Near Northwest Neighborhood prepping for small loan program to revitalize area

 

SOUTH BEND, Ind.-- Maybe you found the perfect apartment or starter home for your family, but you can’t make the down payment. