‘Everything we do is to better the community’

Blanche Jackson makes it a point to form personal connections within the community.

That’s a big part of her role as CEO at $4.6 million asset Stepping Stones Community Federal Credit Union in Wilmington, Del., which was chartered to serve the underserved and better the community. So, when she receives a message from an incarcerated person, she responds personally.

“I make a point of answering each one individually so they feel included,” says Jackson, who helped charter the credit union in 2011 and has served as CEO since 2018. “They already feel like they've gotten a lot taken away from them, so I always want to make sure they feel valued with us.”

Stepping Stones serves incarcerated people at three local prisons: Sussex Correctional Institution, James T. Vaughn Correctional Center, and Howard R. Young Correctional Institution.

The credit union partnered with the Department of Corrections in 2021 for a program that allows incarcerated people to set up savings accounts to help them get back on their feet.

The program had 482 active accounts totaling more than $300,000 as of November 2023.

“The goal is to make sure they have funds for when they're released, and that they can pay fines, have money for an apartment deposit and for transportation,” says Jackson. “It gives people the opportunity to save, have services, and start building wealth in a lot of our underserved communities.”

Participants fill out applications at the prison, which sends the information to the credit union along with identification and a letter from prison staff stating the residents are who they say they are. All transactions are conducted between the prison and credit union, while an AmeriCorps grant brings someone into the prisons to teach financial wellness.

The credit union also partners with reentry programs, such as Project New Start in Wilmington, that work with people upon their release.

“Once they're released, they have access to our full services,” Jackson says. “It's been a very successful program. We've had people come out of the facility who have spent so much time in there that they didn't have much financial awareness. We’re able to help them on that financial journey.”

Stepping Stones, a community development financial institution and minority depository institution, is on a journey of its own. The credit union recently received a grant from NCUA it will use to expand membership while maintaining its mission of serving the underserved.

“Everything we do is to better the community,” Jackson says. “We offer financial services to people who may not have access to affordable financial services. Anyone who wants to be banked in Wilmington is able to be banked.”