More than a dozen JARC partners and local business owners joined Amalgamated Bank Community Reinvestment Act Officer Jonathan Vazcones on a walking tour of the Jerome Avenue Corridor last month. The participants advocated for a greater range of banking services for the community, and highlighted the unique range of challenges faced by local residents and business owners.
“I was thoroughly impressed and deeply grateful for the Walking Tour of Burnside Ave and Jerome as well as with the opportunity to meet with [the] JARC membership,” Vazcones said. “It was evident that while the pandemic was waning, the effects on the community remained. Speaking to various small business owners and community partners further illuminated the need to consider the small businesses — and their services — as the engines of economic recovery in our neighborhoods. I’m thrilled to know that there is a strong and stellar organization in the JARC, providing much needed support and assistance to the small business recovery of the Burnside and Jerome Ave corridors.”
The walking tour began in front of 94 E. Burnside Ave., which housed a brick-and-mortar Amalgamated Bank location until September 2020. Community members spoke passionately about the void Amalgamated left when it closed its doors in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. They noted that local business owners had a closer relationship with Amalgamated than Chase Bank, whose local Burnside branch was closed for almost two years during the pandemic.
The tour continued at the McDonald’s at 2065 Jerome Avenue, where Vazcones and the JARC partners had the opportunity to hear from the store’s manager and get a good look at one of the corridor’s only ATM machines. The visit was a stark reminder of the financial challenges local residents face on a daily basis.
From there, the group visited Plus One Auto Repair Corp., where they met with an auto mechanic. The auto industry is pivotal to the corridor’s success, and was profoundly affected by the 2018 Jerome Avenue rezoning deal. The group also spent time at and heard from business owners at the Bronx Optical Center and the Morris Heights Health Center, before finishing at the Davidson Community Center for lunch and a community meeting.
The West Bronx has fewer banking resources than more affluent communities, which affects residents and local businesses alike. As a result, the JARC drafted a four-page community-driven CRA plan, which outlined a short set of priorities it hopes Amalgamated Bank will fulfill for this region. This plan includes:
- Strengthening economic opportunities for small workers and small businesses;
- Supporting the sustainability of community-based organizations;
- Facilitating necessary community development and homeownership;
- Increasing residential lending (1-4 family), especially for Black and Brown families;
- Advancing community development lending;
- Increasing accessibility and equity around affordable financial services for residents;
- Strengthening the likelihood of loan approvals for area small businesses, and;
- Strengthening financial opportunities for community-based organizations.
The JARC partners also emphasized three priorities that Amalgamated Bank could help effect right away:
- Expand banking access for immigrant New Yorkers by allowing online accounts to be open with IDNYC, foreign identifications like consular and cedula cards, and/or passport without a visa;
- Establish a small business and worker support fund for the area;
- Help another banking institution or credit union (i.e. LESPFCU) to serve as an additional physical presence in the West Bronx.
The Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) of 1977 encourages banks to meet the credit needs of the communities they serve, including low- and moderate-income neighborhoods. As the largest union-owned bank in the United States, Amalgamated has a long and storied history of providing affordable and accessible banking to the West Bronx.
The JARC hopes to foster a sustainable partnership with Amalgamated that will benefit local businesses and residents for years to come.