Hope Enterprise Corporation

HOPE (Hope Enterprise Corporation, Hope Credit Union and Hope Policy Institute) provides affordable financial services; leverages private, public and philanthropic resources; and engages in policy analysis to fulfill its mission of strengthening communities, building assets, and improving lives in economically distressed parts of Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee.

Since 1994, HOPE has generated over $2.5 billion in financing and related services for the unbanked and underbanked, entrepreneurs, homeowners, nonprofit organizations, health care providers and other community development purposes. Collectively, these projects have benefitted more than 1 million individuals in one of the nation’s most impoverished regions.  

Primary Services and Capabilities

HOPE has a demonstrated track record of success in the following areas:

• Business Lending: Loans for small- & medium-sized businesses ♦ New Markets Tax Credit financing ♦ Public agency guarantees and credit enhancements ♦ Financing for nonprofits, community facilities, health care, child care and other community infrastructure ♦ Loan participations
• Housing Finance: Single family mortgages ♦ Low-Income Housing Tax Credit debt and equity ♦ Development of rental and owner-occupied housing
• Retail Financial Services: Transaction products such as checking accounts, online banking, credit cards, debit cards, ATM cards ♦ Savings products including Individual Development Accounts, IRAs ♦ Secured and unsecured consumer loans for automobiles, home equity, payday alternative loans
• Intermediary Services: Financial counseling including homebuyer education and credit counseling ♦ Affordable housing development ♦ Loan fund administration ♦ Project design and management
• Policy Analysis and Advocacy: Family Economic Self Sufficiency ♦ Responsible Financial Services ♦ Budget and Tax Equity

In each area, HOPE seeks to increase the impact of its work by collaborating with community development organizations, private industry, public agencies, philanthropists and others at the national, state and local levels.