Michael Bushnell
Publisher
Central Bank of Kansas City has been an icon in the Northeast community for almost 70 years. While the financial institution has branched out over the decades, it remains committed to serving the Historic Northeast community where its roots are firmly planted. To that end, Central Bank continuously introduces new programs.
The bank has continually received awards providing funding for improvement projects in lower income areas, such as the Northeast. Central Bank is making the area a priority.
“Kansas City is our home base and that is where we would like to promote important community development projects,” Vice-Chairman of Central Bank Bill Dana said. “We are a CDFI, which is a Community Development Financial Institution. We are certified by the U.S. Treasury, and have been continually since 1998.”
That certification comes with a responsibility to deploy assets into low-to-moderate income communities — a role Central Bank has gladly fulfilled for more than 22 years.
Community remains at the heart of Central Bank’s primary mission. In 2015 the bank created a Shark Tank youth competition as part of the annual Money Smart Week held in April. In 2019, over 20 teams made up of 80 high school students competed, pitching their small business ideas to area business owners at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. First place winners received $1,000 and second place winners received $500. Central Bank sponsored Shark Tank along with Money Smart KC.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, Central Bank has been contributing to the community, helping non-profits like Don Bosco Senior Center. Sarah Cousineau, Vice President of Marketing/CRA reached out and asked the center what they needed. Since Don Bosco could no longer provide meals in the center, they requested help in feeding local senior citizens who are homebound. Bank employees delivered a load of groceries along with a cash donation to the Don Bosco Centers to assist in the ongoing mission of providing for senior citizens.
“We love the seniors at Don Bosco and the Central Bank family is happy to help in this small way to bring much needed items to their doorsteps,” Cousineau said.
Central Bank has continued to donate grocery totes, as well as volunteer hours helping distribute and sort food at Don Bosco. Another outreach organized by Central Bank provided 480 school supply packets to every student at Garfield Elementary. The packets included notebooks, pens and pencils, pencil sharpeners, colored pencils or crayons, new books and fruit snacks. The students were able to pick these up along with their electronic devices this spring for distance learning.
The loan department at Central Bank has also been busy with the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), with over 160 PPP loans for $23 million issued in less than 2 months.
“We helped many small businesses and nonprofits with this loan, including Emmanuel Child Development Center, Connecting for Good, Trapp and Company and the Northeast News,” – said.
Today, Central Bank of Kansas City continues its mission to provide affordable financial products, financial education and services, which improve the ongoing economic situation of our community. For more information on CBKC’s products and services, visit their website at: www.centralbankkc.com.