Urban League of Central Carolinas President/CEO Patrick Graham (right) honors Mary Wilson, director of the Mecklenburg County Department of Social Services, at Thursday's ULCC annual meeting. Photo courtesy of Fred Braziel for Media Arts Collective.
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The Urban League of Central Carolinas (ULCC) is getting into the banking business. According to President/CEO Patrick Graham, who made the announcement Thursday night at the organization's annual meeting, next year you will be able to open an account at the Urban League of Central Carolinas Bank (ULCCB). 

ULCCB will be a subsidiary of Carolina Premier Bank. Graham said it will have one of the lowest fee structures on the market. Account holders will be given quarterly reviews of their accounts and will also receive the assistance of a financial coach who will work alongside them to help achieve their financial goals.

“We don’t want to just create individuals who get jobs and have money and know not what to do with it,” said Graham. “We are going to make sure that we have individuals who can manage their money wisely. One of the issues with many of the financial literacy programs today is that we have never had a product that can work alongside it.”

Graham said ULCC has been working with Carolina Premier bank for more a year to find a solution to meet the needs of the non-banked and under-banked — particularly those individuals who have no banking history.  

“Many of the people, over 50 percent of our customers and others, walk around with cash,” he said. “Many of them, through their financial struggles, have burned bridges with banks. I’m happy to announce that we have a solution that … will benefit all of our partner banks and all of our partners in the community because we will have people that are more financially stable.”

Taking risks

Graham admits that opening the bank is a gamble of sorts but says that it is a risk worth taking. “You have to sometimes take the risk in order to get the payoff,” he said. 

Graham is no stranger to taking risks. Two years ago, when ULCC was operating in the red, it would have been safer to scale down and cut back, but he wanted to step up and do more.

“I remember Dr. Graham’s advice to us at the time,” said ULCC Board Chair Chris Payton. “He said we need to spend more money. We need to open our doors up further and we need to make greater commitments. We need to help more people, and at the same time … ask for more support from the community.”

Graham said reaching deep into the agency’s reserves and increasing spending at a time when funds were low is an example of a risk that paid off. As a result of those efforts, Graham said, other agencies — including the Levine Foundation and Sisters of Mercy — stepped up and were more willing to invest more money because they saw ULCC was willing to invest in itself 

Now ULCC is back to operating in the black. The agency’s most recent financial report shows that the 2011 fiscal year ended on a positive note with $8,000.

The community has also stepped up as well. ULCC reports that in 2011, there was a 12 percent increase in the number of individual donors, including three additional major donors who gave $25,000 or more. The agency saw a return of $10.05 for every $1 invested, according to Graham.

Last year, ULCC invested approximately $700,000 in workforce development programs. Graham said the more than 350 students who graduated from those programs are now collectively earning $7,490,920 in salaries and income

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