ShoreBank Blog
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Archive for the ‘Community’ Category
Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010
Stephanie McHenry, president of ShoreBank’s Cleveland Banking region, recently spoke at the Cleveland City Club on community banks and the instrumental role they can play in leading an inclusive economic recovery. You may not know that since beginning work in Cleveland in 1994, ShoreBank has invested more than $300 million in Greater Cleveland neighborhoods for developing sustainable, residential and commercial properties and growing small businesses. Now is your change to learn more about Stephanie and our work in Cleveland.
An active board member, Stephanie serves on local governing bodies, including those of the Cleveland State University, and ideastream® (public radio and television). And in 2007 she was named one of Crain’s “Women of Note” and received a YWCA “Woman of Achievement” award in 2008.
Enjoy listening to her City Club presentation “Banking to Change the World: Creating Jobs and Empowering Communities” here. What are your thoughts on her presentation?
Tags: city club cleveland, community development, ShoreBank, triple bottom line
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Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010
“Do you know what I think? That main street is making a comeback back,” said my small-town Kansas-raised Dad – and he wasn’t referring to the economy. Triplepundit.com’s recent article Buy Local. Grow a Sustainable Economy agrees with my dad (and apparently many others). It states that “Evidence is growing that ‘going green’ is a community-centric economic mega trend that is creating revenue growth for businesses and meaningful local economic development.” But, is there room to buy local in our lives?
“Local” technically means “existing in or belonging to the area where you live, or to the area that you are talking about.” That includes corporate chains, which can provide more convenient, lower-cost familiar brands than local small business equivalents can. But to me, buying “local” means that the point of purchase is within three miles of my home and, if given the option, one considers or selects a small business over a corporate one. For many, that might be easier said than done for the following reasons:
It’s more expensive to shop locally. It might not cost as much as you might think. It costs approximately $150 per person per month to purchase the groceries listed on the government’s Thrifty Food Plan. A Digital Journal studysuggested that that same person would spend an extra $10.32 to eat locally. And don’t forget the transportation costs you can forego by staying within a three mile radius. You might even be able to leave your car at home and self-power your way there.
But my local store doesn’t carry (insert brand name). According to Susan Witt, Executive Director of the E.F. Schumacher Society, if consumers turn online or to a chain store for a certain product, it can actually help local businesses better identify and innovatively fill gaps in the market place. Remember, many new companies begans as small local businesses.
Big corporations already contribute a lot to my community. Great! But there is room for more. A case study by Civic Economics on Austin, Texas found “local merchants generate substantially greater economic impact than chain retailers.” The study revealed that if someone was to spend $100 at a chain, only $13 would be funneled back into the economy. However, if one spent $100 at a local business, about $45 would go back to fuel the economy. That is not to say we should depend solely on local businesses but rather that if we make room for small businesses, they might be able to better fuel our communities’ growth than a large store might.
There are only corporate chains in my neighborhood. Keep an eye out for and try a new small business if it opens in your neighborhood. You might be pleasantly surprised by what you find.
There really is no good reason to not try to buy local. ShoreBank is committed to developing small businesses in our communities. What are you doing to make room for local businesses?
Tags: buy local, community development, ShoreBank, small business, triple bottom line
Posted in Community | 3 Comments »
Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009
With easy access to the fresh produce that modern supermarkets make possible, it can be easy to forget that you can grow nutritious and delicious produce in your own yard – even if you live in the city. It took battling congestion and a trip to the suburbs for something as simple as a home-cooked meal to open my eyes about the benefits of cultivating an urban garden.
Many people may think of Victory Gardens when they hear the term “urban gardening.” During war time individuals across the country planted gardens in yards and on unused plots. Eleanor Roosevelt planted one at the White House during World War II. Today, however, gardens are back in the limelight – even the White House has one again.
The benefits of gardening in the city are many – and gardens can be even more important in neighborhoods that lack access to good and affordable produce even in stores (“food deserts”). A family garden provides a combination of increased nutrition and decreased cost (some estimate savings of $200 to $500 per year). It also adds a little fun in seeing plants grow.
But what if you don’t have a yard? Unused plots can also be converted into community gardens. Not only do they create a garden oasis, but they can also create an opportunity for neighbors to meet and cultivate a bit of the future together.
