Cowell joined the credit union movement after working at a bank that denied loan applications from a particular city ZIP code.
Not long after, she attended a Bible study at Friendship Baptist Church, where Pastor Bishop Duane C. Tisdale asked her to look into creating a financial institution for the church. The next day, she checked out the local library’s lone book about credit unions.
“I read it and I had this fire,” Cowell says.
In August of that year, a shooting in her neighborhood claimed three lives, leading to calls for peace and unity. One idea to achieve both: form a credit union.
“Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur asked if I would work on it for the community because the community really needed it,” she says. “That was the birth.”
Four years later, Toledo Urban Federal opened its doors on July 21, 1996.
In this episode, Cowell discusses the formation of Toledo Urban Federal, the credit union’s focus on financial education, the importance of diversity, her belief in observation days like Juneteenth, and the role credit unions can play in a community.
Credit Union Magazine’s Spring 2022 edition highlights inclusive lending, succession planning, fair lending and artificial intelligence, and the use of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) as a competitive differentiator.
