Number 162 March 25, 2021 St. Louis
Justine PETERSN and NISA Charitable Fund Launch DRIVE Loan Program to Address High Interest Rate Car Notes
With an initial seeding of $250,000 from the NISA Charitable Fund, Justine PETERSEN is refinancing high interest rate car notes, allowing for both savings and the opportunity to build personal credit scores. Many individuals and households in the St. Louis region spend a disproportionate amount of their budget on not only high interest rate car notes, but the accompanying insurance. Credit scores impact both the interest rate and the insurance premium; JP seeks to include comprehensive credit building in tandem with the refinance of the car note. JP is most grateful to the NISA Charitable Fund for seeding this pilot, and is excited about broadening the scope of the DRIVE loan program with additional investment. Check out articles about the program in the St. Louis American, St. Louis Post-Dispatch and St. Louis Business Journal.
JP’s Chonda Aiello Presents as Part of Capital Access Delivery Model Roundtable
JP’s Director of Business Lending Chonda Aiello joined esteemed colleagues for a nationally attended webinar discussing access to capital for entrepreneurs of color. Hosted by the Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis, in collaboration with WEPOWER and funded by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, “Capital Access: Centering Black and Hispanic Business Support Organizations,” probed both the challenges and opportunities that organizations such as Justine PETERSEN experience when sourcing for and deploying capital to these particular markets. Heather Cameron and Bukola Apata of the Brown School facilitated the discussion, which attracted practitioners from across the nation.
Codi Holit, Practicum Intern Wunderkind, Bids Farewell to JP
There isn’t a task that Codi Holt can’t fulfill, and there isn’t an instance where he doesn’t fully embrace the ask. Suffice to say, JP will dearly miss our practicum intern who stepped up on every occasion to deliver top notch product and service. Essentially a “renaissance practicum student,” Codi did it all, from generating client-facing informational materials, to crafting modules for our partnership with LaunchCode, to assisting with video projects. When asked what attracted him to JP, Codi replied, “As a student of social and economic development, the work at JP is at the heart of social and economic progress in STL, and working here has been a formative learning experience for me as I saw first hand the impact that financial resources can have for people who have been systematically locked out of the financial resources they need to engage successfully in society. JP does incredible work in STL, and it’s been an honor to be a part of the team and see the passion with which this work family cares for its clients.” After graduation this May with his MSW, Codi will be stepping into a full time position with St. Louis-based Park Central Development as their Neighborhood Development Project Manager. CONGRATS Codi!
EXTRA! EXTRA! Read All About It!
Gracing the pages of the March issue of the Illinois Business Journal were JP’s Chief Partnership Shawna Collier and FCB Bank’s President and COO Mark Zavaglia! Consuming an entire page of the issue – including both an article and full color advertisement – Shawna and Mark personified the steadfast partnership between JP and FCB Banks, detailing our multi-faceted efforts to building financial assets across the bi-state region. Now, how does one get an autographed copy?!?
