Main Donate Form
Notice: Test mode is enabled. While in test mode no live donations are processed.
Community-focused Black banks wield tremendous local influence.
By 1976, there were more than 50 Black-owned banks across the United States. Their numbers shrunk during the savings and loan crisis of the 1980’s and again during the Great Recession, which squeezed Black households’ wealth through unprecedented foreclosures and home equity losses.
Since 2008, the number of Black-owned banks have fallen by 49 percent. Today there are just 18 of these vital community anchors.
Black-owned banks deploy resources that uniquely address the needs of Black-owned businesses, homeowners, and community nonprofits. As these institutions close, the needs of Black entrepreneurs and households go unmet.
Forty-nine percent of Black households were underbanked or completely unbanked, compared to just 15 percent of White households in 2019, according to the Federal Reserve. The US Census Bureau’s Annual Survey of Entrepreneurs found that Black families are rejected for credit at twice the rate for white applicants.
All of this has profound intergenerational consequences on wealth. As Black banks close, Black families go underbanked–and America’s racial wealth gap widens.
In neighborhoods created by discriminatory practices like redlining, Black-owned banks are often the only source for reasonable, fair, and non-predatory lending. And because they practice relationship banking—a system of lending that looks beyond credit score to holistically understand an applicant’s financial situation—they are a vital and singular lifeline for Black entrepreneurs and households.
Revitalizing Black banks is the first step of many to ensure equitable access to capital for underserved communities of color.
The success of Black communities is married to the viability and continued existence of Black banks.
