Impact Talks: Rethinking Money, Power & Community with Oscar Abello
Join us for a timely conversation & meet Oscar Abello, author of "The Banks We Deserve: Reclaiming Community Banking for A Just Economy”
Self-Help Federal Credit Union and Destination Crenshaw invite you to a powerful Impact Talks event with journalist and author Oscar Perry Abello, whose debut book, The Banks We Deserve: Reclaiming Community Banking for A Just Economy, challenges us to think differently about who our financial systems really serve, and who’s being left behind.
The book draws on Abello's near-decade of reporting on economic justice for Next City, an independent, nonprofit, digital newsroom covering solutions for social, racial and environmental justice in cities.
We've never done anything big in this country without little banks, despite what big banks or big tech might want us to believe. Locally-owned, locally-controlled financial institutions have and continue to make key investments in communities that big banks were never designed to make. But not every community has had the same opportunity to create their own local financial institutions. If we want to do big things like close racial disparities in wealth and income, build all the housing we need at prices people can actually afford, or transition to a clean energy future, we can't afford to sit around and wait for big banks to do it for us on their schedule. Let's start a conversation about how we can build and support local and mission-driven financial institutions to get it done on our schedules.
Date: Monday, September 22nd, 2025
Time: 4:30 PM – 7:00 PM PT (NEW START TIME)
Location: Destination Crenshaw - 5462 Crenshaw Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90043
Space is limited - please RSVP. Light appetizers will be provided.
About the Author
Oscar Perry Abello is a journalist covering alternative economic models and policies in cities across the country. He is currently senior economic justice correspondent for Next City, an independent, not-for-profit, online publication covering cities from the lens of social, racial and environmental justice. His writing has also appeared in Yes! Magazine, City & State New York, Impact Alpha, Shelterforce, and other outlets.
Oscar is a child of immigrants descended from the former colonial subjects of the Spanish and U.S. imperial regimes in the Philippines. He was born in New York City, and raised in the inner-ring suburbs of Philadelphia. He has a bachelor's degree from Villanova University, where he majored in economics and minored in peace and justice studies. He spent several years embedded in the international development industry before transitioning into journalism full-time in 2015. He currently lives in Washington Heights with his domestic partner and the two most photogenic kitties in the world.
About the Book
In The Banks We Deserve, journalist Oscar Perry Abello argues that community banking has a crucial role to play in addressing urgent social challenges, from creating a more racially just economy to preparing for a changing climate. At their best, community banks unleash the agency and aspirations of the communities that establish them. Abello challenges people working on racial justice, community development, or addressing climate change to start more community banks or credit unions as part of their work, while also calling for policies and regulatory reforms that will help tilt the landscape back in favor of community banking.
The Banks We Deserve tells the stories of new community banks — like Adelphi Bank, in Columbus, Ohio, the first new Black bank in 20 years; or Walden Mutual Bank in Concord, New Hampshire, the first new mutual bank since 1973 and the first chartered specifically to finance a more sustainable food system; or Climate First Bank, in St. Petersburg, Florida, which has grown exponentially since opening for business in 2021. He hopes these stories inspire others to take some of these same daunting-but-not-impossible steps.
For a community or industry that is being ignored by big banks, the idea of starting up a new bank or credit union rarely figures as an option. In The Banks We Deserve, Abello shows advocates, organizers, and innovators that it can be done, that it is being done, and describes a path to support more community banks and credit unions.
This event is especially valuable for:
- Community champions, nonprofit leaders, and anyone curious about how we drive systemic change with our money
- Impact investors, advisors, and funders seeking to align capital with racial and economic justice
- CDFI partners and financial professionals building new models of inclusive finance
Join us for a timely conversation & meet Oscar Abello, author of "The Banks We Deserve: Reclaiming Community Banking for A Just Economy”
Self-Help Federal Credit Union and Destination Crenshaw invite you to a powerful Impact Talks event with journalist and author Oscar Perry Abello, whose debut book, The Banks We Deserve: Reclaiming Community Banking for A Just Economy, challenges us to think differently about who our financial systems really serve, and who’s being left behind.
The book draws on Abello's near-decade of reporting on economic justice for Next City, an independent, nonprofit, digital newsroom covering solutions for social, racial and environmental justice in cities.
