Changing the World with Community Investing

CHICAGO, Illinois, August 27, 2007 (ENS) - In 1973, ShoreBank pioneered the concept that a bank focused on lending in underinvested minority communities could help reinvigorate local economies, making a profit while creating a better future for the neighborhoods it serves. Thirty-four years later, the practice of community development banking has come of age.



ShoreBank now invests more than $1 million each day in community development and conservation loans. In addition, 62 community development banks across the country now work toward the same goals. Like ShoreBank, these institutions engage in the practice of community development banking, providing residents and businesses in communities often ignored by traditional banks with access to fairly priced, equitably underwritten credit products.

The socially responsible investment community is a critical resource of capital for community investing. In response to the Social Investment Forum's challenge to socially responsible investors to place one percent of SRI assets in community investing, investments at Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) have nearly quintupled from the $4 billion identified by the Social Investment Forum a decade ago.

Between 2003 and 2005, investment in CFDIs grew by 40 percent to $19.6 billion, according to the Social Investment Forum's 2005 Report on Socially Responsible Investing Trends in the United States.