NAACP pushes goal of city bank run by African-Americans (Conn.)

[Blue_Tires]

NEW HAVEN — Bringing an African-American-run bank to the city is part of the next frontier for the Greater New Haven branch of the NAACP in its efforts to bring economic stability and prosperity to the urban community, said branch president James E. Rawlings.

“Most banks here are national banks with no local flavor,” Rawlings said. “We need a bank more in line with the needs of urban America.”

Rawlings cemented the goal following an NAACP economic summit Oct. 17 and has a bank in mind: Carver Federal Savings Bank, now with several branches in New York City.

Among the who’s who of African-American business leaders who spoke at the summit was Blondel A. Pinnock, president of Carver Community Development Corp. and senior vice-president of Carver Federal Savings Bank.

According to Black Enterprise magazine, the bank was founded when a group of black Harlemites inspired by African-American scientist and agricultural researcher George Washington Carver, pooled their resources in 1948. According to the magazine, “Though Harlem was a hub of black business and home- ownership in the 1940s, access to capital was a major challenge the bank sought to alleviate. The financial institution was started with assets of $250,000 that included $14,000 in cash and the rest in pledges from community residents. By 2006, Carver’s assets had grown to $765 million.”

Carver employs 154 people at branches in Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan.
http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2009/10/26/news/doc4ae57bdd8d331829374776.txt