Coordinator: Welcome, and thank you for standing by.
Participants are in a listen-only mode
until the question and answer session of today's conference.
At that time, you may press * then 1 on your touchtone phone.
to ask a question.
Today's conference is being recorded.
If you have any objections, you may disconnect.
Now I'd like to turn the conference over
to Mr. Tim DeLessio.
Thank you, sir. You may begin.
Tim DeLessio: Thank you, and welcome, everyone.
This is our second Money Smart for Small Business Town Hall
for 2018.
I'm pleased to be here.
I am working as the Acting Associate Director
for Community Affairs at the FDIC.
However, I am normally the manager of the Boston office.
And just to let you know,
we have managers for community affairs
that you can contact off of our website in Atlanta,
Chicago, Dallas, Memphis, Kansas City, New York,
Boston, and San Francisco.
I want to take a moment and thank Paola,
for putting this together
and sharing this work of Money Smart Small Business
and creating this kind of virtual community we have now
with all of you participating.
I think we have a great program
where we can share some great programs are out there.
And we're going to have First Florida Integrity Bank
with the speaker Frank Rodriguez,
who shows an enormous amount of experience
in small business and development.
And we also have near and dear to my heart, representatives
from HarborOneBank in Massachusetts,
and Maureen Wilkinson and Sheila Farragher.
I hope I pronounced that correctly.
And they will be talking about their program
and their training centers as well,
which have done an enormous amount
in small business lending.
And I have a lot of history with HarborOneBank,
so I'm very pleased to see them participating.
So my understanding is we have
308 registered participants today.
And we appreciate the interest level and the activity
to help small business development
that you do out in the field.
And we hope we can begin to
continue to share everyone's knowledge
with each other and answer questions
and help improve the program overall.
I think our Money Smart Small Business
has really evolved over time.
We have changed it and updated
and a lot of it comes from the feedback
we receive from you and we appreciate that.
So the Money Smart for Small Business program
is a product that was cobranded
with the US Small Business Administration.
SBA always joins us in welcoming town hall participants.
And today we have Nathaniel Bishop,
Program Manager at the SBA's Office
of Entrepreneurial Education in Washington DC
to provide brief welcoming comments
and to remind us of how banks work with the SBA.
Following Nathaniel's remarks,
Our Money Smart for Small Business
national point of contact will provide a few reminders
and announcements,
and each bank presenter will introduce themselves.
Nathaniel, please tell us about the SBA banking relationships.
Nathaniel Bishop: Perfect. Thank you for that introduction.
And as always, great to partner here with the FDIC.
And also I thank the community.
We love getting out there with our resource partners
and sharing information.
But today I just want to talk about how it's important
to collaborate with our partners
and why it's so key and why it's so vital.
Three things: why is collaboration so important?
So collaboration is so important
because we all have a common purpose
of promoting America's entrepreneurial potential--
not only with the SBA resource partners,
but also through the banking community.
The second thing, is the creation of jobs
and the economic opportunities through the formation
and maintenance and expansion of
small businesses within the United States.
And lastly, with that last piece is
why is it so important to collaborate...
Paola Diaz: I'm sorry to interrupt, Nathaniel.
If you try-- if you can try to improve your audio
because we can't hear very well.
Thank you.
Nathaniel Bishop: Is this good right here?
Can you hear me?
Paola Diaz: Perfect.
Nathaniel Bishop: Okay then.
And the last piece I wanted to talk about
in terms of the collaboration
is key on why it's so important to collaborate
is that it strengthens and improves the ability
of the nation's small and minority firms
to grow and compete in the global economy.
But that's always vital when you talk about small businesses
and also with the banking community.
Second, how can the banking community continue to help?
There's various ways where the banking community can help
not only our small businesses or our entrepreneurs,
but one good thing that the banking community
or at least three things the banking community can do is,
they can reach out and connect with
other organizations also
to deploy the curriculum, is one method.
Another one is to deliver the curriculum through the community
as financial education initiatives
that many banks have as well.
But also one of the key things that we like
is partnering with our SBA resource partners--
not only just the small business development centers,
helping out with some of the curriculum,
women's business centers,
and near and dear to my heart, the SCORE as well,
is helping out people deliver the curriculum.
So what are the benefits?
Well, the benefits is that once an entrepreneur, you know,
goes through the Money Smart for Small Business curriculum
but also information working with the lenders,
it helps a well-informed entrepreneur
when that entrepreneur has to sit across from that lender.
