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| Owsley County, Kentucky (red outline) is in the midst of a large region afflicted by persistent poverty, (Source: Urban Institute) |
Last
December, Owsley County, Ky. mayor Cale Turner told the Lexington Herald-Leader’s Bill Estep “there’s not enough jobs,
definitely not.” Estep was interviewing Turner for a story
highlighting the fact that nine of the country’s 30 poorest counties are in
Eastern Kentucky. Owsley County ranked as the country’s third-poorest. The
county’s unemployment rate is more than double Kentucky’s rate.
Owsley
County native Lisa Botner, a Community Development Program Specialist for
Appalachian Community Federal Credit Union, agrees with the jobs assessment. “The
people that live around here that are doing well have kind of absorbed all
those better-paying jobs in the area, or they’re leaving out every Sunday night
and not coming home until Thursday,” says Botner. Others drive a couple of
hours each way to Richmond or Lexington, or nearly two hours to the Toyota
plant in Georgetown.
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| Lisa Botner and ACFCU's virtual teller machine, which can perform most banking functions remotely. |
Into
this challenging situation ACFCU deployed Botner to join efforts at breaking a
generational cycle of poverty. She joins other business leaders, educators and
officials who, as the Herald-Leader’s Estep put it “work to diversify the economy
and counteract the downturn.”
For
its part, ACFCU – a Community Development Financial Institution – installed a “virtual
teller machine” funded in part by a 2016
grant from the Opportunity Finance Network
grant. ACFCU added Botner and the VTM in 2017, hoping as a mission-driven
credit union it could play an important role in a community with just a couple
of banks and a heavy reliance on predatory lenders.
Previously, Botner spent several years conducting
family engagement activities with Partners for Education, a non-profit
affiliated with Berea College (learn about PFE and ACFCU’s collaboration here). Now her role – not a typical
position for a financial institution – illustrates ACFCU’s heavy commitment to
Owsley County.
That
commitment extends to financial coaching, combined with fair lending products,
designed to help members stair step their way to greater financial health and
stability, regardless of income.
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| Owsley County, Kentucky's unemployment woes are well-documented. |
Yet
the journey hasn’t been easy. “It’s been hard getting through to people that
there’s something different,” she says. “They now have an option for financial
services that they’ve never had, but it’s actually a struggle earning trust.
“At
first people were confusing us with payday lenders. Getting people to understand
we don’t just hand out money and charge you horribly high interest rates has
been a challenge.”
“It’s
the same challenges I envisioned we were going to have,” Botner says. “But word’s
getting out, people are figuring out what we’re really about and we’re actually
starting to earn people’s trust a bit.”
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| JoAnne Richardson was an early adopter of the credit union's services in Owsley County. |
In
addition to working with adults, Botner is focusing heavily on Owsley County
High School, where she hopes financial literacy courses and relationships with
high school seniors can help yield a break in the generational cycle of
poverty.
“We’re
trying to show these kids the real world doesn’t have to be struggling with
drug addiction or seeing how quickly you can get on disability,” she says. “It
can be, ‘go to school, get a job and budget your money.’ That’s my mindset and
what I’m putting quite a bit of focus on.”
Botner
is also reaching out to those who are slowly finding work within the county,
including with Teleworks, a work from home customer service company that’s
hired about 100 Owsley Countians.
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| ACFCU is working to establish trust in the community. |
“Teleworks
is definitely helping and people are getting jobs. You can tell by the traffic
in town (Booneville, the county seat) – some days are busier than you’ve ever
seen it. They may not pay great, but a job’s a job and people need to make a
living.”
It
all leaves Botner wondering whether she’s coming or going sometimes. “I’m tryin’,”
she says. “Sometimes I feel like a hamster in a wheel. But I know we’re the
good guys and it’s worth the effort.”
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