A local nonprofit, Growing Home, uses urban agriculture to cultivate lives at a whole different level, as a transitional job training program. Low income and formerly homeless individuals nurture plants in fully organic urban farms. Two of its sites, in fact, are in the middle of the city. Much of the produce is ultimately sold in farmers markets or through delivery, and 100% of the proceeds go back to supporting the program.
My dinner in the suburbs was great. The food I ate had excellent flavor and I was able to explore a tremendous garden. But I really didn’t have to go out of the city for that experience. Urban gardens, it turns out, are growing more than veggies right here.
Tags: community development, food deserts, green banking, ShoreBank, triple bottom line, urban gardens
Posted in Community | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, June 30th, 2009
With all the time we spend online it is nice to have the Fourth of July to look forward to. It is a big day for good old in-person cookouts and picnics with friends and family. And there is no better place to get the food you’ll need than your local farmers market. ShoreBank is lucky enough to host a farmers market every Wednesday during the summer in the parking lot of our branch at 71st and Jeffery in Chicago. I stopped by last Wednesday expecting a little dose of food – and while I got that, I also ended up getting a big dose of family.
I had heard of San Diego and San Francisco but…SanJustins? How did I miss them on my last swing through the west coast? SanJustins is a small bakery stand at the farmers market. It is run by Sandy with a lot of baking done by her son Justin (get it? SanJustin). Even her sister was helping her out. Sandy is building her business in Chicago and has her business plan – for now she is three weeks into her first season at a farmers market. She already has loyal customers (one stopped by for her sweet potato nut bread) and she is testing ideas and responding to market feedback (she added banana nut bread without sugar for customers who might be diabetic).
While Sandy may be in her first season, Andy of Blankenship Farms essentially grew up at farmers markets – this one included. Although Andy has had a stand at our farmers market for 6 years, his parents were previously there for over a decade. And as a little boy he came with them so some of Andy’s customers have known him since he was a kid. And this week – cherries should be coming in!
The “all-in-the-family” trend continued at Mark Farm but in a way that surprised me. This farm is in Indiana but the first person I talked to surprisingly lived across the street from the market, on Chicago’s South Side. Gregory was working the stand after his one minute walking “commute.” But he isn’t the first one in his family to make that short walk to work. His father was a Mark Farm customer who later started working there and Gregory has followed, literally, in his footsteps.
So if your local farmers market is full of great family stories too – and I bet it is – there is actually a way you can leverage your digital expertise to help. The site Care2.com is running an online voting campaign on farmers markets. Vote for your favorite and the market with the most votes will get $5,000. Three cheers for the family of farmers markets!
Tags: community development, farmers market, green banking, ShoreBank, social media, triple bottom line
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Friday, May 15th, 2009
We are excited to sponsor Chicago Green Festival this weekend, May 16-17 at Navy Pier. Green Festival is a fabulous opportunity for ShoreBank to illustrate to others that by integrating economic development and environmental sustainability we can build stronger, healthier communities. Amidst the backdrop of current economic conditions, this education has perhaps never been more important.
Green Festival is the largest environmental sustainability event in the world. It attracts tens of thousands of individuals interested in “green” living. Festival visitors can participate in green career workshops, kids activities, sample organic refreshments, and enjoy live music while gaining a better understanding and appreciation for the 350 small green businesses from across the country that are creating healthier individuals and helping to build strong, sustainable communities.
But, living a more sustainable, green lifestyle takes place in the community, one person at a time. That is why social media has such great potential to reach more people and make positive impressions. So, to celebrate Green Festival 2009, ShoreBank will plant a tree for every new person who becomes a ShoreBank Facebook Fan Page fan this weekend!
But we need your help. Please show your support for ShoreBank’s mission and help protect the environment by sharing our Fan Page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/ShoreBank/21702975841 with all of your friends and family. Green Festival might be in Chicago but environmental sustainability knows no boundaries.
If you are in Chicago, please come to Green Festival, compliments of ShoreBank. Find your free Green Festival admission coupon here. Please stop by our booth at #5000 and say hello! We look forward to meeting you and all of our new Facebook fans!
