By Kendra Bryant
Special to the AFRO
Bank of America hosted “Maximize Your Growth,” a three-day event focused on financial literacy and wellness at the Bon Secours Community Resource Center on Sept. 30 to Oct. 2.
“The community’s financial health is as important as its physical and mental health, so we brought all of those elements together here,” said Ruben Chandrasekar, executive director of Bon Secours.
Attendees had access to free financial workshops, health screenings, home ownership information and career opportunities.
According to the Urban Institute, 13.8 percent of Black households did not have a checking or savings account at a bank or credit union, compared with only 2.5 percent of White households.
Many Black people cited mistrust of banks as their reasoning for not opening accounts.
“The reality is, you can trust the bank,” said Janet Currie, president of Bank of America Greater Maryland. “The misperception is that people think it’s the brick and mortar that is the bank. It’s not. It’s the people who are the bank. They’re the same people you go to church with. The same people whose children go to school together.”
Bank of America works to bridge the gap between banks and the community by serving neighborhoods directly.
“Even though we’re a big bank, we operate locally because as employees, we live here,” said Currie. “We work here, we worship here, we play here. This is our community.”
Health and wellness vendors at the event included health care providers Kaiser Permanente and Accent Care, along with the Maryland Food Bank and the local nonprofit group, Love in the Trenches (L.I.T.T.), which offers support for families grappling with issues related to addiction.
Kafi Parker, the Binti Circle community outreach coordinator, was also on hand to offer resources.
“Black people are so underrepresented. We’ve always been,” said Parker.“The Binit Circle is a support group for daughters who work as full-time caregivers for their parents. I wanted to create something for us, to ensure that we’d have a space to support each other.”
Once an abandoned library, the Bon Secours Community Resource Center was redeveloped with the support of Bank of America and local corporations.
“We noticed that children didn’t have anywhere safe to play or create in the neighborhood,” said Chandrasekar. “So we built a multipurpose center that’s primarily used by children after school. We provide art programs, STEM and a gymnasium where kids go to play basketball in the back.”