People Trust Community Federal Credit Union will open a loan fund on 12th Street in Little Rock to help provide important services to underserved communities.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — The first black-owned bank in Arkansas has expanded in order to provide important services to an underserved community.
People Trust Community Federal Credit Union is a nonprofit community development financial institution located in Little Rock.
According to founder and CEO, Arlo Washington, establishing a new loan fund right in the core of 12th Street will greatly benefit the community that he believes is under-invested.
“Our mission is to provide access to financial products and services to low and moderate-income communities who wouldn’t otherwise receive the opportunity,” Washington explained.
The company did a study in 2017 on the lending landscape to see where loans were being made, where small businesses were located, and where banks were located— and they discovered several concerns.
“This neighborhood is significant because there were no brick and mortars. You know, if you go all the way to Wright Avenue all the way to University, you have no financial institutions that served this community,” Washington said.
The study showed a stark difference between inactivity in the area versus other communities.
“So we wanted to target the most economically distressed area of the city to fulfill our mission,” he added.
He explained that many of the programs and assistance that will be offered center around financial education and literacy for small businesses.
“A lot of times it’s difficult if you go into financial institutions that don’t understand the cultural difference that don’t understand, you know, the wealth gap, the racial wealth gap in America. So of course, in Arkansas, we have a racial wealth gap as well,” Washington said.
Now with Southern Corp and one of Little Rock Police Department’s newest renovated buildings across the street, Washington said that it’s a great time for partnerships.
“It takes cooperation and not competition to solve common problems,” he said.
The doors will now be open for everyone to walk through— no matter their walk of life.
“They just need a conversation that needs to come in and feel like that someone understands the struggle of being unbanked and generational poverty,” Washington said.
