NORTH MINNEAPOLIS, Minn.–A de novo credit union that has been in the works for five years to serve the African-American community here now has a new name: Arise Community Credit Union.
The Association for Black Economic Power, a local nonprofit, originally launched an effort to bring a community credit union that was to be called Village Financial Credit Union to North Minneapolis when the association was founded in 2017. Plans at that time had called for the CU to open its doors in 2022, but state and federal regulatory approval and financing holdups have since delayed the opening.
The Minneapolis Business Journal noted its website now says the CU is set to open in the fourth quarter of this year.
According to the ABEP, it sought the name change after realizing the word "village" was common among other financial institutions, the Business Journal reported. Debra Hurston, ABEP's executive director, told the publication the association vetted over a dozen potential alternative names before settling on two options — Northrail Community Credit Union and Arise Community Credit Union.
Strong Support for Name
After polling stakeholders at a town hall meeting, over 90% of voters chose Arise over Northrail, Hurston told the Business Journal.
Despite the name change, Hurston further told the publication the purpose for founding a credit union in North Minneapolis has not changed since ABEP conceived the idea.
"The membership that we'll be going after is all of Hennepin and Ramsey counties," Hurston was quoted as saying. "But [the credit union] will have a laser focus on addressing the needs of North Minneapolis and giving people options other than pay-day lenders."