Tags: community development, green banking, Green Festival, ShoreBank, social media, triple bottom line
Posted in Community | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, April 21st, 2009
To celebrate Earth Day tomorrow I think I will get out my bike. A little exercise, seeing the city and having some fun all sound great. And I have the Active Transportation Alliance to thank! ShoreBank awards an annual Green Neighbor Award to an organization that has had outstanding impact in creating more sustainable practices. We hope that you will be as inspired by this year’s award recipient, Active Transportation Alliance, as I have been.
Two years ago I was talked into participating in Bike the Drive, an annual event run by the Active Transportation Alliance. I didn’t know what the event was – and when I started to get details I was not encouraged. I would have to get up very, very early. And then I would go biking on Lake Shore Drive, which would be closed to cars. I hadn’t been on a bike in years. I didn’t even own one. (I thought that last fact would get me out of the event, but it turns out you can rent bikes…) With no excuses left and a bunch of my friends participating, I was in.
Photo Courtesy of Active Transportation Alliance
The shock was that I had a blast! Hanging out with my friends was fun – but biking was great. I was outside, I was getting exercise and I was actually going places on wheels without a dirty tailpipe. Two weeks later I bought a bike. And I have been member of the Alliance ever since.
Active Transportation Alliance has been a customer for 11 years, but it’s a relationship deeply rooted in our shared commitment to leaving a smaller footprint and to building stronger, healthier communities. Active Transportation Alliance promotes safe bicycling, walking, and public transportation that is also fun and convenient. While I was introduced about the organization from the “Bike the Drive” – since them I have learned that they advocate for a wide array of practices and legislation that supports low impact, transportation “that is good for the environment and good for us.” Their website is full of great bicycling information and ways to get involved in their efforts.
According to the Urban Transportation Report Card, transportation is responsible for 20-60% of carbon emission in major U.S. cities. And many car trips are made within 2 miles of home. However, if you were to bike a 4 mile return trip instead of driving every day for a year, based upon the Urban Transportation Report Card table below, you would reduce your CO2 emissions by approximately 1591 lbs per year.
CO2 Emissions Per Mile (Pounds)
SUV – 1.47
Car – 1.09
Hybrid Car – 0.42
Bus - 0.41
Subway – 0.24
Bicycle – 0
Walking – 0
My favorite story transportation story comes my fellow ShoreBank blogger Sarah Ewing. When Sarah was living in San Francisco she calculated how long it would take to get to the commuter shuttle stop to Silicon Valley – one option was to walk the entire way, the other was to walk to a bus stop, then wait for the bus to take it to the destination. To her huge surprise, it averaged about the same amount of time. “Sounds good, right? But the real impact came in other ways. By walking 4 miles every day for a year, instead of taking the bus, she saved $45 a month on a bus pass and another $110 by going without a gym membership. In addition to the savings, she used the time saved from skipping the work out to sleep-in an hour longer!. But best of all, she lost 10 lbs and had more fun doing it then she could have imagined—P.S. I promised her that I would spare the details of some of the “wild and crazy adventures” she experienced along her daily walk. .
Now that she lives in Chicago I suspect Sarah will join the Alliance too. Wherever you live you ought to be able to find an organization similar to the Alliance just by clicking here. So let’s celebrate Earth Day by resolving to make a positive impact upon the environment and on our own health, and have fun doing it too.
Happy Earth Day!
Tags: Bike the Drive, community development, Earth Day, green banking, green transportation, ShoreBank
Posted in Community | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, March 31st, 2009
“You manage online marketing and social media for a bank?” You may be surprised that any organization in as traditional an industry as banking would ever enter the untraditional arena of social media. But I’m not. Social media is about building community regardless of whether it is online or offline. I believe that it is only logical then that a community development bank, like ShoreBank, would start to engage in social media to develop online communities.
I am consistently surprised by how grounded the online community is in meeting in physical locations. At social media club events, the speakers are often drowned out by attendees’ passionate discussions about their favorite causes. People are no longer ‘Tweeting’ or ’Facebooking’ merely to stay connected with their existing friends. Instead they are implementing social media to find and make new like-minded friends and to invite them to join the conversation. That online conversation often fuels a desire for an action that rallies the most unlikely of allies to a particular location. The impact social media can have on building a crowd is phenomenal.