We've never done anything big in this country without little banks, despite what big banks or big tech might want us to believe. Locally-owned, locally-controlled financial institutions have and continue to make key investments in communities that big banks were never designed to make. But not every community has had the same opportunity to create their own local financial institutions. If we want to do big things like close racial disparities in wealth and income, build all the housing we need at prices people can actually afford, or transition to a clean energy future, we can't afford to sit around and wait for big banks to do it for us on their schedule. Let's start a conversation about how we can build and support local and mission-driven financial institutions to get it done on our schedules.
Date: Monday, September 22nd, 2025
Time: 4:30 PM – 7:00 PM PT (NEW START TIME)
Location: Destination Crenshaw - 5462 Crenshaw Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90043
Space is limited - please RSVP. Light appetizers will be provided.
About the Author
Oscar Perry Abello is a journalist covering alternative economic models and policies in cities across the country. He is currently senior economic justice correspondent for Next City, an independent, not-for-profit, online publication covering cities from the lens of social, racial and environmental justice. His writing has also appeared in Yes! Magazine, City & State New York, Impact Alpha, Shelterforce, and other outlets.
Oscar is a child of immigrants descended from the former colonial subjects of the Spanish and U.S. imperial regimes in the Philippines. He was born in New York City, and raised in the inner-ring suburbs of Philadelphia. He has a bachelor's degree from Villanova University, where he majored in economics and minored in peace and justice studies. He spent several years embedded in the international development industry before transitioning into journalism full-time in 2015. He currently lives in Washington Heights with his domestic partner and the two most photogenic kitties in the world.
About the Book
In The Banks We Deserve, journalist Oscar Perry Abello argues that community banking has a crucial role to play in addressing urgent social challenges, from creating a more racially just economy to preparing for a changing climate. At their best, community banks unleash the agency and aspirations of the communities that establish them. Abello challenges people working on racial justice, community development, or addressing climate change to start more community banks or credit unions as part of their work, while also calling for policies and regulatory reforms that will help tilt the landscape back in favor of community banking.
The Banks We Deserve tells the stories of new community banks — like Adelphi Bank, in Columbus, Ohio, the first new Black bank in 20 years; or Walden Mutual Bank in Concord, New Hampshire, the first new mutual bank since 1973 and the first chartered specifically to finance a more sustainable food system; or Climate First Bank, in St. Petersburg, Florida, which has grown exponentially since opening for business in 2021. He hopes these stories inspire others to take some of these same daunting-but-not-impossible steps.
For a community or industry that is being ignored by big banks, the idea of starting up a new bank or credit union rarely figures as an option. In The Banks We Deserve, Abello shows advocates, organizers, and innovators that it can be done, that it is being done, and describes a path to support more community banks and credit unions.
This event is especially valuable for:
- Community champions, nonprofit leaders, and anyone curious about how we drive systemic change with our money
- Impact investors, advisors, and funders seeking to align capital with racial and economic justice
- CDFI partners and financial professionals building new models of inclusive finance
About Self-Help Federal
Self-Help Federal is part of the Self-Help family of non-profit organizations with a common mission and leadership. Our mission is creating and protecting ownership and economic opportunity for all, especially people of color, women, rural residents and low-wealth families and communities.
We do this by providing responsible financial services, lending to small businesses and nonprofits, developing real estate and promoting fair financial practices. Self-Help has delivered $12 billion in financing through more than 174,000 loans to families, individuals, and organizations across the nation.
Altogether, Self-Help Credit Union and Self-Help Federal Credit Union have merged with 19 credit unions and two banks to create a network of over 80 branches serving over 235,000 people in ten states.
SoCal has 3 SHFCU full-service branches located in South LA, Wilmington/South Bay, City Heights/San Diego, and one dedicated loan center in the City of San Bernardino.
Impact Talks are Self-Help’s events designed to inform and engage like-minded community champions, non profit leaders, and impact investors to discuss relevant topics in community development.
About Destination Crenshaw
Destination Crenshaw is a 1.3-mile cultural and economic revitalization corridor celebrating Black Los Angeles. Designed as a cultural landmark, multimodal mobility hub, and climate-resilient public space, the park will feature permanent public art installations by renowned Black artists, shaded gathering spaces, sustainable landscaping, and an elevated viewing platform.
Through the development of the Destination Crenshaw project, Destination Crenshaw is building global cultural and economic platforms that allow Black artists and businesses to thrive and drive investment that supports the Black community.