conditions for underserved people and places. Two projects highlighted in this report illustrate the impact of these efforts. Working with Oakwood University, an institution founded to educate freed slaves in north Alabama, HOPE used the NMTC program to close the financing gap for facilities that will enhance health, cultural and educational opportunities for this anchor institution and their surrounding community. Similarly, in rural Mississippi, Tippah County Hospital was able to replace a vital, but aging health care facility. In both cases, the NMTC program played a critical role in attracting capital that enabled community-transforming projects to overcome structural inequities in the financial marketplace.
Ensuring fair and equal access to financial resources is central to HOPE’s mission.
By collaborating with you and others who understand that strengthening historically underserved families, businesses, and communities is in our collective interest, we are transforming systems and helping our neighbors and our nation realize their immense potential.
Thank you for your ongoing support. Working together, we make the world better for us all.
In partnership,
Bill Bynum
CEO, HOPE
Taking a Leap of Faith
Erika Scott was tired of paying rent and wanted a nice place to raise her family. She always wanted to be a homeowner but felt as though she wasn’t at the age where she would become one. “I just want to say that in my lifetime I have owned a home,” says Scott. She gathered the courage and took the first step by finding a realtor, then it was time to find a home. A referral connected Scott to HOPE. Scott was initially nervous about the loan process, but HOPE staff and her realtor assured her that they would be there every step of the way. “The HOPE staff was warm and hospitable; they answered all my questions,” says Scott. She was approved for HOPE’s Affordable Mortgage Program, which makes homeownership accessible by helping borrowers navigate traditional underwriting requirements. “I did this for my daughter. I told her that if you work hard and keep the faith, it will come right to you. God will bless you with it,” says Scott. She closed on her first home in June of 2022.
Building a More Sustainable Business
Sabrina Narcisse is the proud owner of Sabrina Narcisse, LLC. This human resources management firm brings a holistic approach to organizational culture. Services offered include recruitment, consulting, and training courses providing the framework for employees and independent contractors to find their place and purpose within small businesses and nonprofit organizations. She started her business in 2018. In 2022, Narcisse wanted to expand her services to offer training courses for entry- to manager level employees. Already a HOPE member, she felt confident coming to HOPE for assistance. When she could not get financing from other financial institutions, she knew HOPE would help. Narcisse received a Power of HOPE Small Business loan. Power of HOPE loans were developed to meet the working capital expenses of small businesses impacted by the pandemic by providing low-interest rate loans up to $10,000. “I consider myself a veteran now that I’ve gone through the process,” recalls Narcisse. Since receiving her loan, Narcisse has hired a researcher, a contractor to help develop the training courses and accounting support for operations to be sustainable. The consulting firm is now positioned for growth. “HOPE is really doing a great job with providing financing for small businesses that would not qualify for traditional funding; I would encourage more small business owners to apply for loans to get the funding they need,” says Narcisse.
Entrepreneurs Transform Struggling Hotel into High-Quality Housing in Jackson, Mississippi
Where many saw a struggling extended stay hotel plagued by lingering fire damage and deferred maintenance, the F Street Boulder Jackson team had a vision to address the shortage of high-quality housing on one of the most visible properties in Jackson, Mississippi. The former hotel on I-55 and Fortification has re-opened with a more modern look and feel. The new townhome complex offers 90 studio apartments and 30 two-bedroom lofts of permanent housing for area residents. The project was made possible through $2.8 million in investments from HOPE and Woodforest National Bank. “Stable housing is critical for the upward economic mobility of any individual or family,” said Jeremy Funchess, Commercial Loan Officer at HOPE. “This project is another example of HOPE’s extensive set of community development financing tools and partners to expand access to high quality and affordable housing across the Deep South.”