Take the success of Twestival. On January 8, a ‘tweet’ (or online message sent using Twitter.com) went out asking cities to join in hosting a Twestival on February 12 with the goal of bringing local Twitter communities together both online and offline to kickoff a fundraiser for charity: water. I did not think twice about going. So, with $10 in hand for my donation, I joined the more than 10,000 people across 200 worldwide cities, which raised over $250,000. And almost every person I spoke with at Chicago’s Twestival said, “You manage online marketing and social media for ShoreBank? That is so cool.”
They recognized that ShoreBank’s mission is one about which many people are passionate. We build relationships to develop neighborhoods. Why would we not engage in social media to invite like minded friends to join our conversation? We look forward to building our community with you, your passion, and your ideas.
And we want your ideas to help us turn this blog green in April! David, Joel, and Michelle will blog on environmentally friendly practices that can save valuable financial and natural resources. From economic analysis to green design, there is much that a financial institution can do to positively change behaviors to protect the planet. And no one has a monopoly on good ideas which is why we are inviting you to build a blog post around your input!
Please tell us how are you using the internet and online social networks to help save money and protect the environment.
Comment to this thread or contact me independently and let’s see what impact we can make through our online community.
Tags: community development, green banking, ShoreBank Direct, social media, triple bottom line, Twestival
Posted in Community | 2 Comments »
Friday, February 27th, 2009
Guest Contributor: Ryan Schommer, Project Manager, ShoreBank Building Services
We hear a lot about the environmental impact of cars in the aftermath of record gas prices and global warming. What we do not hear about are the actual parking lots. As a member of the Building Services department, I am responsible for building and redesigning our physical locations to make them more sustainable and energy efficient. We want our designs to serve as models for future upgrades to any physical component of our 35 year history. So, when the bank decided to construct a new parking lot, I was excited to explore options to make it more sustainable.
We wanted our parking lots to provide an environmental impact for those for whom public transportation to our locations is not a viable option despite its accessibility. And fewer parking lots features impact our safety, security, and environment more than out lights - and after careful analysis, LED (light emitting diodes) outdoor lights were clear financial and environmental winners. That is why ShoreBank decided to initiate a pilot program to install outdoor LED lights in the parking lots at one of our branch campuses. In doing so, we became one of the first companies in Chicago to install exterior LED lighting.
LED outdoor lights use 65% less energy and last 7 years longer than either HID or florescent fixtures. For ShoreBank, this energy efficiency will result in an annual reduction of 73000 kilowatt hours, $6000 in energy expenses, and 134000 lbs of carbon emissions or the equivalent of 13 cars (leaving extra space in those lots for you to park). They have a useful life of 12 years, so that also means less waste for landfills.*
Of course, we still want our neighborhoods to be lit enough to deter crime but not so much that our neighbors complain! The icing on the cake is that LED is Dark Sky compliant. That means it provides a truer light designed with control shields to prevent lighting upward or shining into neighbors’ homes. So they keep the light where we want it-aiding in the restoration of the night sky while still helping security cameras and overall area visibility.
Thanks to this project, we now have a sustainable model for 3 more lots to be converted to exterior LED lighting in 2009! This will reduce operating expenses and our carbon footprint. This visible example of ShoreBank’s efforts only illuminates the surface of what we can do, and will do, in being truly sustainable. And while we may have only a few parking lots remaining to receive new lighting, together they can provide a big impact and payback, one LED light at a time. And we are proud to have paved Chicago’s way.
To learn more about LED lighting, visit: www.ledcity.org and www.darksky.org
* Impact Statistics according to David Rosenstein, Connexiones
Tags: community development, environmental sustainability, green banking, green building, ShoreBank, triple bottom line
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Tuesday, February 24th, 2009
Guest Contributor: Daryl Newell, Senior Vice President of Retail Banking
What do Barack Obama, the 2005 World Series Champions Chicago White Sox, and Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson all have in common? If you guessed they made their first big splash on the South Side of Chicago, you’re correct. But before them came the community’s early pioneers whose art, music, poetry and more transformed not only the lives of ordinary Chicagoans but the lives of millions of Americans. And if not for them paving the way, we may have never witnessed the history that was made on that cold afternoon on the steps of the nation’s capital just a few ago.