Also, entrepreneurs can demonstrate profitability
and show strong balance sheets when they go through
the Money Smart for Small Business.
And lastly, entrepreneurs can deliver a great product
or service, you know, within their community.
And lastly here to finish up,
just want to touch on some key takeaways here.
So the key takeaway is that always continue to educate
through financial education--
not only through like I say, our resource partners,
but also with our banking community.
Discover strong strategic partnerships or alliances.
And lastly, this will help entrepreneurs
understand financial planning concepts.
So that's why it's so important to collaborate with
our resource partners,
but also collaborate with other organizations
in the community as well.
Paola Diaz: Thank you very much, Nathaniel.
And we couldn't overcome the audio problem
but thank you for your information.
I am Paola Diaz, the national point of contact
for Money Smart for Small Business.
We will be using the acronym MSSB going forward
to refer to Money Smart for Small Business.
My job is to support our community affairs specialists
nationwide, to assist organizations
that are using or considering
Money Smart for Small Business,
and to further develop our product
in collaboration with the SBA
and the feedback we receive from users, as Timothy said.
Again, welcome.
Before we invite our two guest organizations to join us,
I will go over three items-- a disclaimer, tutorial,
and reminders.
So reference to any specific organization
does not constitute an endorsement,
a recommendation, or a favoring by the FDIC
or the United States government.
How to participate in this webinar--
in your screen or slide six
you have a model of the webinar platform.
On the left-hand side you should view the slides
and on the right-hand slide you should view various functions.
Participants can communicate by using the Chat feature,
marked with the number one,
and ask questions to the panelists
if they come to mind during the designated time
through the Q&A feature, number two.
When using the chat or Q&A functions,
please type your question in the window that pops up
once you click on the icon marked with number three,
and make sure you hit send, number four.
If you lose the slides,
look for a green and blue circle icon,
number five, in your taskbar or reopen the webinar link.
We will conduct a poll for instant feedback
at the end of today's event.
The polling questions will pop up
on the right-hand side of your screen, number six.
You can send us text messages via the Chat or the Q&A function
while I finish my remarks
to make sure that you know how they work.
But if you're having technical difficulties
to join the webinar platform, please contact Joan Gustafson.
Her email is on slide number two
which was emailed to all of the registrants.
Or it is also available for download in the event website
where you-- which you went to register.
Also, check your email and go to the tab event presentation
to download.
A few reminders--
town hall webinars are recorded.
I always get this question
and so I need to repeat it every time.
You just have to go to the Money Smart website
Money Smart for Small Business section
and find the hyperlink to past town halls
and future town halls.
Please use the Money Smart for Small Business
Train-the-Trainer curriculum
to host trainings for instructors at any time.
You can also request help from FDIC
as long as you are a Money Smart Alliance Member.
And a very important new announcement is that
anyone is just two clicks away from downloading
the Money Smart for Small Business modules
and flyers in English and Spanish
for free at the FDIC catalog.
You can see the website in your slide number seven.
Having an account is no longer required.
We've made it easier for everyone to download.
And we will be updating our Money Smart for Small Business
Credit and Banking Module soon.
It will be made available via the catalog.
Information about past town halls and a link to sign up
to the Money Smart Alliance and other Money Smart events
is at the www.fdic.gov/moneysmart.
Pretty memorable.
I hope you don't have to write it down.
Please be reminded that all participant lines are muted.
And I want to remind you our guest speakers
will introduce themselves.
And first, we're going to have presenters from
First Florida Integrity Bank.
I'm going to pass the mic over to Frank Rodriguez
and Barbara Melvin.
Frank, thanks again for working on this presentation.
We are eager to hear and learn from your experience.
Thank you.
Frank Rodriguez: Thank you, Paola,
and thank you to all of you for your assistance.
And I only hope that everyone out there
is enjoying the nice weather
that we have here in southern Florida.
And I have been in banking for 15 years--
mainly business and community development.
However, I did some mortgage lending
and small business lending.
At the time that I was at SBA, I was offering the loan program.
Great experience.
And for 45 years, I have been a small business consultant.
And private practice and assisting people
get started in business
and setting up their business, growing.
And 20 years for the last 12 years,
teaching Money Smart for Small Businesses
in partnership with government agencies
and nonprofit organizations.
