Welcome to the final installment of our Success Series Spotlight. We’ve been featuring black-owned banks, along with ideas and suggestions for supporting them. Today we’ll shine a light on United Bank of Philadelphia. But before that, we’ll give a quick overview and summary of some of the key highlights of this series.
Why Black-Owned Banks Matter
As explained in a previous Success Spotlight article: Black-owned banks are a boost for black community’s buying power and morale. With less than 20 of the 10,000+ banks in the United States being black, it’s important to increase awareness and support for black-owned institutions. Here’s a list of resources (including mobile apps, websites, and reading material) for supporting these organizations and movements.
Black-Owned Banks and Businesses Resources Featured Throughout the Series
Web & Mobile Apps
- Black Nation
- Official Black Wall Street
- WhereU Came From
- I Am Black Business
- Another option is to search social media (particularly Instagram and Twitter) for relevant hashtags, for example, #supportblackbusiness, #supportblack, #blackownedbanks #buyblack
If you would like to learn more about the history of black-owned banks, check out The Color of Money: Black Banks and the Racial Wealth Gap. The book, written by Professor Mehrsa Baradaran, explains the history of black-owned and black-oriented banks in the United States. It’s a grim story. But it’s a story that needs to be told.
A few ideas we’ve featured over this series for supporting black-owned banks:
- Spread the word about black-owned banks and businesses. This is one of the easiest things you can do to contribute.
- Become financially literate. Learn as much as you can about financial literacy and share what you learn with others in your family and community.
- Provide support and encouragement for the young people in your life (and community) regarding financial literacy. We can all agree that young people are the future. So, it’s vital they are equipped with the right tools and knowledge to build and maintain wealth. This starts with adults being good financial role models. That’s the first priority. Next, it’s important that youth have access to education and tools to help them learn healthy financial management habits, and also topics like investments and savings.
What Can You Do to Support Black-Owned Banks? Start thinking about that question as we turn now to our final featured bank, United Bank of Philadelphia.
United Bank of Philadelphia Mission
“The primary mission of United Bank of Philadelphia is to deliver excellent customer service at a profit and to make United Bank of Philadelphia the “hometown” bank of choice. Our goal is to foster community development by providing quality personalized comprehensive banking services to business and individuals in the Greater Philadelphia Region, with a special sensitivity to Blacks, Hispanics, Asians and women.” – United Bank of Philadelphia
Services
United offers a range of banking services, including:
Personal:
Checking accounts
Savings accounts
Credit building loans
Business:
Small Business Administration (SBA) loans
Locations
Center City
30 South 15th Street, 1st Floor
Philadelphia, PA 19102
(215) 231-3674
Progress Plaza
1501 North Broad Street
Philadelphia, PA 19122
(215) 978-5300
As we round out this series, this is a great time to decide what actions you will take to support black-owned banks and business. It’s not enough for us to acknowledge systematic racism. The only way for change to come about is if each of us does something to make the change happen. Even if what you do feels small, every action matters. What actions will you take? What are you willing to do to be a part of the much-needed change?