Embedded in History: CDFIs and Black Economic Justice
At CDFI Friendly South Bend, we know the connection between the CDFIs we work with and the industry’s long commitment to addressing racial economic injustice, as well as its deeper historical roots in the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. This history fundamentally shapes our mission.
This Black History Month, we are recommitting ourselves to the fight for a just and equitable economy in our community and we invite you to join us.
We have selected some resources that document and analyze the history of Black community development and the role of CDFIs. We share some of these resources below.
This Black History Month and beyond, our organization and our community can turn to resources such as these to develop a deeper understanding of the campaign for racial economic justice with which we are connected, and to continue it.
Overview Resources
Black Financial Empowerment: The Long, Hard Road - Cliff Rosenthal
In this article, Cliff Rosenthal outlines his book Democratizing Finance: Origins of the Community Development Financial Institutions Movement. In it, he provides an effective lineage of efforts to promote Black wealth and financial access, referencing many of the sources and tracing many of the developments listed below.
The CDFI Coalition: What are CDFIs?
In this article, the CDFI Coalition, a CDFI advocacy group, gives a brief overview of the history and characteristics of CDFIs and connects them to earlier efforts combating racial economic injustice.
Community Development Corporations (CDCs) and the CDFI Era
In the 1960s and 1970s, a “first wave” of Community Development Corporations began, epitomized by Black community-led efforts in New York City. These CDCs have significantly shaped the community development landscape and the rise of community development funds, particularly in the rise of CDFIs and leading up to the creation of the Treasury CDFI Fund in 1994. “In the successes of many of these early CDCs lay the foundation for today’s CDFI industry” (The CDFI Coalition).
In this article, Alexander von Hoffman effectively describes and connects the roots of CDCs, CDFIs, and Black Credit Unions in a cohesive history of community development.
Referenced as two “first wave” Community Development Corporations, the Harlem Development Corporation and Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation show the important, nuanced role that Black communities played in the rise of CDCs. Kimberley Johnson provides an in-depth history of both CDCs in this article.
Black Credit Unions
Beginning in the early 20th century, Black community development credit unions were established to provide financial services when mainstream institutions refused to serve Black people. These self help institutions worked against racial discrimination to provide financial access to underserved communities and continue their work today.
African American Credit Unions - The University of North Carolina Southern Oral History Program
This exceptional piece sheds light on the history of Black credit unions in North Carolina through interviews with 8 individuals who started, grew, and used these institutions from 1944 to the present to counter racial financial exclusion.
Community Development Credit Unions: Securing and Protecting Assets in Black Communities
Jessica Gordon Nembhard, Howard University Center on Race and Wealth
In this paper, Jessica Gordon Nembhard provides an excellent history of community development credit unions, their historical and current role in Black communities, and their place in the CDFI and community development spheres.
The Freedman’s Savings and Trust Company
A federal effort in 1865 to build Black wealth following Emancipation, the Freedman’s bank failed due to “mismanagement, abuse, and outright fraud” (Washington) by its white leaders, wreaking long-term financial havoc on Black communities.
In this article, Reginald Washington explores archival evidence surrounding the Freedman’s Bank and its eventual collapse.
Why a 19th-century bank failure still matters - University of Chicago News
This article and video tell the history of the Freedman Bank, coupled with research which shows the persistent consequences of its failure and similar failures to provide equitable financial access for Black Americans.