The story of People’s Community Partnership Federal Credit Union, chartered in 2000 in Oakland, California, is deeply tied to the history of Oakland itself. Caught in the crossfires of de-industrialization, and transportation development—West Oakland’s employment dropped, its poverty grew, and its residents were displaced. As businesses left the neighborhood, check cashers and predatory lenders moved in, while mainstream banks vanished. For many years, low-income residents of West Oakland had nowhere to go for affordable financial services.
In the late 1990s, a local activist named Sandy Turner approached the East Bay Community Law Center for help. Maeve Elise Brown, an East Bay Community Law Center attorney, listened. Together they organized other concerned people in the community to explore viable options. After surveying the needs of the community, they decided to pursue a charter for a new credit union.
The result was People’s Community Partnership Federal Credit Union. This is the story of a credit union that, with hard work by many people, offered fair and affordable financial services, bringing financial opportunity and access to a severely underserved community.