I'm talking about the SBDC, SCORE,
and economic development organizations and such,
and also local nonprofit organizations.
I have been able to create this micro business initiatives
in a way that I was able to lead the creation of
the Collier County Microenterprise Corp,
back in 1999,
and that draw the support of about 20 to 23 banks
that contributed and collaborated for the program.
As a result of that, I was recognized by
the US Small Business Administration
as a financial service and small business advocate
for that year in Florida.
And my partner, Barbara Melvin, please introduce yourself.
Barbara Melvin: Sure. I'm Barbara Melvin.
I've been in banking over 25 years
and worked in the small business development area for the bank,
and also the community relations area.
So we do a lot of Money Smart training,
teaching out in the community.
And then, partner with Frank and different nonprofits here
and just been enjoying what we're able to do with teaching
because we know that everybody,
from small business owners to our kids,
they all need Money Smart.
So we're just so excited to be out in the community
to teach this program.
Frank Rodriguez: Also, that's how we work in partnership
between Barbara and myself--
going out and doing the outreach.
First Florida Integrity Bank was established in 2009,
as a local community bank.
And is under the philosophy of the golden rule.
And under that philosophy, superior customer service
is the primary focus of our services
and all of our culture is based on that.
It's committed to financial performance,
community, and state involvement,
shareholder retain, and employee satisfaction.
We outreach to low and moderate income people
and smaller businesses.
We serve approximately 25% or more of the area population.
We provide business and personal business banking services
with offering type of accounts and services
that are accessible to low or moderate income individuals.
And we are an SBA lender, but not active in that capacity.
Doing the outreach throughout the community,
what we find most effective
is developing partnership relationships
with organizations that service our target market.
And we are looking to serve
low and moderate income individuals and people and areas
to help in the economic redevelopment of the area
and the individuals.
One of the key partnerships we have is
with Goodwill Industries,
and the Microenterprise Institute,
and specifically with the Spanish Microenterprise Program.
This program runs for six weeks once a year.
At the beginning, we started by actually proposing this
to the group as a new thing for them.
And myself, and another four banks
joined in as the first sponsors of the program.
As of now, we have 11 banks that join in.
We have seven foundations, two municipalities
and a major retail chain store that are sponsoring
and supporting the program.
Funds raised from resources are used to teach Money Smart.
Other panelists are a law firm, SCORE, accountant,
local government, insurance agent,
and The Accelerator.
The Accelerator is a business incubator
that started just about a year ago
and so far has expanded from the area of Naples,
into Immokalee, where we are developing also
another economic development activity
in partnership with other organizations
that we were correlated.
From the Spanish Microenterprise Program,
the outcome has been and this started in 2014.
Thirty-six people graduated from it.
Twenty-three started or expanded their business.
Two of them were able to get two microloans for expansion.
And two of them received micro-grants
financed by sponsorships.
To qualify for this,
Goodwill established the microloan program
and we endorsed and also partnered with them.
And we are one of the banks that offer microloans
under the Goodwill program.
The program is offered in Spanish two days a week,
three hours each day for six weeks
to low and moderate income participants.
The requirements are just to have a business idea,
to be 18 years or more of age,
and then, at least ten classes out of 12,
and of course, register.
There is a cost associated with the program, which is $80.
However, 65% of participants
have qualified for a full scholarship.
Goodwill handles the eligibility and qualification
for the scholarship,
and they also take care of the eligibility for the program.
Our income qualified participants we all know,
that will be in the category of very low, low,
and low to moderate income.
We hold these classes at partner facilities,
which at this point we are using or have been granted to use
all of the United Way facilities in Collier County.
Therefore it involves multiple partners and sponsors.
As of now, we will see in the next few slides,
how many sponsors we are actually having
and the amount of invitations.
The program-- at every class we have an evaluation
that comes from the participants.
And then at the end, we do have a survey
that will give us an idea of what we need
the next focus for workshops or for counseling
or for support that they may need.
I'm sorry.
I didn't know it was wrong, the slides.
Let me do that now.
Anyway, what we are looking at is the two graduating class
from the Spanish Microenterprise Program
from the 2016 and 17 class.
The one at the top, 2017 class,
I'd like to mention that from right to left,
you see the lady in blue,
Sandra is the Director of Education
for the Goodwill Enterprise in southern Florida.
And next to her is the facilitator of the classes,
from the Microenterprise classes.
Then the graduates,
and at the far left, is myself, next to a coach.