Alabama-Based HBCU, Oakwood University, Upgrades Facilities through New Markets Tax Credit Program
Based in Huntsville, Alabama, Oakwood University was founded over 125 years ago to educate freed slaves. Like most HBCUs, Oakwood looks beyond its campus walls to extend its impact into the community. Nowhere were these efforts more evident than in its Healthy Campus 2020 program. Initially founded to reverse poor health outcomes and preventable diseases among Oakwood students, university leaders sought to expand its mission to address long-standing health, food and job insecurities faced by local residents. To accomplish these goals, Oakwood leaders embarked on a campaign to build a health center, a grocery store and to renovate and expand a music hall. While the effort started out strong, rising construction costs associated with the pandemic created a significant shortfall. In response, Oakwood turned to HOPE to bridge the gap. Low-cost financing provided through HOPE’s New Markets Tax Credit program made the project possible.
Tippah County Hospital Opens New Facility in Rural Mississippi
In May, Tippah County Hospital leaders cut the ribbon on a new 56,000-square-foot facility. The $26.5 million project added 25 new hospital beds, a new emergency room, and surgery and outpatient clinic services to support the residents of Tippah County and surrounding areas. Four community development entities provided New Markets Tax Credits to support the financing of the new hospital, with HOPE providing the largest allocation of tax credits to the project. The new facility replaces an existing 70-year-old deteriorating hospital and preserves access to acute health services in a rural medically underserved area where the next emergency room is 25 miles away.
HOPE CEO Bill Bynum Appointed Director for Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta − New Orleans Branch
In May, The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta announced the appointment of HOPE CEO Bill Bynum to the New Orleans Branch board of directors. As the leader of a member-owned financial institution that focuses on financially underserved people and communities, Bynum’s appointment adds a critical perspective during this time of economic uncertainty.
The three-year appointment will run through December of 2025.
To read the full announcement, click here.
Treasury Makes Transformational Investment in HOPE
On June 28, Hope Credit Union received a $92 million low-cost, 30-year loan through the U.S. Treasury Department’s Emergency Capital Investment Program (ECIP). ECIP invested $8.5 billion in community development financial institutions and minority depository institutions, and was a seminal focus of HOPE’s advocacy to ensure equity in the federal response to the pandemic. With this infusion of capital, HOPE is now positioned to raise $700-900 million in deposits that will be used to finance businesses, homebuyers, affordable rental housing, healthcare facilities, schools, nonprofit service providers and otherwise close financial service gaps facing historically underserved families and communities.
Rural Partners Network Aims to Increase Investment in Non-Metro Communities
HOPE’s Executive Vice President, Chief Program Officer, Cassandra Williams, joined U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and White House Director of the Domestic Policy Council Susan Rice at a roundtable in her hometown of Clarksdale, Miss, and for the launch of the Rural Partners Network. Through this new initiative, federal staff will be placed in rural communities to provide technical assistance for local groups to overcome the challenges often faced by rural communities accessing federal funding for long-term infrastructure investment. Williams reflected on this experience and the opportunity to hear remarks from Vice President Kamala Harris in Greenville, Mississippi in an op-ed piece published in The Hill.
To read the full article, click here.
Our Time is Now
HOPE’s 2021 Annual Impact Report, “Our Time is Now” chronicles our efforts during the past year to expand economic opportunity in the Deep South. To read the report, click here. To download the report, click here.
Download 2022 Second Quarter Report.
HOPE Serves as Key Advisor to Historic Partnership Formed to Close the Racial Wealth Gap
JACKSON, MS – Today, Vice President Kamala Harris will announce the formation of the Economic Opportunity Coalition (EOC) – a historic effort to catalyze public and private investments designed to close the racial wealth gap and accelerate economic opportunity in underserved communities. During the announcement, the newly formed Coalition, made up of 20 corporations and three foundations, pledged to align major investments in underserved communities with investments made by the Biden-Harris Administration. Building on prior investments to advance racial equity made by Coalition members, the group emphasized that more must be done to eliminate racial disparities in household income and assets.
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Dear Friends,
In April 1967, Senator Robert Kennedy traveled to Mississippi to see first-hand the effect of poverty on Black families in the Delta. Fifty-five years later, memories of that trip were evoked when Vice President Kamala Harris visited Greenville to underscore the importance of investing in underserved communities.
The throngs of children and families who lined the streets to welcome the Vice President underscore the significance of the visit, which both highlighted the importance of investing in small and diverse businesses, and affirmed the value of the region’s people.
