Black-Owned Banks Keep Community Money Where It Belongs
A national network of financial cooperatives is helping marginalized groups keep their money out of an extractive banking system.
Me’Lea Connelly is from the Bay Area of California, but she has deep roots in Minnesota. Her mother’s family was one of the first to migrate to the state after slavery ended. When she was 15, her parents divorced, and she moved with her mother to Minneapolis.
“I’ve always just felt more at home here,” Connelly said. “All my ancestors are just calling me home.”
But that home, in Minneapolis’ Northside, has a severe shortage of shopping centers, grocery stores, and banks. In 2017, Minnesota was named the second-most unequal state for Black people in a study of Black and White inequality by 24/7 Wall St., a financial news and opinion website.
Despite the ...