Community banking is not a new idea—it is a return to proximity. Across the United States, nearly half of Black households are unbanked or underbanked, according to the FDIC. Neighborhood banks—credit unions, cooperatives, and digital community lenders—offer an old solution to a modern gap. They keep deposits circulating within the same ZIP codes that generate them, building small-business loans, mortgages, and jobs.
Local control once defined institutions like Carver Federal Savings Bank in Harlem and Liberty Bank in New Orleans. But small banks face steep odds: strict regulations, rising cybersecurity costs, and competition from fintech giants. Even historic Black-owned banks have struggled to scale or survive. Some experts now promote hybrid models—community-owned funds that use digital infrastructure—to merge trust with efficiency.
The deeper question remains: not only can every neighborhood sustain a bank, but should financial power return to the block level in the first place? If banking becomes personal again, so might accountability and responsibility.
Note: See Discipline Before Dollars for related insight on how structure supports ownership.
For supporting data, read the FDIC National Survey of Unbanked and Underbanked Households.