After visiting Joycee’s Fabric, a small business that survived the pandemic with the help of two Paycheck Protection Program loans from HOPE, VP Harris addressed a packed house at the E.E. Bass Cultural Arts Center – home of HOPE’s first Business Development Office in 1995. Three weeks later, the Secretary of Agriculture and the President’s Domestic Policy Advisor led a contingent to Clarksdale to announce investments designed to help small towns access infrastructure funding. In recent months, we have also met with senior officials from the Small Business Administration and Department of Commerce.
It is vital that we seize upon these encouraging visits and convert them to tangible action, because 55 years after Senator Kennedy’s iconic visit, the Delta remains synonymous with poverty and racial disparity. That is why, HOPE places as much emphasis on informing, influencing and collaborating with policymakers, banks and corporations to drive investment into historically underserved communities, as we do with helping members, like Daphene Booker featured in this report, to navigate her journey towards business expansion.
Now is the time to ensure that everyone in this country has the opportunity to succeed. Thank you for your support of HOPE and those we serve as we work towards brighter futures in 2022.
Bill Bynum
CEO, HOPE
Global Children for a Global World
After successfully running a multi-site child care center for many years, Daphene Booker, the owner of Global Children Services, sought financing from her bank to expand. With over 16 years of experience in the industry, Booker felt she could expand the center’s impact on children by opening a fifth location in Memphis, TN. Unfortunately, the bank denied Ms. Booker’s loan request.
Global Children Services provides high-quality child care and after school programming to children living in persistent poverty communities in Memphis. Serving children from the ages of 6 weeks to 16 years of age the center offers educational programming including tutoring, sign language, basic Spanish, and a STEM curriculum.
After speaking to a friend about her experience with the bank, she learned about Hope Credit Union. Ms. Booker thought this would be an excellent opportunity to establish a solid relationship with another financial institution, and she immediately felt at home at HOPE. “At HOPE, I didn’t feel like a number; they took the time to get to know me and my business.” Booker received a $1.2 million commercial loan, which she used to purchase a building and a 15-passenger bus to transport the children to and from school. Booker is proud to welcome parents, children, and staff to the new facility, where high-quality education is the standard. “HOPE helped me to be able to continue the mission of creating global children for a global world.”
Fueling Up on HOPE
Dennis Long was looking forward to his retirement and spending time traveling on the open road. Unfortunately, plans changed after a stroke forced Mr. Long to retire early from his job as a traveling nurse practitioner. His income was reduced significantly, which caused him to live off credit cards until he could receive his social security. By the time Long began receiving his social security payments, he accumulated a significant amount of credit card debt. He also financed a new travel trailer to replace his old one with a 12-year, high-interest rate loan. Unbanked and seeking relief, Mr. Long reached out to HOPE to explore opportunities to consolidate his debts. “The staff was accommodating and encouraging.” HOPE lowered the interest rate on Long’s credit cards and refinanced his travel trailer with an affordable loan lasting 4 years. Long is relieved that all of his debts have been combined into one monthly payment. “HOPE definitely stands behind its name because you hope to get things paid off early and get out of debt; it’s a monster relief for someone in need of help. It’s a blessing.”
(L) Congressman Bennie Thompson, Greenville Mayor Errick Simmons, Bill Bynum, CEO of HOPE, Vice President Kamala Harris, Joycee Johnson, owner of Joycee’s Fabric and Sewing Center, Vivian and Rev. James Henley.
Vice President Harris Visits Greenville, Mississippi
On Friday, April 1, 2022, Vice President Kamala Harris arrived in Greenville, Mississippi to highlight opportunities for investing in small businesses and communities. In prepared remarks at the E.E. Bass Cultural Center, she underscored the critical role that Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) and Minority Depository Institutions (MDI) play in filling the gap to reach people, businesses, and communities unserved by traditional financial institutions. Another centerpiece of her visit included a stop at Joycee’s Fabric and Sewing Center, a HOPE member-owned business that tapped the Paycheck Protection Program during a time of need.
Read a summary of the Vice President’s visit here.