Just as the story of these people belongs to all Americans, the history of Chicago’s South Side neighborhoods is also the story of America. Whether it was Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Joe Louis, Kanye West or the countless others who drew inspiration from their experience living the city’s Bronzeville neighborhood, the culture that emanated from here is woven into the fabric of the lives of every American. It is what drove two young African American and two white people, active in the civil rights movement in the 1960s and 70s to operate together one of the nation’s first-small business lending programs. It is what fueled their desire to buy a small struggling bank on the city’s South Shore and their passion to demonstrate that it could do good banking while doing good, or in other words, create new economic opportunities and community benefits that are a catalyst for positive social change.
Black History in Chicago reached one of its most impactful periods during the “Great Migration.” Hundreds of thousands of African Americans from the South moved to Chicago’s South Side with one goal: to build a community with the same rights as others. Their metropolis became known as Bronzeville. Today the voices and music of Sam Cooke, Lou Rawls, and Louis Armstrong still echo in the restaurants and clubs that are connected by the same public transportation routes that inspired Ida Wells to organize the NAACP and the ones that go past the baseball fields where Andrew Foster’s Negro National Baseball League was born.
This Black History Month, with the historical election recently behind us, I am reminded like never before of the impact that a community can have on one’s own life and the lives of others. The people that worked and lived here, who struggled here, who played and prospered here before me, not only paved the way for a tall skinny community organizer to find his way to Pennsylvania Avenue, but they opened the door open for a better way of life for me and future generations of Americans.
I know I speak for everyone at ShoreBank when I say we are proud to have played a role in the development of the city’s South Side but that our mission to inspire and create stronger communities continues and is possible because of the support of all of our friends and customers.
Tags: Black History Month, community development, green banking, ShoreBank, triple bottom line
Posted in Community | 1 Comment »
Friday, January 16th, 2009
35 years ago ShoreBank was founded on the South Side of Chicago to provide people unfairly denied credit with access to financial resources and information. And next week a new President with be sworn in – one who started his career in the same areas ShoreBank has been active.
ShoreBank has always been committed building sustainable communities That mission continues today as ShoreBank is one of the nation’s only triple bottom line financial institutions.
Communities, of course, change . As Joel, our manager of triple bottom line innovations, noted in an earlier post, all he has to do is look out his window to see the transformation that has taken place in the local community – other banks have appeared on many street corners. But not just the neighborhoods have changed – the way people want to bank is also evolving too.
When I speak at events here in Chicago I often meet people who are very interested in the way ShoreBank does banking. And they want to invest in this work. They love the stories of local entrepreneurs creating green collar jobs , green businesses, and of homeowners making energy efficient improvements – and they love that we work with borrowers in-person. But like people across the nation they want to manage their savings from a computer at home. And on a freezing day like today I am definitely in this camp.
Banking online is part of “green banking” and it supports our mission to preserve scarce resources and leave as small an environmental footprint as possible. We provide statements electronically instead of in the mail and we don’t need to build extra branches to serve our customers. But how do we create a sense of community when, increasingly, we like to bank alone?
We saw this same challenge in politics this year as now President-elect Obama found a way to engage people using technology – but he still met with countless individuals face to face. We too are working to broaden the ways we connect with the community of people interested in supporting our traditional personal, one-on-one lending. So our online presence is changing. You have already seen some of these initiatives; in fact, you may have opened an Online High Yield Savings Account because of them. We have created a website with stories and videos of our customers and we have included features that make it easy to share items that interest you. We launched this blog and welcome your comments. We hope these stories and information are useful, so please share with us your comments and what other features and subjects you would like covered here too And don’t forget to visit our new Facebook page (Admittedly it is not as well known as the Obama page). This is all relatively new for us and somewhat unusual for a bank.
Even with these new electronic channels, ShoreBank continues to partner with borrowers with traditional personal, one-on-one service. Our ability to be a part of the community – working with potential borrowers, understanding their stores and finding them the best product for long term success – is, and will always be at the heart of what we do.
But in a world were my friend’s three month old daughter already has an email account we know online capabilities will be a significant part of the our future. We look forward to building community in this space too.
Tags: community development, green banking, high yield savings, ShoreBank Direct, social media, socially responsible investing, triple bottom line
Posted in Community | 2 Comments »
