{"id":155282,"date":"2025-08-18T08:39:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-18T08:39:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/155282\/"},"modified":"2025-08-18T08:39:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-18T08:39:10","slug":"oped-community-banks-are-l-a-s-change-makers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/155282\/","title":{"rendered":"OpEd: Community Banks Are L.A.\u2019s Change-makers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p3\">With more than 28 years in banking \u2013 and the last 12 focused specifically on community banking \u2013 I have seen firsthand the powerful role that local financial institutions play in helping people and businesses turn opportunity into reality.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\">My experience has taught me that community banks are not just lenders. We are connectors, problem-solvers and partners. This perspective shapes how I view our responsibility \u2013 we exist to serve and show up where it counts most. That is what makes this conversation about the future of community banks in Los Angeles timely and essential.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\">Los Angeles knows how to sell a dream. But there is a part of that L.A. story no one puts on billboards: dreams need funding. And big banks are not picking up the phone.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\">Forget the glitzy towers in downtown L.A. and the flashy quarterly promotional ads. Real transformation often happens in branch lobbies, local storefronts \u2013 and loan applications.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\">That is where Los Angeles\u2019 community banks step in. Small, neighborhood-focused and powerful, they are the financial players giving thousands of Angelenos not just lines of credit, but access to equity, opportunity and dignity.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\">Throughout Los Angeles, many business owners demonstrate remarkable resilience and ingenuity in navigating during a crisis. These success stories serve as an example of how planning, adaptability and a proactive approach to leveraging resources like partnerships with community banks can help these businesses find a financial lifeline.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\">By the numbers in L.A. County:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"p5\">Roughly 30 state-chartered community banks remain headquartered in L.A. County, providing local leadership and relationship-based lending.<\/li>\n<li class=\"p5\">Over 600,000 residents in 46 neighborhoods live in banking deserts \u2013 ZIP codes with no access to a single bank or credit union.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"p5\">Big banks often say \u201cno.\u201d Community banks say \u201cLet\u2019s talk.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\">Community banks do more than fund small business loans. Through the Mission Valley Bank\u2019s philosophy of Bank Local, Build Local, our Community Development and Reinvestment (CRA)\u00a0efforts support the nonprofits doing the work that holds communities together \u2013 providing financial literacy, youth programs, shelters and arts initiatives.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\">We back these organizations with capital \u2013 delivering impact that national banks often chose to pass on.\u00a0And we do it while offering relationship-based service, real people answering phones and decisions made right here in L.A. County.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\">Consider a charter school in Los Angeles that struggled to secure expansion funding through traditional lenders. A local community bank stepped in, understanding the value not only of test scores, but of community impact \u2013 and helped them grow enrollment and resources.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\">Or Carousel Ranch in Santa Clarita, which provides equestrian therapy to over\u00a0100 children with special needs\u00a0each year. A community bank helped them expand their facility and stabilize operations with a real banking relationship. Or a family-run manufacturing company in Burbank facing a seasonal cash crunch. A flexible line of credit \u2013 delivered by a community bank \u2013 kept their production moving and their workforce intact.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\">On Capitol Hill and in local government, the message is clear:\u00a0we need this ecosystem to endure.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\">Between 1994 and 2024, community banks across the U.S. have shrunk from over\u00a010,000 to fewer than 4,000 \u2013 a dangerous consolidation that reduces access to capital and financial services in places that need them most.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\">For L.A.\u2019s entrepreneurs, access can mean everything. Community banks provide the kind of early capital and trust that big institutions often overlook.\u00a0It is a critical infrastructure.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\">Los Angeles lives on creativity, diversity and resilience. Our community banks reflect that spirit. We invest in people before profit, in neighborhoods before numbers. If we want a future where every small business can dream big \u2013 and start small \u2013 then keeping community banking alive is more than a conversation, because in this city, the dream only works if it\u2019s funded. And right now, community banks are the ones still writing the check.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\">This is not transactional \u2013 it is foundational.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p4\">Justin Stewart is senior vice president of community banking at Mission Valley Bank, a financial institution based in Sun Valley that attained Community Development Financial Institution status in 2007. He joined Mission Valley in March.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With more than 28 years in banking \u2013 and the last 12 focused specifically on community banking \u2013&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7646,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,2961,224,5337,90604],"class_list":{"0":"post-155282","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-la","11":"tag-los-angeles","12":"tag-losangeles","13":"tag-mission-valley-bank"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115048871652882714","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155282"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155282\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}