And in this programs, I also volunteer as a coach
and I serve as a teacher at the same time,
teaching the MSSB Financial--
the Small Business Financial Education.
Out of these group, of the 2017 class,
two of them are the ones that received the grants
from public program.
The 2016 class that you see down below
has a interesting story.
There are 11 graduates and two of them,
if you look at the far left
there is a gentleman and a young lady smiling.
The gentleman is the father of the young lady
and the father was the one who raised her
to get his automotive repair business expanded
because he was operating from the home.
So he was a home-based repairist.
And he asked his daughter to accompany him
so that she can help him go through the program.
Well, surprising enough is that,
the daughter, through the program,
the daughter discovered that she could actually start
a daycare business by herself.
And that was the kind of a surprise to everyone
because she came only to assist her father
and finally she was able to identify
through the feasibility plan
that she could also set up the daycare business.
You are looking at the Spanish micro graduates
that received grants.
The one on the top is a lady who offers
the service of decorations for parties.
And she decorates your location,
be home, be a salon, be any other location,
she will do the decoration
and she transforms the whole thing
along with your-- according to your theme
that the customer chooses.
The lady below has the business of specialty cakes
that she prepares.
So, both of them received a $1,000 grant from my programs,
through the Goodwill program.
What you see on your right is a sample of a flyer invitation
that we use for these Spanish microenterprise classes.
This one happens to be the one
that it covers the current plan that is rolling,
that will be finished next week on Monday.
Below on the left on that flyer, you see the list of sponsors.
At the beginning, there were only five of us.
Today, you see a long list of sponsors
that have been-- that joined,
and have been supporting the program.
This flyer circulates throughout the county
and southwest Florida as well.
How we go about actually promoting and using MSSB,
is basically, we joined the microenterprise program
with Goodwill.
We also do standalone workshops with other organizations
which we support from the program design
through the implementation.
We develop, we provide the technical assistance
to get everything set up and organized,
and then we also participate and sponsor in the workshops.
It is all used in combination
with resources offered by partners,
which in the case of the partnership
that we developed with NAACP;
is that, NAACP do have an economic development program
and Barbara can attest to that,
and now is the vice president of NAACP,
but we have knowledge that we joined
the economic development program by adding--
and expanded by adding workshops for small businesses
by way of an informative forum.
Forums are held in a way that there is no instructor.
It's not a lecture.
It is a kind of presentation that lasts
from 8:00 in the morning through 1:00 in the afternoon.
We provide a light breakfast and lunch
as an incentive for people to come on and participate.
And what we have is a facilitator
that introduces and manages the agenda
and also introduces subject matter experts
to talk about different topics.
The purpose of the forums is to bring out information
about resources and access to services
available to small business or new entrepreneurs,
to get support in different ways.
It could be counseling.
It could be financing.
Or it could be any other legal assistance
or any other service that they may need.
Each MSSB is customized with a facilitator
and some subject matter experts,
but it's customized to the needs--
that of the participants
that we learn from the survey that we take
during the open workshops-- open forums.
We also enrich the MSSB content viewed in classes
and for groups with other Money Smart curriculum
and resources that come--
and help to make it more close to home,
to those who are new to business,
or who, for the first time ever,
they will be running a business
and they definitely want to have the benefit
of having better understanding of what it takes.
Dealing with other partnerships, with NAACP
and the Immokalee Chamber of Commerce.
And Immokalee, those of you who may not be familiar with it,
it's a community traditionally composed of farm workers.
It's an agricultural area.
Its income levels are low and low-moderate.
And it's a large majority of individuals in the area.
The Chamber of Commerce in Immokalee is having
bank and economic development programs
to diversify the economy in Immokalee, as a sort of rent.
That's why we have The Accelerator in Immokalee now.
That is part of the whole program.
With NAACP, we partnership with them.
It's where they do identify
and recruit participants to the forums.
They provide collateral material,
secure the event location,
and also provide the event facilitator.
And that's great help.
We provide the sponsorship.
We provide financial support.
And we provide volunteers who teach
and to also work one-on-one with the participants.
The Immokalee Chamber of Commerce,
they advertise the event through local media
and Chamber activities.
They implement door-to-door,
business outreach to promote the event.
And they recruit local and small business owners to attend.
From the Collier county government,
they provide simultaneous Spanish to English translation
for trainings with the NAACP
and the Immokalee Chamber of Commerce.
