HOPE Matters: April 2018

HOPE’s Annual Members Meeting Held in Jackson, Miss.; Regional Meetings Scheduled Across the Deep South

Ebony Harris knows a lot about financial institutions after taking her business to many in the past, but she says HOPE is in a class by itself. “This is the first time a financial institution ever invited us to attend a meeting,” Harris said during a recent Members Meeting in Jackson, Miss. “I told my sister we have to go.” The meeting provided an opportunity for credit union members to learn more about what HOPE does for families across the Deep South. HOPE’s board and staff reported on the 2017 performance and outlined plans for 2018. Those plans include increasing membership, opening a new branch in Memphis, Tenn., and a new healthcare facility in New Orleans. The members voted on HOPE’s board governance and weighed in on the direction of the credit union. Harris, whose whole family attended the meeting and enjoyed lunch with HOPE associates and other members, left with a better understanding of HOPE, along with several door prizes. With HOPE as her financial partner, she’s saving money in several accounts, including those for her two children. Regional meetings will be held this spring in the Mississippi Delta, Little Rock, Ark., Memphis, Tenn., New Orleans, La., Biloxi, Miss. and Macon, Miss.

HOPE Named Finalist in The Wall Street Journal Financial Inclusion Challenge

HOPE’s work to bring opportunity to small towns in the Mississippi Delta is now before a national audience. HOPE is one of three finalists from more than 120 entries in the first U.S. iteration of The Wall Street Journal’s Financial Inclusion Challenge. A winner will be selected in New York City on May 9. “Over the coming weeks, the WSJ will shine a light on the importance of financial inclusion in America. We are proud to be part of this effort,” said HOPE CEO Bill Bynum. After acquiring donated bank branches, HOPE opened locations in Drew, Itta Bena, Moorhead and Shaw – all severely distressed Mississippi towns with populations of approximately 2,000 people. All four communities are located in counties where the poverty rate has eclipsed 20 percent for more than three decades. In three of the four towns, HOPE is the only financial institution. Within a short period, HOPE has dramatically expanded the range of financial products and services available to area residents.

HOPE and the Urban Institute Lead Webinar on Closing the Financial Services Gap

For millions of people in America, upward mobility hinges on access to mainstream financial services. That is the message HOPE and the Urban Institute delivered to an audience of nearly 200 during a webinar last month lifting up strategies from “Opening Mobility Pathways by Closing the Financial Services Gap,” a US Partnership on Mobility from Poverty paper co-authored by HOPE. Among the paper’s recommendations were tripling bank lending service and investment in underserved markets and the creation of a $1 billion fund to expand impact of CDFI lending in underserved areas. In his remarks, HOPE CEO Bill Bynum advocated for more partnership between community development financial institutions and the banking industry and more action by the government and philanthropy to ensure a fair marketplace for consumers. Listen to the webinar.

HOPE and The Food Trust Host Site Visits in La. and Miss. to Expand Access to Healthy Food

Jeff Good isn’t a farmer, but he’s helping to get farm produce to market in Mississippi and beyond. He’s a co-owner of Up in Farms Food Hub, a fresh-food retailer financed through the Mid-South Healthy Food Finance Initiative (MSHFI), a program co-managed by HOPE and The Food Trust. Good’s business hub in Jackson, Miss., was one of the stops along a recent tour hosted by HOPE and The Food Trust for the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation (MSDF). As funders of the program, MSDF was interested in seeing progress made with such projects as Robert’s Fresh Market in New Orleans and Up in Farms, along with visiting other projects in the MSHFI pipeline in Baton Rouge, La. Up In Farms serves as a processing and distribution center for food produced by small- and medium-sized Mississippi farms. This vital role provides farmers a guaranteed market for their produce and will provide restaurants, grocery stores, schools and communities the opportunity to benefit from greater access to a variety of fresh, healthy foods.

A Family’s Freedom to Save

Most of Daniel and Carmen Cavazos’ hard-earned salaries went toward high-interest auto loan and credit card payments, leaving little at the end of the month to cover expenses for themselves and their two young children. The couple had financed their vehicle through a high-cost lender. Speaking limited English, the Cavazos were drawn to HOPE’s Little Rock Branch because of its diverse and bilingual team that speaks Spanish.

Hope Policy Institute has been actively weighing in on a number of issues that impact the lives of people in the Deep South states of Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee. Check out the newest research and presentations from Hope Policy Institute and HOPE associates by clicking on the stories below.

HOPE Engages with Leaders on Affordable Housing in Selma, Ala. and Healthy Food Financing and Financial Access on the National Stage

Drawing the connection between economic justice and civil rights, Hope Policy Institute Fellow Rachel Harmon shared HOPE’s work in the Deep South as part of “A Symposium on Civil Rights Intersections: Celebrating 50 Years of the Fair Housing Act.” The event, held in Selma, Ala., was hosted April 18 by the Washington, D.C.-based Poverty & Race Research Action Council.

Harmon was among several HOPE associates who have led engagement on community development topics. Community and Economic Development Vice President Kevin Coogan gave a presentation on healthy food financing during a recent Atlanta Federal Reserve convening, “Growing Regional Food System Opportunity: Capital and Beyond.” HOPE Community and Economic Development Senior Vice President Mary Elizabeth Evans gave a presentation on HOPE’s work to open credit unions in a cluster of Mississippi Delta towns during a recent St. Louis Federal Reserve meeting, “Financial Innovations to Improve Economic Resiliency in Rural Communities.”

Place Matters: Restoring the American Dream in the Deep South
People who live in long-term poverty experience a range of complex challenges that limit economic opportunity and mobility for some. The Deep South is home to one-third of the nation’s persistently impoverished counties – counties where the poverty level has exceeded 20 percent for at least 30 years. Families in these high-poverty areas must often overcome a lack of resources that hinder efforts to improve their quality of life. Read more.