Shorebank uses for-profit commercial banking to focus on inner-city urban development. It now has over $1.5 billion in assets with broad impact on inner-city communities, with $1.7 billion invested cumulatively in priority communities, which are selected communities with less incomes and housing values than the regional or state average.
Innovation
Shorebank Corporation's innovation was to use for-profit commercial banking to focus solely on the needs of inner-city urban communities. Inner-city residents, who were shut out of traditional banking circles, now have access to funding that allows them to stabilize and restore their inner-city neighborhoods. The organization's mission is to build healthy communities and to increase economic opportunities for low- and moderate-income residents.
Impact
Shorebank is a premier model for community economic development organizations. The organization has developed an array of services that have opened opportunity many disenfranchised groups of people. Services include real estate lending and commercial lending; loans to churches, religious organizations, and non-profits; support for minority and women entrepreneurs; innovative deposit services for low-income people; employment training and placement; financial training opportunities for low-income people. In support of these activities, Shorebank now hold assets of more than $1.5 billion, as invested nearly $2 billion in its priority communities, and each year provides over $200 million in new investments.
Inspiration
A group of four Chicago bankers stepped forward to create the first community development bank during the early 1970s. Each was deeply concerned about the social inequalities and civil unrest they had personally witnessed during that era, including riots, killings, and other forms of mass violence. "Our inspiration arose from the melding of our experiences as bankers at Hyde Park Bank in our day jobs and in our night jobs trying to work for and support community-based organizations as volunteers," Ronald Grzywinski says. "So, the idea was to wed those two things into a self-sustaining, more comprehensive approach to community development."
The World Inquiry editorial team edited this profile from the original submission of the interviewer or other source. The views expressed do not necessarily represent Case Western Reserve University, the Weatherhead School of Management or the Center for Business as an Agent of World Benefit. More >>