And that is an extraordinary effort
that is being put in, in Immokalee
because definitely, there is a need
and there is an opportunity in Immokalee,
to promote and to develop the economy
and diversify the economy now.
Barbara Melvin: Right. I just wanted to add also,
to all of you on the phone that are, you know,
looking at different types of partnership,
as Frank said not only do I work at the bank
but I'm also the first Vice President with NAACP.
And we know that there was a need for economic development,
especially with people who want to get into business,
to go into business.
So what we have developed with the Chamber,
with SBA, we've had, like Frank was talking about the forum.
Many different partners came together to make it
such a success to where we had different partners
in the community that came out
and it was just a wonderful thing.
So, if you guys want more information of doing that,
it really helps.
So working with the individual agency,
such as your Chambers,
your other nonprofits, NAACP, other nonprofits out there,
banks that come together for CRA.
That really gave us even more CRA credit.
So, you know, partnering with these types of businesses
really work, even to get the word out
and to let people know if they're thinking about
being an entrepreneur,
these are some events that we've done
to partner with the community.
Frank Rodriguez: That is wonderful
when you are able to develop this type of relationship
with community organizations that serve the marketed target
or use the market that you are looking for.
On the next one, we want to go into
what happens after the workshops.
And basically, certificates are issued
and that is something that gives some touch of accomplishment,
some message of accomplishment to participants
that they do receive something
that is more than just a thank you and a handshake.
They receive a certificate, and that certificate tells
that they already satisfactorily completed
whatever modules on the Money Smart
or financial management program we offer.
So they can show that at the bank.
They come to any bank with that certificate
and at least they can show to the bank officer
or loan officer that they have taken the time
to get educated in financial matters
for personal or business.
The MSSB workshops for the next sessions
are identified on survey results,
and that's how we are able to target the most interest.
Then, one thing that happens as a result of the workshops
is the feasibility or business plan
that is done during the actual class or session.
There is one-on-one counseling by SCORE
and also by bank officers like myself or Barbara.
We meet with participants and we try to help them
develop their program and their concepts.
We hold quarterly group meetings
with graduates from the microenterprise class.
The idea is to open up, to learn from them any difficulties,
any positive, any good news, any new things
that they develop through after graduation.
We provide assistance.
And as a final advice, it's important to identify
and develop partnerships with organizations
serving your target market.
Incentivize partner organizations
with financial support for their programs,
use the MSSB as your content,
and join Money Smart Alliance if you are not.
As a member, you receive all kind of support,
important, from FDIC and SBA to reach the target audience.
And with that, we are open for questions.
Paola Diaz: Thank you very much, Frank, for that presentation.
And at this time, I want to open it up
for questions from the audience.
I believe we have a couple on the queue.
So I'm going to ask my colleague Joan Gustafson to read them.
Joan Gustafson: Frank, can you please tell us
how did you form the coalition with the 11 banks in your area?
Frank Rodriguez: The way it worked is that
I do have a contact information for loan CRA officers
throughout the area.
We are talking about around 40 or more.
Some of the CRA officers are not local
but I do still have their information.
When the opportunity with Goodwill came up
to develop and start the Spanish Microenterprise Program,
I emailed all of them.
I explained what the purpose of the message
and what it was that we were trying to do.
And out of them, we were able to get the first time
were able to get four banks that joined in.
And there were five of us then at that point.
This is back in 2014.
And as of today,
the result is that not only myself,
but also the director of the education program with Goodwill
also contacted all the banks
and now, we are getting the support
from 11 banks so far.
Paola Diaz: Thank you very much, Frank.
That was a great answer.
Now we invite Maureen Wilkinson and Sheila Farragher
from HarborOneBank.
Sheila, I will give you the control in a minute.
Sheila Farragher: Okay.
Maureen Wilkinson: Good afternoon.
My name is Maureen Wilkinson
and I am the Vice President of Education
and the CRA Officer at HarborOneBank.
My experience in banking spans over 30 years.
I've previously been the CEO of three credit unions
and after a strategic merger with HarborOne in 2009,
since then I've enjoyed
being more of an individual contributor
focused on community engagement and reinvestment efforts.
Sheila Farragher: And my name is Sheila Farragher.
And I'm the Assistant Manager at HarborOne U.
I've been in banking for 11 years
and 7 and a half years I've been with HarborOne U,
and the community education efforts that we've had.
