Category: Community Partners
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How Opportunities Credit Union Is Setting Up Itself—And Its Community—For Financial Success
From a young age, Kate Laud dreamed about someday being a CEO. At Dartmouth, Kate was an English major who liked numbers, and her father encouraged her to aspire to “run something interesting” one day. Although that advice didn’t narrow down Kate’s list of possible career trajectories, over the years, her ambition to eventually lead…
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How First Southwest Bank Is Helping Community Banks Become Better Banks
In 2013, Kent Curtis had a question to answer. As the president and CEO of First Southwest Bank, he wanted to know which direction to steer the financial institution, which has served the San Luis Valley for more than 100 years. Colorado has three persistent poverty counties, and First Southwest Bank is located in the…
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How Chicago Community Loan Fund Is Filling Lending Gaps To Grow Wealth
When Wendell Harris found himself out of a job in 2013, he wasn’t exactly sure where he was going to land within the world of banking and real estate. Fortunately, Robert Rose, one of Wendell’s former bosses, heard that he wasn’t working. At the time, Robert was in a leadership role at Chicago Community Loan…
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Meet Kaua’i Federal Credit Union, The CDFI Investing In Its Island Community
“I never thought I would end up working in a financial institution,” says Ivory Lloyd of Kaua’i FCU. Samoan born and raised on Kauaʻi, in her college years, she worked in non-profits mainly focused on sustainability. With an undergraduate degree in political science and an international master’s degree in sustainable development and corporate social responsibility,…
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How Metropolitan Economic Development Association Is Scaling Itself To Shrink Minnesota’s Racial Wealth Gap
Over the course of their careers as inpatient nurses, Murwo Elmi, Ikraan Abdulle, Farhia Abdulahi, and Faiso Abdulle have seen a bit of everything. From their first shifts, the Minneapolis-based health professionals have cared for patients struggling with mental health, chemical dependence, physical and cognitive limitations, and homelessness. After 10 years, however, the group shared…
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Easy As C-C-C: How Access to Capital for Entrepreneurs Uses Capital, Coaching, and Connections to Help Georgia’s Small Business Owners Thrive
Martina Edwards knows what it’s like to be given an opportunity to break down barriers. Thanks to a nonprofit that helps place high-achieving graduates of color in Wall Street firms, Martina started her career in 2001 and became Merrill Lynch’s first Black female broker on the floor of The New York Stock Exchange in 2004.…
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Authentic and Shareable Impact: Best Practices for Credit Unions
On May 24th, 2022 CNote hosted a webinar alongside CUNA Strategic Services where they discussed best practices for credit unions to follow when measuring impact and sharing their impact stories. Title: Authentic and Shareable Impact | Best Practices for Credit Unions Brief Summary: Credit unions and other mission-driven depository organizations create financial inclusion and further…
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These Maine CDFIs Are Showing Mainstream Lenders How to Open Doors For Muslim Borrowers
When Yassin arrived in western Maine in 2008 as a refugee from Djibouti, he knew that he wanted to start his own business one day. In recent decades, Maine has become a destination for a growing population of immigrants like Yassin, who are seeking to build a life for themselves in the U.S. According to…
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Meet Harlem Entrepreneurial Fund, the CDFI Aiming to Become ‘Harlem’s CDFI’
Although Hamil Douglas self-identifies as a reformed banker, he’s appreciative of his extensive experience in the world of finance. Without it, he likely would never have become the president and CEO of Harlem Commonwealth Council (HCC), where he also serves as the managing director of Harlem Entrepreneurial Fund (HEF), HCC’s investment vehicle. Hamil got his…