Capital One invests in neighborhood’s future

Capital One Bank rolled out their Martin Luther King Jr. Neighborhood Place-Based Initiative, a launch to revitalize and redevelop the neighborhood through smart banking.

The MLK PBI represents a strategic investment by Capital One Bank to enhance and expand economic opportunities for families and businesses in the MLK neighborhood though a multi-faceted community revitalization. The investment for Year 1 totals nearly $100,000.

Chris Haskew, North Louisiana market president for Capital One, said for him, since opening their 2010 branch inside Southern University at Shreveport’s Business and Community Development Center, it was the perfect expansion.

“We felt putting the Place-Based Initiative in the MLK area made the most sense and just building out from it,” he said. “We felt like this area was in the most need.”

Bringing the branch to Southern University was a no-brainer for Haskew and Capital One; they had worked in the past with the university and Green Oaks Performing Arts Academy.

“[Southern University] is the artery of that community,” Haskew said. “That university is paramount in this.”

The Capital One Bank Shreveport- Bossier Community Corps Council (local associates who participate in Capital One Bank activities throughout the year) will be involved in the MLK PBI activities, including recruitment of bank volunteers.

Haskew said Capital One Bank seeks to lead these efforts to implement innovative programs and services by solving multiple issues faced by neighborhood residents and businesses. Capital One will work with leaders in the MLK neighborhood and nonprofit partners on these four areas of focus:

Education

Capital One will provide primary and secondary education programs, post-secondary and adult education programs focused on college or career readiness, programs designed to enhance teacher effectiveness and potential scholarships for select students at Green Oaks High School to attend Southern University.

Lydia Jackson, community development banker for Capital One, believes having the program in the neighborhood is vital for improvement and growth.

“Within the MLK community, folks can start at 2 years old at the early childhood learning center and go all the way through to their associate degree at Southern and stay in the neighborhood,” she said. “We thought it was a great place to focus on what we can do to create a tangible difference in the neighborhood.”

Small Business and Workforce Development

One of the features of this focus is to give small business owners and entrepreneurs the tools they need to survive.

Capital One will not only provide workforce development programs that teach skills in various jobs but will work with ACCION Texas-Louisiana inside Southern University.

ACCION is a multi-state, nonprofit small business lender with a mission to provide credit and service to small businesses that do not have access to loans from commercial sources. ACCION provides individual business loans from $500-50,000 for startups and up to $250,000 for established businesses, with all loan funds repaid to ACCION reinvested in the community.

Capital One will also assist with job creation and technical support for emerging businesses. Affordable Housing More than 1,000 volunteers took up rollers and brushes this year to paint around 70 homes for Paint Your Heart Out Shreveport. The community endeavor is meant to help the disabled and elderly spruce up their homes by painting, planting and building items for their homes.

This was the 22nd year of the event, and as title sponsor, Capital One has been with the project since the beginning.

“It’s very important for us to be a good neighbor,” Haskew said.

He said 10 of those homes were in the MLK neighborhood, a push from him to prove that Capital One is there for the neighborhood.

“We’re hoping to double that number in 2015,” Haskew said.

Financial Literacy

“I think it’s underserved in education,” Jackson said. “We want to start that thought process at an early age.”

Capital One will provide educational tools and programs for low- or moderate-income individuals and schools that can help participants gain skills to make positive financial decisions. Their focus will be kindergarten through grade 12, young adult, families and seniors.

There will also be customized training modules to help students manage college debt, along with teaching children about money management and basic business skills.

“The computerized modules train to manage student debt, manage their credit card debt so hopefully they will emerge with skills not just for the workforce but skills for their life,” Jackson said. “If they stay in the neighborhood, it can start the cycle of self-sufficiency.”

–Derick Jones