Move Your Money From July 27-31 for Racial Justice, Small Businesses
LFA’s #MoveYourMoney campaign takes aim at big banks from July 27-31. Learn more: banklocalaz.com
Ready to #MoveYourMoney?
Today marks the beginning of our week-long Move Your Money campaign! If you read our BLM statement, here’s the next actionable step in standing for racial justice and small business support: getting your dollars out of non-local banks that don’t invest in Arizona. Move Your Money was created in an effort to help Arizonans recognize the role that they can play in helping Arizona create a more sustainable, diverse and competitive economy.
Local First will make the transition easy by providing a switch kit, directory of local banks and credit unions, and local success stories in Arizona that spotlight the power of local lending.
At glance:
91 percent of Arizonans’ deposits, earned by hard-working residents, sit in non-local, out of state banks
Roughly 70 percent of those Arizona deposits, totaling $88.5 billion, sits in three megabanks: Chase, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America.
Arizona only has 13 local, community banks, but studies show they recirculate a significantly higher percentage of dollars back into the local economy through loans, large and small in all communities.
RACIAL JUSTICE AND EQUITY
We can sign petitions. We can protest. But one of the fastest ways you make a dent in the racial wealth gap and stand for justice is to remove our money from the mega-banks that have chosen to make it much harder for communities of color and small business owners to access capital and wealth. Mega banks have historically redlined Black, Latino and Indigenous customers, meaning they have denied access to services through raising prices selectively, created fraudulent accounts and have made it harder for them to obtain generational wealth. Despite redlining being illegal, global mega-banks continue the practice in various forms. When you move your money to a local bank, you are sending the message that you don’t support these practices and believe everyone deserves an equal opportunity for success.
SMALL BUSINESS ACCESS
Like all start ups and new ventures, small businesses need access to capital to be able to launch, scale up and thrive. Recently, small businesses have relied on PPP funds and other grants as they have weathered the effects of COVID-19. Unfortunately, large banks have failed to be as proactive in issuing these relief loans. According to Forbes, more than 3,600 community banks contributed roughly $250 billion of PPP funds to small businesses, with non-bank lenders chipping in $6.3 billion and credit unions adding in another $5.1 billion. The 33 largest banks— those with more than $50 billion in assets— provided $167.3 billion, just short of 40% of the total pie. This lack of lending to small businesses occurs outside of one-of-a-kind relief funds; it happens all year long, with big banks providing less than 20 percent of all small business lending. When you move your money to a community banks or credit union, you are providing greater capital for them to reinvest in small businesses and build a stronger local Arizona economy.
SOCIAL RESPONSIBLE INVESTMENTS
When you deposit money at global bank, they will take those funds and reinvest them. Do you know what your money is supporting when it sits with a big bank? Usually, big banks invest in private, profitable prisons, coal, oil and contribute to many societal issues today such as global warming. Additionally, many of these investments are outside of Arizona and are not helping our local economy . On the other hand, community banks almost always reinvest back into our local economy through a significantly higher amount of loans for small, local businesses and community giving. When you choose to bank locally, you are really choosing to invest in your neighborhood and build a more sustainable future for Arizona.
Join us this week as we fight for a stronger Arizona and pledge to #MoveYourMoney!
PARTICIPATING BANKS AND CREDIT UNIONS:
Alliance Bank of Arizona, Arizona Central Credit Union, Arizona Federal Credit Union, Coconino Federal Credit Union, Commerce Bank of Arizona, Copper State Credit Union, Desert Financial Credit Union, Gateway Bank, Horizon Community Bank, Hughes Federal Credit Union, Landings Credit Union, Marisol Federal Credit Union, Mission Bank, OneAZ Credit Union, Republic Bank of Arizona and Vantage West Credit Union.