Maureen Wilkinson: So to tell you a little bit
about HarborOneBank's background,
we were actually established as Brockton Credit Union
in Massachusetts in 1917.
So we recently celebrated our 100th anniversary.
We're over two and a half billion in assets.
We converted to a community bank in 2013.
And, you know, although our name and our charter
has changed over these past 100 years,
the three pillars by which we operate have stayed consistent.
We focus on providing exceptional customer service,
we are community driven,
and we operate with our integrity
without compromise.
As other large community banks, we offer
all of the products and services you can think of,
from personal to small business, commercial, and municipal.
We have been committed to the growth and success
of our communities and that's why we launched
what we call HarborOne U,
which the U does stand for University
although we don't spell it out.
But we've been providing a range of educational services
to help individuals and businesses
aspire and achieve quite a bit.
We have been providing small business training
since 2010, in a formal environment
at two of our locations in Mansfield and Brockton.
On the next slide, you're going to see
a snapshot of southeastern Massachusetts.
This colored portion of the map depicts our CRA assessment area.
It consists of 49 cities and towns
which has 213 census tracts.
The census tracts are highlighted
and those that are yellow and gold
represent the low and moderate income geographies,
while the green and the blue
illustrate the upper and middle income census tracts.
The education program my colleague Sheila will detail
serves this entire assessment area and beyond.
At HarborOne U over the past ten years,
we've actually served folks
from 300 different zip codes at our classroom locations.
And with that, I'm going to turn it over to Sheila
to further describe our education program.
Sheila Farragher: Okay, thank you Mo.
So as Mo mentioned, HarborOne recognizes that
knowledge is a key factor in driving success,
which is why they established HarborOne U which is known as
one of the country's first centers
devoted to financial education,
life and career management services,
and small business assistance.
So as she mentioned as well, we've been teaching
small business classes at HarborOne U
since January of 2010.
In February of 2015, HarborOne, was approached by the FDIC
in developing three of their newest MSSB modules, which were:
Is Owning A Small Business A Good Fit For You,
Planning For A Healthy Business, and Managing Cash Flow.
They were looking to attract low and moderate income
and minority business owners to attend these classes.
And at our location in Brockton,
we were able to help them fulfill that by, you know,
marketing towards the businesses owners in that market
because there are a number of low to moderate income
census tracts in that area.
And so, then we used this, the MSSB modules
to create our own program,
which we call Success for Small Business.
That one? Okay.
So this is a copy of our brochure.
And then it just kind of gives a background of, you know,
HarborOne and HarborOne U,
why we developed the program, you know,
in an effort to support economic growth
in the communities that we serve.
And we have the core classes.
We... um...
Okay, yes.
So we developed the program
to support economic growth in the communities
and to provide assistance to the small business owners
and also to increase small business lending.
We redesigned the program a few times
to meet the needs of the business owners.
And currently we offer two modules or two formats.
One is an accelerated program which we offer in two evenings
from 5:30 to 8:30 where we cover the five modules.
Or we also offer it in a boot camp,
which is a one-day
where we could kind of cover the material as well.
So, when we started offering the boot camps,
they were very popular.
But then we recognized that, you know, there are many people
that couldn't take that day off from work.
So we decided to break it down in two evenings
rather than having them done individually,
which was how we started out offering it.
But we found that these two methods really work best for us.
So once they completed either the boot camp
or the two evening program,
the graduates are eligible for a $5,000 business line of credit.
That can increase
after a year of being in good standing,
that line of credit could increase to $10,000.
And they do have to--
there is a credit approval involved in that.
We do have online registration but walk-ins are welcome.
Okay. So, the goal--
you know, initially, the goal was to increase
the small business loans for CRA consideration.
We shared the MSSB modules with our risk department
and they decided which modules would be a requirement
for those to apply for the business line of credit.
We initially started out with six core sessions
which were a requirement for the line of credit.
And you know, we say we're flexible.
We wanted to be flexible and innovative.
And so, on the brochure,
we had the loans as subject to credit approval.
Flexible and innovative credit underwriting parameters
are considered.
So in order to be,
applicant has to have at least a 600 credit score,
which we believe to be fairly,
you know, it's a pretty low credit score.
So, you know, we are certainly working with, you know,
individuals, you know, that need some help.
And so, initially we started out,
as I said, we had the six individual classes.
It took a long time
for people to actually complete the whole program.
