Legacy Bank garners $528,000 federal grant

Legacy Bank of Milwaukee will receive a $528,000 federal grant to continue its programs aimed at increasing lending and financial management and education in low income areas of the city, Congressman Tom Barrett said.
“Legacy Bank is doing tremendously important work in Milwaukee’s economically depressed neighborhoods to increase people’s financial empowerment,” said Barrett. “It is working to provide the capital small businesses need to get off the ground, but it is also supplying the basic credit and financial management education people need to improve their lives. Federal dollars are a real investment in an area that otherwise needs a financial shot in the arm.”
Legacy Bank, at the intersection of North and Fond du Lac avenues, is the first financial institution in Wisconsin to be owned and operated by African-American women. It was founded in 1999.
The grant is from the Community Development Banking and Financial Institutions (CDFI) fund of the U.S. Department of Treasury.
“Minority-owned small businesses tend be among the first hit in a slowing economy,” said Shirley Lanier, executive vice president of Legacy Bank. “This funding is critical for us to continue our work providing access to capital, credit repair services, home mortgages and improving financial literacy for the residents of Milwaukee’s low-income neighbors that we serve.”