Destinations Credit Union and Operation HOPE to celebrate grand opening of HOPE Inside office at Parkville location
BALTIMORE, MD (July 11, 2019) — Earlier this year, Destinations Credit Union and Operation HOPE launched a partnership to bring credit and money management coaching to the Greater Baltimore community. Offered at no cost to participants, HOPE Inside Destinations includes a HOPE financial wellbeing coach providing educational workshops and one-on-one coaching. The Credit and Money Management Program, a core focus of the award-winning HOPE Inside financial empowerment model developed by Operation HOPE, is designed to transform disabling financial mindsets teaching people the language of money, how to navigate credit, and make better decisions with the money they have. Destinations is the first credit union in the country to offer HOPE Inside. The services of the HOPE financial wellbeing coach are completely free and open to both members and non-members of the Credit Union. Destinations has provided office space and resources for this HOPE Inside office at the Destinations main office in Parkville located at 8767 Satyr Hill Road.
WHO:
Brian Vittek, President and CEO, Destinations Credit Union
John Hope Bryant, Founder, Chairman, and CEO, Operation HOPE
John Bratsakis, President and CEO, MD | DC Credit Union Association
Kylie Delgado, Program Manager – Bank On Maryland, Cash Campaign of Maryland
Kyle Swisher, Executive Director, Credit Union Foundation of MD & DC
Rodney Hood, Chairman, National Credit Union Administration
Evan Richards, Legislative Aide, Office of Senator Kathy Klausmeier
WHAT:
Grand opening event for HOPE Inside office at Parkville Branch.
WHEN:
July 18, 2019 | 4:00-6:00 p.m.
WHERE:
Destinations Credit Union
8767 Satyr Hill Road, Baltimore, MD 21234
John Hope Bryant, founder, chairman, and CEO of Operation HOPE and nationally-recognized leader is the featured speaker. Mr. Bryant, along with Destinations Credit Union CEO, Brian Vittek, will be available for interviews prior to the event on July 18th. Yolanda Hobbs, HOPE Financial Wellbeing Coach, will be available along with a few HOPE Inside clients who will be available to talk about their experiences and how this initiative has helped them. All members of the media are invited to attend. Please contact Carol Szaroleta to confirm attendance at 410-663-2500 ext. 124
The U.S. economy remains strong, but many Americans, particularly in the Baltimore area, are financially stressed and have a tough time making ends meet. According to the Federal Reserve, total credit card debt has eclipsed $1 trillion and 40 percent of Americans would have trouble finding $400 to pay for an emergency.
To help people get back on track and stay on track financially, Destinations Credit Union has partnered with Operation HOPE to provide educational workshops and one-on-one coaching through the HOPE Inside office at Destinations. HOPE Inside Destinations is available to the entire Greater Baltimorecommunity, not just members of Destinations.
At HOPE Inside Destinations, a HOPE financial wellbeing coach provides clients with the tools to improve credit scores, make better financial decisions, break disabling mindsets, increase savings, and manage debt.
In just the first quarter since opening the HOPE Inside office, Destinations Credit Union is making a difference:
· A client’s home was prevented from going into foreclosure
· Clients’ average FICO scores went up by 56 points
· Savings balances went up an average of $382
· Average debt went down by $9,350
About Destinations Credit Union
Destinations Credit Union is a $60 million financial institution located in the Parkville area of Baltimore County. It was originally chartered the Baltimore Transit Company Credit Union (later MTA Credit Union) and now serves over 250 employers, community groups and associations in the Baltimore area.
Since 1935, Destinations Credit Union has operated as a not-for-profit, member-owned and operated financial institution. Destinations Credit Union exists to promote thrift and a source of low-cost credit for individual members. In essence, our only reason for being is to help our members do better financially.
About Operation HOPE
Since 1992, Operation HOPE has been moving America from civil rights to “silver rights” with the mission of making free enterprise and capitalism work for the underserved—disrupting poverty for millions of low- and moderate- income families across the nation. Through our community uplift model, HOPE Inside, which received the 2016 Innovator of the Year recognition by American Banker magazine, Operation HOPE has served more than 2.8 million individuals and directed more than $3.4 billion in economic activity into disenfranchised communities— turning check cashing customers into banking customers, renters into homeowners, small business dreamers into small business owners, minimum wage workers into living wage consumers, and uncertain disaster victims into financially empowered disaster survivors. Project 5117 is our multi-year four-pronged approach to combating economic inequality that aims to improve financial literacy, increase business role models and business internships for youth in underserved communities, and stabilize the American dream by boosting FICO scores. Operation HOPE recently received its fourth consecutive 4-star charity rating for fiscal management and commitment to transparency and accountability by the prestigious non-profit evaluator, Charity Navigator. For more information: www.OperationHOPE.org. Follow Operation HOPE on Twitter and Facebook @operationhope or contact Caryn Anderson, 404-941-2919, caryn.anderson@operationhope.org.
