For more than a decade, the Association of People for Pan-Africanist Economic Advancement through Leverage (APPEAL, Inc.) has promoted Pan-African socioeconomic self-sufficiency through its think tank, financial literacy and Pan-African history and culture workshops, and a Saturday co-op at Umoja House on Bunker Hill Road in Northeast that features personal care products made by Black manufacturers.
This all happens while APPEAL, Inc.’s board of directors inches closer toward their goal of launching the first national Pan-African credit union, what Dr. Kelechi Egwim calls an institution of great significance to legacy Black businesses and up-and-coming Black entrepreneurial ventures.
“Oftentimes our businesses have trouble finding capital so we need a financial institution that can support these efforts,” said Egwim, APPEAL, Inc.’s executive director. “We [also] have a lot of legacy institutions, and our elders don’t have the capacity to provide capital for those institutions and other efforts that the broader community doesn’t see as viable.”
On the evening of Sept. 29, APPEAL, Inc. celebrated 11 years of existence during its annual founders day celebration at the Thurgood Marshall Center for Service and Heritage in Northwest.
The celebration featured musical acts such as Navasha Daya, Tamika Love Jones, Anna Mwalahgo, FREE BenJamin, and the Reginald Cyntje Group. Ka’Ba SoulSinger served as master of ceremonies with DJ One Luv on the ones and twos and Kymone Freeman of We Act Radio facilitating an interactive experience for guests who joined via a special live streaming platform.
Proceeds generated from event ticket sales went toward the start-up funds for the credit union, a goal that APPEAL, Inc. has been pursuing since 2017. Egwim told The Informer that, in the days leading up to the celebration, APPEAL, Inc. has met more than 90% of its $300,000 fundraising goal. Board members hit that milestone, Egwim said, amid efforts to ascertain the credit union’s ability to attract enough members and secure its charter from the National Credit Union Administration.
Today, APPEAL, Inc. has more than 800 dues-paying members living in the D.C. metropolitan area and across the U.S. For Egwim, the credit union serves as the manifestation of a vision articulated by former D.C. treasurer and APPEAL, Inc. founder Lasana Mack.
“The credit union represents … a connection to the community and self-sufficiency,” Egwim said. “It’s not a for-profit entity. The structure allows us to do things that other private, family-owned banks wouldn’t do.”
An Ongoing Education Campaign That’s Part of Something Bigger
A paper published by researchers from Brigham Young University, Utah State University and Rutgers University in 2023 found that banks offered Black business owners inferior products and denied them lines of credit more often than their white counterparts. Some of the white business owners had worse financial profiles than the Black business owners.
While researchers suggested that registration as a limited liability corporation and joint proprietorships/partnerships can strike a blow against racial discrimination, engagement with credit unions have been seen as just as prudent.
While credit unions work with fewer products and services than banks, these nonprofit entities require membership for access to low-interest loans. However, as seen in the controversy surrounding Navy Federal Credit Union last year, Black borrowers at non-Black banking institutions still face discrimination, although their debt-to-income ratio, property value, and down payment percentage, among other factors, bore great similarity to that of their white counterparts.
The APPEAL, Inc. Pan-African credit union’s launch will follow that of other Black-owned credit unions that served African American communities for more than a century, including the now shuttered Piedmont Credit Union in North Carolina and several others throughout the years that would eventually become members of what’s currently known as the African-American Credit Union Coalition in St. Louis.
The promise of a Pan-African credit union attracted Tendai Johnson, a Pan-African nationalist and veteran educator, to APPEAL, Inc. several years ago. Since joining APPEAL, Inc., Johnson, a North Carolina resident, has served as a member of the education and fundraiser planning committees.
Johnson counts among four education committee members who coordinate a lecture series featuring activists, thought leaders, and historical figures speaking about issues and topics of great significance to the Pan-African world. Past guests include cultural historian and author Anthony Browder, Friends of the Congo’s Maurice Carney, author and Organization of Afro-American Union founding member A. Peter Bailey, author Gerald Horne, filmmaker Haile Gerima, Africana studies professor Oba T’shaka, and veteran educator Ateya Ball-Lacy.
Each person, Johnson said, emphasizes the importance of Black self-reliance, a concept that drives home the utility of a Pan-African credit union. Johnson told The Informer that her respect for APPEAL Inc.’s vision, and more so the manner in which they accumulate the funds for the credit union, made her an ardent supporter of the cause.
So much so that, as Johnson recounted, she makes sure to make financial contributions and purchase tickets for events, even as a facilitator.
“The credit union is one piece of the puzzle to support our independence,” Johnson said. “Banks don’t work in our favor [because] they deny loans. We have the opportunity to support organizations moving in a [certain] direction. Trust is the hardest [part] but what the credit union has done through the Saturday Co-op was establish trust.”
For Johnson, launching a credit union makes the most sense for a group like Black people vying for a monumental change in their collective economic situation.
“Why would you trust folks who enslaved you and your ancestors to build what they needed,” Johnson questioned. “We need to figure out how we can develop ourselves. We can finance efforts that support our growth, upliftment and self-sufficiency.”
A Local Farmer Expresses Support for the Credit Union
District resident and regenerative farmer Eugene Yarbro counted among those who took part in the festivities at Thurgood Marshall Center for Service and Heritage on Sept. 29. He said APPEAL’s progress report about the Pan-African credit union reaffirmed his faith in the nonprofit to support him and other social entrepreneurs who are building institutions for people of African descent.
“Where we are in this current space highlights the need for us to come together and reduce our trauma by healing and working with others of like minds,” Yarbro told The Informer. “It’s an opportunity to learn about ourselves, how we’re part of a larger community and how our struggles come from our attempt to do things in an anti-African way instead of in a collective and unified fashion.”
Seven years ago, Yarbro embraced his family history of horticulture when he jumped into regenerative farming full time. That endeavor brought him to the Eastern Shore and some parts of southern Maryland where he grows and harvest crops throughout the years. People who frequent APPEAL, Inc.’s Saturday co-ops these days purchase fresh, organic, locally harvested crops from Yarbo that are indigenous to the African continent.
Yarbro, a longtime APPEAL, Inc. member, started vending at the co-ops at the height of the pandemic. He said his services came of great use at a time when a broken global supply chain threatened people’s food access. As he recounted, his interactions with patrons snowballed into group trips to his farm.
“It was rewarding being able to have a cooperative effort to serve the community in their time of need,” Yarbro said. “When you come out to the land, it does something to you. A lot of members really loved it, and some who made return visits are looking forward to doing more.”
That work, Yarbro said, should and will most likely continue with APPEAL, Inc. being the glue that restores Black people’s faith in their community, and most importantly, their ability to thrive independently of non-Black institutions.
“It’s exciting to be a part of this movement. This is something that will serve us in the present time and next generations. There’s a feeling of unity in being part of a collective that’s been working together closely, and cooperatively. We are leaving something to carry on, just like something was left for us.”