Occupy San Francisco to Launch Credit Union

December 1, 2011

Occupy San Francisco last week announced plans to create the Peoples Reserve Credit Union. 

In a statement released by the orgnization,”Members of Occupy SF are announcing plans to launch the People’s Reserve Credit Union today at 4:30 pm at Bradley Manning Plaza, formerly Justin Herman Plaza. The goal of this project is to encourage San Francisco residents, businesses, as well as non-profit and city agencies to keep their money out of the big banks and to redistribute that money locally. Initial services will include micro-loans for the working poor and homeless and subsidized student loans at low interest rates. The Occupy SF members are being supported in this endeavor by many community groups including GLIDE Church and the Council of Light, as well as city supervisors John Avalos and Eric Mar. The Occupy SF General Assembly endorsed this new enterprise at its Tuesday meeting. The name was registered with the state on Tuesday and the Charter Meeting is scheduled for Dec. 10. According to the Occupy SF members launching the new credit union, the project arose as a response to criminal Wall Street activities, exploitative behavior of the big banks, and the dire needs of the local community.”

On the Facebook page for Occupy San Francisco, first-year benchmarks for the organization include 

* launch with 500 members, and increase to 2,000 members before 12/2012

* accumulate capital assets of c.$7 million or more, through investments by different organizations, members, et al.

* open of 2 credit union branches within the City of San Francisco with an on-site cafe and a commercial kitchen available for rent.

* hire students and homeless (c.60 part-time jobs) to staff the credit union

* 300-500 micro-enterprise loans (max. $5,000)

* Add of 1,000 people to city employment payroll

* Fund and begin a food co-op able to feed a neighborhood

The Occupy SF Faceook page states that the credit union venture already has potential investors. When asked whether or not members of Occupy San Francisco have discussed the issue of the credit unions with other Occupy Wall Street groups such as Occupy Oakland or Occupy Berkeley, according to Brian Mckune,”We haven’t spoken with those groups yet we believe the credit union serves as a model for other financial institutions to reinvest wealth in their communities. There is nothing new, but we want to show them that there is a way to reduce the impact of large banks on the community at large, and the leakage of local funds internationally caused by the large banks, keeping the money where it belongs… I’ve cut my teeth with the Grameen Bank, and we hope to implement that model here…”

Watch the video below from ABC in San Francisco for more details: