|
Next on the agenda for
TUFCU is a move. The credit union, now in a strip plaza,
will be moving to a freestanding facility on Dorr Street and
Detroit Avenue, across the street from its current location.
“We are going to build our
own site,” says Cowell. But the process will take some time.
Cowell points to some funding challenges even though she
says that 2008 was the first year the credit union actually
made money. “There were assessments placed on all credit
unions that year, and we were back in the hole,” she says.
“We had to build the business back up.” Cowell says that
thankfully many of those earlier financial backers continue
to support the move. “People have been saying that it’s
never going to happen, but in God’s time it’s going to
happen,” she says.
Meanwhile those involved
remain committed to the original purpose of TUFCU. Board
President Frances Smith says “As a race we are already being
rejected. We want to help people turn around and become
credit worthy individuals so they will be able to go into
any credit union and apply for a loan.”
Part of that plan includes
steering members away from payday loan establishments. “We
have an all out campaign with our members to get them away
from those places, it can be a vicious cycle,” says Smith.
Cowell agrees and says
that these loan companies take advantage of people as do the
buy here pay here auto lots. “You don’t even have to know
how to fill out the paper work. They do it for you,” she
says.
This practice, according
to Cowell, encourages people to get caught up in high
interest loans that they can’t pay. “When you can’t pay your
car loan, then they come and get the car,” she says. “When
they come and get the car then you can’t make it to work.
And if you can’t make it to work and lose your job, then
what are your options?”
But even though the TUFCU
advocates are moving forward and are optimistic about the
future, there are those who remain concerned about the
community’s financial health and its projected ability to
thrive.
Board member and business
owner Edwin Mabrey talks about some of those challenges that
continue to hinder blacks. “My concern is that we as a black
community can’t come together to make things happen,” he
says. “There are so many things that we can do, but there is
a lack of community involvement.”
Mabrey says he is also
disturbed by the decline of black businesses in the area and
the affect it has had on the community. “When you think
about old Dorr Street it was full of black businesses,” he
says.
Mabrey says that while it
is important for blacks to consider opening businesses and
becoming self-supportive, it is also important to keep the
money in the community. “Other people suck off the breast of
the black community,” Mabrey states. “Typically, as soon as
a black person gets money it’s taken outside of the
neighborhood and turned over six times, but inside of the
community that money may be turned over once.”
James Snodgrass Sr., TUFCU
member and supporter since 1996 agrees, “I support this
credit union because it’s in close proximity and a
necessity,” he points out. “This credit union is something
that we need to have and something that we can call our
own.”
Snodgrass recalls the
heyday of Dorr Street. “There is a lot of history on Dorr
Street. This street was lined with stores,” Snodgrass says.
“Then came urban renewal, which is really urban removal. We
need to have something to call our own. Nobody’s going to do
it for us.”
Mabrey, who thinks that the reluctance to begin a business
is multifaceted and includes a lack of trust, a community
that needs to unify, and challenges with credit, also
believes that these obstacles to ownership can be overcome.
“We have to get back to going into business for ourselves,”
he says. “If you have financial problems that are beyond
your capability to solve, the credit union is here to serve
you.”
For now, the steady flow of TUFCU members are a testament to
its commitment and continued success on Dorr street as
customers who wait in line take time to praise the agency.
Toledo Attorney Keith Mitchell who has been a TUFCU
supporter since 1992 says that he continues to do business
there “because it’s a nice banking institution and it
supports our community.”
Peter Coates, a member since 1997, and owner of Pete’s
Custom auto Body & Paint, says about TUFCU “I want to deal
with my own folks and this a comfortable place to be.”
And member Linda Sutton comments as she waits in line to
conduct business, “What do they offer? They give love,
compassion and consideration,” she says. “I wouldn’t go
anyplace else.”
|
