Financial Reform Just A Subway Ride From Wall Street

Five years ago, Bishop Mitchell Taylor had a vision that many people thought was impossibly audacious. Today, Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City presided over the realization of that dream.

Bishop Taylor established East River Development Alliance (ERDA) with the dream to transform the nation's largest public housing communities in Long Island City from neighborhoods of poverty and despair to centers of promise, opportunity, and economic mobility. Bishop purposefully designed a package of programs to empower residents to find jobs, manage their finances, go to college, and strengthen their neighborhoods. 

And today, at ERDA, just one subway stop from midtown Manhattan, we celebrated the achievement of the most audacious challenge of all: the opening of the ERDA Federal Credit Union that Bishop had envisioned as a key element of the model. The credit union was a challenge that most would consider utterly undoable, especially after the fall of 2008. Just to let you know how extraordinary this is, ERDA is one of only two new federal charters granted in 2009.

I say "we" because I serve on the board. 

For continuation, see http://bit.ly/bON71V

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