HOPE Testifies Before U.S. House Committee on Financial Services
In February, HOPE CEO Bill Bynum testified before the House Financial Services Committee in a hearing titled “An Unprecedented Investment for Historic Results: How Federal Support for MDIs and CDFIs Have Launched a New Era for Disadvantaged Communities.” In the testimony, HOPE highlighted the transformative potential of recent investments in mission-focused Community Development Financial Institutions and Minority Depository Institutions, and why sustained investment must continue to close opportunity gaps in the Deep South.
To read a summary of the testimony, click here.
To view the hearing, click here.
Black Clergy Collaborative of Memphis Calls for Payday Lending Reform
The Black Clergy Collaborative of Memphis and the Hope Policy Institute recently released the report “High-Cost Debt Traps Widen Racial Wealth Gaps in Memphis, TN.” Analysis in the report found there are over 100 high-cost lenders just within the city of Memphis — and are disproportionately located in Black and Latino neighborhoods. The report concludes with recommendations to cap interest rates on high-cost loans at 36%.
To read a summary of the report, click here.
Read coverage of the report’s release here.
Celebrity Chef Nick Wallace Named HOPE Brand Ambassador
During the 2022 Annual Member Meeting, HOPE announced celebrity chef and credit union member Nick Wallace as the organization’s Brand Ambassador. In this capacity, Chef Wallace will draw on his own experience navigating the financial system and his platform as a successful entrepreneur and Food Network star to invite and inspire others to join HOPE. Chef Wallace shared his journey with local television anchor Maggie Wade during the meeting. Click here to view the conversation.
DaVita Makes Historic Investment to Close the Racial Wealth Gap
During the first quarter, DaVita made a $15 million Transformational Deposit (TD) into Hope Credit Union – the largest ever made by a single corporation. Reflecting on the investment, DaVita CEO Javier Rodriguez stated, “Economic stability is a social determinant of health, which is why DaVita supports HOPE’s efforts to help bridge financial equity gaps. We hope our deposit sends positive, transformative ripples through communities where this type of cooperation is needed most.”
HOPE Named One of FastCompany’s 10 Most Innovative Companies
HOPE has been named one of Fast Company’s 10 most innovative companies reflecting current events. The recognition honors companies for innovative work on the most pressing issues of the day including COVID-19 response, the climate crisis, mental health and economic inequality. Fast Company praised HOPE’s successful efforts to raise more than $100 million in Transformational Deposits in partnership with the nation’s most prominent companies and mission-aligned individuals, which enable us to expand financial services for entrepreneurs and homeowners of color in capital-starved communities. If you are not yet a HOPE Member and Transformational Depositor, we invite you to join the growing movement of Transformational Depositors today at www.hopecu.org/transform.
Mississippi Museum of Art Hosts Legacies of the Great Migration
The Mississippi Museum of Art has opened its monumental exhibition, A Movement in Every Direction: Legacies of the Great Migration. The exhibit, which explores the profound impact of the Great Migration related to the social and cultural life of the United States from historical and personal perspectives. It features newly commissioned works by 12 acclaimed Black artists. As a major sponsor of the exhibition, HOPE has made admission free to all HOPE employees, Tougaloo College, and Jackson State University students, faculty, and staff (with proper ID) now through September 11, 2022.
For more information, visit https://www.msmuseumart.org/the-great-migration/
Download 2022 First Quarter Report.
Kidney Care Company makes $15 Million Transformational Deposit in Hope Credit Union
JACKSON – Today, HOPE (Hope Credit Union) announced DaVita has made a $15 million
Transformational Deposit (TD) into the organization – the largest ever made by a single
corporation.
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JACKSON – Today, HOPE (Hope Enterprise Corporation, Hope Credit Union and Hope Policy Institute) was named one of Fast Company’s 10 most innovative companies reflecting current events. The recognition honors companies for innovative work on the most pressing issues of the day including COVID-19 response, the climate crisis, mental health and economic inequality. HOPE’s successful efforts to raise Transformational Deposits in partnership with the nation’s most prominent companies and mission aligned individuals to expand lending in capital starved communities for entrepreneurs and homeowners of color was highlighted in the award announcement.
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