La herramienta para enviar se dinero

La herramienta para enviar se dinero
Originally uploaded by rllayman.

A couple weeks ago, I wrote about the presentation by a Fannie Mae Foundation person at the National Main Streets Conference. I mentioned that his presentation infuriated me, because much of the anti-preservation anti-authenticity actions by Community Development Corporations (such as the H Street CDC in Washington) has been funded by the verysame foundation (or similar entities like LISC).

He made a point that commercial district revitalization programs should be concerned with financial acumen and practices on the part of lower income residents who might be served by our commercial districts. And that if they banked more intelligently, they would have more disposable income that they could spend in our commercial districts, instead of paying it away in check cashing fees.

Last week, I saw this ad on the H8 bus (which serves Mt. Pleasant). Even if your Spanish is basic, like mine, the sign is completely understandable.

Home Depot has created an ATM card system allowing for money transfers and multiple cards on an account, usable in multiple countries. Given how many Hispanics work as construction laborers in this country, it's really quite smart.

Regardless of what the FMF guy said, there is too much for Main Street programs to do to take up "social and other" issues other than those specifically related to commercial district revitalization.

In fact, getting involved in social and/or justice issues is one of the "pitfalls" identified by the tough love approach to commercial district revitalization written by Ed Crow in his book Myths and Pitfalls: On the way to a new vibrancy in older retail districts.

But this is one area where it's worth reaching out and working with Home Depot, if the demographics of your commercial district warrants it.

It's also the kind of thing that Fannie Mae Foundation could have done, because this needs to work on a national and international scale, something that tends to be out of the normal way of doing things for neighborhood commercial district revitalization programs.

Index Keywords: household-finances-wealth-management