ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Financial institutions have routinely underrepresented African American and Hispanic people since our country was founded. In fact, laws and corporate structures were explicitly established to keep African American slaves from accessing many things, including land, housing, education, and capital. Today, our financial sector is dominated by multi-national banking corporations that seek only to protect the interests of their preferred shareholders and could care less about the less fortunate minority population. However, without the black and brown dollars that are funneled through their systems, they wouldn’t have the capacity to operate in the manner they do.
It is time that we, as a people, stop wondering why we are not getting access to the same financial resources as others and do something about it. As part of the Economic Rights Movement, for the past year, seven individuals have volunteered their time and energy to begin the process of establishing a community development federal credit union, owned and operated by the African American and Hispanic communities. There are currently no African American and Hispanic-owned and operated financial institutions in the Southern Maryland region—which is likely the case for hundreds of our communities nationwide. We aim to successfully establish this first five-county federal credit union and then take the blueprint and help hundreds of other communities do the same thing. However, we need your help to make it happen.
There are three phases involved in establishing a federal credit union; the first phase is where most efforts stop. However, the Proposed C3 Federal Credit Union received a historical pre-approval from the National Credit Union Association (NCUA). See the letter attached. Never before has the NCUA agreed to consider these five counties as one community: Charles, Prince George’s, Anne Arundel, Calvert, and St. Mary’s. This is a historical moment for Maryland due to the potential impact the creation of such a large-scale community development financial institution will have on these five counties. We are now in the second phase of the process, where we begin to survey our field of membership and raise the necessary capital needed to open and operate the financial institution.
Establishing a financial institution is no small feat. Most proposed federal credit unions never obtain a charter because of inadequate donated capital. Let’s demonstrate the power of collaboration and raise the $10 million required. C3 is required to survey the proposed field of membership to determine what products and services potential members want and need. A minimum of 384 surveys completed are required. Please help by taking the quick survey if you reside in one of the five counties by using this link: https://c3fcu.com/survey
Our mission is to financially strengthen the Maryland community by providing financial literacy workshops, entrepreneurship training, and investment educational seminars while ensuring access to responsible credit, savings, and business services in an environment filled with hospitality and compassion.
We will encourage using money and other financial resources carefully and not wastefully to assist with providing financial equity to the underserved and disenfranchised members of the Maryland Community. We plan to economically empower Maryland’s underserved and distressed communities by ensuring that their savings go to work within the communities where those dollars are generated.
We will work to educate our youth on the purpose and importance of savings and understanding how to handle money responsibly. We will also educate youth and adults about credit risk and how to properly position oneself to display low credit risk by focusing on paying all liabilities as agreed upon and accumulating wealth incrementally to foster financial sustainability.
This credit union will support the local business community by providing business services, education, and loan products to keep the business community at the cutting edge of information and technology. We will educate our members on consumer laws and their economic rights.
The Products & Services we plan to offer are as follows:
- Personal Checking & Savings Accounts
- Business Checking & Savings Accounts Online Banking
- Mobile Deposits
- Debit Cards
- Personal Credit Cards
- Business Credit Cards
- Investment Accounts
- Consumer Loans
- Residential Mortgages
- Commercial Mortgages
- Home Equity Lines of Credit Business Term Loans
- Business Lines of Credit
- Auto Loans
- Equipment Financing
- Financial Literacy Education
- Youth Credit Education Program
Our Proposed Field of Membership definition is as follows:
The field of membership shall be limited to those having the following common bond:
Persons who live, work, worship, or attend school in, and businesses and other legal entities, located in the counties of Anne Arundel, Prince George’s, St. Mary’s, Calvert, or Charles, Maryland. Spouses of persons who died while within the field of membership of this credit union; volunteers in the community; members of the immediate family or household; and organizations of such persons.
This credit union will serve the entire community, focusing on African American and Hispanic residents—as financial institutions have historically underserved them. It is time to begin healing the wounds of economic disparity and ensuring that wealth stays within our communities.
Please help make this vision possible!
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