They might take like three or four,
and to get them to complete the program took some time.
So we had decided, you know, we opted...
we opted to...
yes, so we opted to do the boot camp.
So the bank employees and outside industry experts
taught the class.
We provide the presentation, the slides, and the workbooks.
And as we mentioned before, preregistration is requested
but walk-ins are allowed.
And so, all of this is done in a classroom setting.
We don't have online at this time.
Okay, so then, so what kind of makes our program
a little bit unique is that we hired a paid instructor.
So we found that with the employees and industry experts,
that it was--
a lot of times there wasn't consistency
in what was being delivered.
And so we hired someone that we knew she had a background
at the Mass Small Business Development Center
and was also a trainer.
She taught a lot of our social media classes,
had a great rapport with our attendees.
So we asked her if she would...
She looked at all the modules
and then she kind of developed her own materials.
We provide a workbook and then as well as a flash drive
that have all the original MSSB modules on it.
She also created some spreadsheets
that we also add to that flash drive.
So that, you know, when they are creating that business plan
or they're going over their financials
that they can actually plug it right into the spreadsheet
in the Excel format.
Okay. So, some of our key metrics--
so we started this in 2015.
So you know, through '18,
we've had 50 individual sessions.
We've had six boot camps
and four accelerated two-evening sessions.
We've had 418 participants
that had taken at least one class,
and we've had 200 graduates.
Of that, we've had 20 approvals for the business line of credit.
And of those 20, 5 have actually increased to the $10,000.
We've gained four brand new HarborOne customers
from those that have attended,
and 15 new business checking accounts.
And then, in addition to the lines of credit,
we've also done four additional small business loans.
So just as the other group,
we do have a certificate upon completion of the program.
We have a VP of business development
that follows up with all of the graduates.
We just recently added a Wrap Up Session--
which we actually just had it Monday night--
that we've invited past graduates
to come for a session with Tricia White
who's our instructor.
And she just kind of goes over all the different things
that they need to do
in order to apply for the business line of credit.
Typically, the people fall into one of three categories.
They're either interested but not ready to apply
for the line of credit.
They may have some credit issues
which our business development officer
will kind of coach them through,
trying to help them increase their credit score.
Those that are interested and that are ready to apply.
And then, there's just a lot of people
that come to the class just for the knowledge.
They're just looking to learn,
not necessarily looking for that business line of credit.
So here's a picture of, you know,
a number of our graduates
at a couple of our different locations.
And as you can see the--
So the final advice is to-- I was just going to say
that Tricia White is kind of the woman.
She's our instructor and she's the common denominator
in all those pictures-- and has the short blonde hair.
So, our final advice would just be to, you know,
adjust constantly-- you know, do what works for you.
You know, feel free to make changes to the program.
You know, we are constantly adjusting
and just doing kind of what works for us.
As we mentioned, there is a credit approval required.
We try to-- as I mentioned, we have the wrap up class
just as a way to try to increase the loan applications.
When we first started this, we... you know,
after every kind of graduation,
there would always be a number of people
that would apply for the line of credit.
And then recently we just had-- we don't necessarily know why--
but a lot of people haven't been applying.
So, you know, we just kind of wanted to boost that again.
And then, just to say that the MSSB curriculum
is a great tool to utilize to your benefit.
And, does anybody have any questions?
Paola Diaz: Certainly, we do have questions lined up.
And thank you again for such a great presentation.
I do want to quote some comments that we're getting in the Q&A.
Presenters-- I mean, participants feel
that both of the banks are doing outstanding work
in terms of outreach,
so I just wanted to share that with our presenters already.
And we have one question.
We're not going to have time to address all of the questions
we're getting, but we're going to try to get through as many.
We have one. Please read it.
Joan Gustafson: Can you tell us what you do
if an applicant has a credit score of less than 600?
Maureen Wilkinson: Our vice president
of business development works with each of the graduates
that want to apply for the loan.
And if they do have a credit score under 600,
he works with them to recognize what's probably driving that--
if it's an unpaid bill, if it's serious delinquency--
and puts together a plan with them
that they can work over a number of months
to rectify that.
And then, we keep--
sometimes, people, we're working with them
for nine months to a year.
Other people, it may just take a few months
and they're able to get above the 600.
Joan Gustafson: Thank you. We have another question.
Is the line of credit secured? Any defaults so far?
And how have you recruited for the seminars?
