Our Community
Neighborhood Trust Federal Credit Union opened its doors in 1997 in response to the growing financial disenfranchisement of Upper Manhattan. Washington Heights in particular represented the challenges facing the Latino immigrant community, striving for financial mobility, but waylaid by structural barriers to wealth creation and the perils of a ubiquitous fringe banking industry grown up to fill the financial services void.
Overwhelmingly low-income and Latino, Washington Heights comprises the largest concentration of Dominicans outside the Dominican Republic. It is one of the most crowded urban landscapes in the nation, with 300,000 people living within three square miles, with consistent and rapid growth among the Hispanic population. It is also one of the most underserved communities in New York City.
Sixty percent of households are headed by single women. According to Census 2000 data, Washington Heights is New York City's fourth highest populated community district with 208,414 residents, most likely a significant undercount due to the strong anecdotal evidence of undocumented immigrants in the hundreds of thousands. Seventy-four percent of this community is of Hispanic origin, with estimates that 80% of this figure represents Dominican immigrants; Washington Heights is known as the largest Dominican community in the world outside the Dominican Republic. The median household income in Community District 12 (Washington Heights and Inwood) is $28,865, with 20% of households earning less than $10,000. Thirty-five percent of the community receives some form of public income support. Not only does this neighborhood have the highest number of people speaking Spanish at home among New York City neighborhoods, it also has by far the highest number of what the Census Bureau calls "linguistically isolated households" among all New York City communities.
A profile of our own program graduates reveals a community with myriad barriers to financial mobility and little access to mainstream financial services and affordable credit. Fifty-six percent of those served in fiscal year 2007 had less than a high school education and 42% had incomes less than $10,000. Fifty-nine percent were previously unbanked. Forty-three percent had no credit history and 51% had credit scores lower than 600. Among those with a credit history, the average outstanding debt was $14,495, greater than the cohort's average annual income. |
