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Can Credit Unions Make Place for Solidarity Economy?

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Can Credit Unions Make Place for Solidarity Economy? 1 53 2 54 3 The Place of Common Bond: Can Credit Unions 55 4 56 5 Make Place for Solidarity Economy? 57 6 58 7 Ã † ‡ 59 Marianna Pavlovskaya, Craig Borowiak, Maliha Safri, Stephen Healy,§ and Robert Eletto¶ 8 Q30 60 Ã 9 Department of Geography and Environmental Science, Hunter College, and Graduate Center, City University of New York 61 10 †Department of Political Science, Haverford College 62 ‡ 11 Economics and Business Department, Drew University 63 § 12 The Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University 64 ¶ 13 Department of Geography and Environmental Science, Hunter College 65 14 About 6,000 financial cooperatives, called credit unions, with more than 103 million members manage over 66 15 $1 trillion in collective assets in the United States but are largely invisible and seen as inferior to private 67 16 banks. In contrast to banks that generate profit for outside investors and do not give voice to customers, 68 17 these not-for-profit institutions have a democratic governance structure and a mission to provide good 69 18 services to their members. We use diverse economies and critical/feminist GIS approaches to theorize them 70 19 as noncapitalist alternatives to banks and possible sites of social transformation toward a solidarity economy. 71 20 Using the case of cooperative finance in New York City, we analyze spatial patterns, characteristics, and 72 21 place-making practices of credit unions with different kinds of the common bond, a principle that unites a 73 22 financial community, and in relation to urban geographies of class and race. We find that credit unions 74 23 provide a historically proven mechanism for collective resistance to marginalization by racial capitalism and, 75 depending on the common bond type, make place by (1) providing financial inclusion in poor and minority 24 76 neighborhoods; (2) scaling up solidarity finance through participation of middle classes; and (3) diverting 25 assets from capitalist investment into social reproduction and livelihoods. Credit unions express the 77 26 racialized wealth of their communities, however, and create spatial exclusions that pose a challenge to 78 27 postcapitalist movements such as solidarity economy. These findings are applicable to other places marked 79 28 by segregation and call for further inquiry into possibilities and barriers to solidarity finance. Key Words: 80 29 credit unions, financial geography, New York City, place making, solidarity economy. 81 30 82 31 83 32 84 33 n the last decades, the competitive calculus of these not-for-profit institutions are owned by their 85 34 financialization has generated more crisis-prone membership and have a democratic governance 86 35 Idynamics that culminated in events such as the structure and a mission to provide good services to 87 36 foreclosure crisis, the 2008 financial crisis, and the the members and maximize their economic interests. 88 37 Great Recession, making the inquiry into alterna- In the United States today, about 6,000 credit 89 38 tives to financial capital especially urgent (Crump unions with more than 103 million members of dif- 90 39 et al. 2008; Dore 2008; Fuller and Mellor 2008; Kear ferent degrees of affluence and economic security 91 40 2013; Miller 2015; Loomis 2018). Although usually manage over $1 trillion in collective assets 92 41 associated with the global scale, finance is articu- (National Credit Union Administration [NCUA] 93 42 lated through local systems (Hall 2012) such as pri- 2016a). The U.S. membership and assets are also 94 43 vate banks and predatory financial services, the the world’s largest (World Council of Credit Unions 95 44 main drivers of financialization. Less recognized in 2012). Initially a grassroots phenomenon, credit 96 45 this local mix is the presence of collective forms unions were central to antipoverty policies of the 97 46 of finance that strengthen communities and help New Deal but have been thoroughly marginalized in 98 47 them resist the effects of financialization. One such the neoliberal era, during which they became largely 99 48 example is financial cooperatives, also known as invisible and seen as inferior to private banks, espe- 100 49 Q2 credit unions. cially when contrasted with the United Kingdom, 101 50 In contrast to banks that generate profit for out- Canada, Ireland, Brazil, South Korea, and Mexico, 102 51 side investors and do not give voice to customers, where they are both widespread and recognized as 103 52 104 Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 0(0) 2019, pp. 1–24 # 2019 by American Association of Geographers Initial submission, May 2018; revised submission, July 2019; final acceptance, August 2019 Color versions of one or more figures in the article can be found online at www.tandfonline.com/raag Published by Taylor & Francis, LLC. 2 Pavlovskaya et al. 105 important economic institutions. Despite grassroots their assets with potentially radical implications for 156 106 efforts to increase awareness about credit unions in social transformation and the postcapitalist move- 157 107 the aftermath of the 2008 financial collapse (e.g., ments such as a solidarity economy that “works for 158 108 the “Move Your Money” campaign), their greater people and planet” (Borowiak 2015). 