Maureen Wilkinson: So the line of credit is not secured.
So it is an unsecured line of credit.
We have not had any defaults thus far.
And how we recruit is we use social media,
we use electronic methods.
We don't do any paid advertising.
Some of it's word of mouth, but we do have relationships
with the Mass Small Business Development Center
and other similar community outreach programs
and Chambers of Commerce that retake our information
and send it out to interested businesses.
Paola Diaz: Lots of questions. Here's one more.
Joan Gustafson: We have another one.
What are the credit terms for the 5K loan?
Paola Diaz: For the line of credit, I believe.
Maureen Wilkinson: Okay. The credit terms,
I'm not sure exactly what they're looking for in response.
But it's a typical for our bank, a line of credit to have it,
you know, you have to have at least a minimum
600 credit score.
They're able to draw on the line throughout the year.
If they wanted to increase to the 10,000 after one year,
they have to pay off the 5,000 line
for at least 30 days and then apply to see
if they are able to sustain a $10,000 line.
Paola Diaz: Thank you. And I received another question.
So, they're asking, how can a bank get started
if interested in establishing an MSSB program.
So I want to take one part of that question
and I want to turn it back to the two presenters.
Because the first thing a bank needs to do
to get started is simply download the materials,
which we shared the website earlier
where you can download all--
not just Money Smart for Small Businesses,
but all modules-- to assess what are the modules
that are going to work for your community.
And another suggested approach is that you also consider
working with your local SBA District Office
and the SBA technical assistance partners
that usually include the Small Business Development Centers
and Women's Business Centers
that Nathaniel mentioned earlier.
And also, contact your community affairs staff locally.
As Tim started the program,
he explained that the contact information
for all of the community affairs officers
is available in our website.
So you go to www.fdic.gov/communityaffairs
and you will find a hyperlink to the community affairs specialist
everywhere you are.
And they can help organizations join the Money Smart Alliance
in order to receive technical assistance.
So, and then, I wanted to turn it back in
for the last two minutes we have left.
So, I'm going to ask each bank to use one minute to just say,
how did you get started.
Thank you.
First, First Florida Bank.
Frank Rodriguez: Everything started
because I found out through the Internet,
and the FDIC page the Money Smart link.
And I went into it,
and I found out all of the information
on the different programs and curriculums.
And I realized that because it comes in different languages,
we can reach out different areas in the community
and different audiences.
So, definitely, and then of course,
we have a need in the community that we are addressing.
And this, the MSSB, presents an excellent tool
to reach out and serve the need.
Paola Diaz: Thank you.
HarborOne?
Maureen Wilkinson: At HarborOne, we were using
the Money Smart for Individuals program.
I'm not sure what the proper term is,
but and we actually, for the last ten years,
have had when people went through the Money Smart program
five different modules,
we would give them a $500 line of credit if it's personal,
and then it'd become $1,000
after a year of handling it well.
And this was often used for people that were new to credit
or needed to repair their credit.
So when we became a bank and subject to CRA relative
to small business lending,
we were looking for ways in which we could, you know,
meet our CRA obligation since we were new to a lot of that
coming from being a credit union to a bank.
And so we looked at the program we already had in place
and recognized there was an opportunity
to do something similar
but using the Money Smart for Small Business curriculum.
And the numbers needed to have more zeroes
for it to be impactful for a small business,
so that's why we did $5,000 to $10,000.
Paola Diaz: Thank you so much for those answers.
And I had opened the poll a few seconds ago.
I hope that you can provide your instant feedback
while we close out.
I want to thank once again to Frank Rodriguez
and Barbara Melvin from First Florida Integrity Bank,
and Mo Wilkinson and Sheila Farragher
from HarborOneBank.
They were all very generous
to share their contact information with you,
so if you're interested in learning more
about their programs-- I understand--
you could be reaching to them or you could be reaching to me.
And in the last slide for today, you have my contact information.
And we are looking forward to hearing more success stories
from other organizations using Money Smart for Small Business
and to your participation in our upcoming Town Hall
in Quarter Three.
Please take a look at our website,
and we will be modernizing
our Money Smart for Small Business website
in the next few months.
And there's one page with conferences and events
where you can easily identify other Money Smart events.
Thank you so much,
and operator, you can end this call.
Coordinator: Thank you very much.
And thank you, everyone, for your participation.
As you know, the conference is concluded.
You may disconnect at this time.
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