Transforming Capital to Transform Lives

Of the 1.3 million members of the “life-saving sisterhood” of GirlTrek, 56% live in the South. So when it came time to invest some of the organization’s funds, the organization’s leaders turned to HOPE because they knew and valued CEO Bill Bynum’s work of creating economic mobility for underbanked communities.

“We had conversations about how we could invest in our communities. We wanted to invest in organizations that were Black-owned and where we knew the money was going directly to the communities,” said Kallima Clarke, GirlTrek Chief Operating Officer. GirlTrek motivates Black women to start walking as the basis for transforming their health and well-being, and changing the statistics that 81% of Black women are overweight and that Black women’s life expectancy is five to 10 years below other groups. The organization contends that these health outcomes result from generations of trauma, systemic racism and high incarceration rates, and aims to increase the life expectancy of Black women by 10 years within 10 years.

Seeing a link between HOPE’s mission and its own, the organization made a $250,000 Transformational Deposit in the Hope Credit Union in 2023. “We’re basically helping ourselves,” Clarke said.

GirlTrek’s deposit furthers HOPE’s goal of importing $275 million in low-cost, federally insured deposits into opportunity deserts across the Deep South. Depositors made up of mission-aligned individuals and corporations are motivated by the idea that their money provides the capital HOPE deploys to close the racial wealth gap through small business and homeownership loans.

“We talk about walking, talking and solving problems,” Clarke said, adding that HOPE’s mission of economic empowerment aligns with GirlTrek’s focus of addressing the “Three I’s” that negatively affect Black women’s health and stability: Inactivity, which can be fixed by walking just 30 minutes a day; Isolation, which limits opportunities for collaboration and idea-sharing; and Injustice, including economic disenfranchisement, which can be effectively addressed when Black women are united in pursuit of individual and communal well-being. “We say get out, put your sneakers on, and while you’re walking, you’re talking with members of your community,” Clarke said.

HOPE’s Transformational Deposit program also appeals to individuals like Chiwanda Duplantier of New Orleans, who likes the idea of “paying it forward” by putting her money in a HOPE account. Duplantier, a Veteran of the Armed Forces, is retired from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, where she worked in human resources. Duplantier has deposited about $30,000 with HOPE, after a friend told her that the institution helps underbanked communities obtain financial services that they cannot access elsewhere.

“At one point in time I wasn’t able to get credit for a Snickers bar,” Duplantier said, adding that now that she’s more financially stable, her deposit can help give that opportunity to others.

“Based on how our society is built, we know it’s not fair to everyone,” Duplantier said. With her transformational deposit in HOPE, she said she’s now in a position to change that and make a positive impact on our society.