A Bank for Virginia Lovers
A decade ago, in the last economic crisis, mainstream banks abandoned Dianna Bowser and the Southside Community Development and Housing Corporation, where she’s executive director. Founded in 1988, the nonprofit builds homes and provides counseling for first-time homeowners in and around Richmond, Virginia.
“They stripped us of our construction lines of credit,” says Bowser. “It was devastating.”
But that’s when Bowser first encountered Virginia Community Capital, a relatively new bank at the time. The bank stepped in to finance a major construction project for her organization. It has an unusual nonprofit ownership structure, a mission to serve underserved or disinvested communities, and startup capital that came from the state instead of private investors like most banks.
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