159 109 stability in times of crises compared to banks We investigate these questions using a rich but 160 110 (Colwell 2017), and rapid membership growth after understudied case of cooperative finance in New 161 111 2008, it was the “too big to fail” banks that were York City, where it forms one of the largest concen- 162 112 subsequently rescued with public money. Banks con- trations in the nation. With more than 800,000 163 113 tinue to be seen as the main and only source for members, credit unions represent one fifth (18 per- 164 114 credit, investment, and capital, whereas credit cent) of the city’s economically active population1 165 115 unions are practically absent from social imaginaries and hold $14 billion in collective assets. In this first 166 116 on either the left or the right and little is known study at the urban scale, we analyze their financial 167 117 about their contributions to place. characteristics and geographic patterns in relation to 168 118 Yet, the potential of cooperative finance for build- the common bond type, a legal basis for forming a 169 119 ing geographies of economic solidarity is likely to be credit union from members of a community, and in 170 120 171 significant. Clearly a mainstream phenomenon by the context of urban geographies of class and race. 121 172 their numbers, credit unions are second only to The common bond draws together a select pool of 122 173 banks in terms of the scope and breadth of services members who control the terms for saving and bor- 123 174 they provide (e.g., bank accounts, checks, cards, rowing and have shared social and geographic 124 175 loans, etc.). In contrast to banks, though, they belonging (e.g., associations, occupation, workplace, 125 176 approach finance in an entirely different way. or residential area). 126 177 Owned and governed by their members instead of Empirically, we investigate what kinds of commu- 127 178 outside investors, credit unions put the financial nities are united by different common bonds and in 128 179 what ways their spatial patterns interact with urban 129 security of their membership communities above 180 130 profits, whereas banks put profits for outside invest- geographies of class and race. At the level of theory, 181 131 ors above other considerations. Starting with these we draw on geographic literatures on financializa- 182 132 differences, this article seeks to frame credit unions tion, place making, diverse and solidarity economy, 183 133 as noncapitalist institutions to ask whether they can and critical/feminist geographic information science 184 134 make place differently from capitalist banks and act (GIS) to (1) theorize how credit unions make place 185 135 as a nationwide alternative to and potentially as noncapitalist institutions, (2) explain the differen- 186 — 136 replace financial capital the very engine of capital- ces among credit unions themselves in terms of place 187 — 137 ism with solidarity finance. making, and (3) explore their potential for the soli- 188 138 Understanding this potential is worthwhile for darity economy. Finally, we seek to establish the 189 139 several reasons. Credit unions have a long history of footprint of credit unions through the process of 190 140 resistance to racial capitalism, struggles for social jus- mapping by which we “place” them within the urban 191 141 tice, and solidarity, with the poor, African Americans, space both literally (on the map) and figuratively 192 142 and other minority and immigrant populations (within the economic landscape) to make them visi- 193 143 excluded from mainstream banking (Nembhard 2014; ble, ontologically present, and politically significant 194 144 Mook, Maiorano, and Quarter 2015). Moreover, (Crampton 2009; Pavlovskaya and Bier 2012). We 195 145 instead of the individual solutions to poverty pro- find that credit unions provide a historically proven 196 146 moted by neoliberalism (Schram 2015; Loomis 2018), mechanism for collective resistance to marginaliza- 197 147 they foster collective solidarities that can be impor- tion by racial capitalism and, depending on the com- 198 148 tant for social transformation. Examining credit mon bond type, they make place by (1) providing 199 149 unions, however, is worthwhile, not only because they financial inclusion in poor and minority neighbor- 200 150 resist economic marginalization and practice collective hoods, (2) scaling up solidarity finance through par- 201 151 responses. It is generally assumed that finance has to ticipation of middle classes, and (3) diverting assets 202 152 be privately owned and driven by the profit motive.
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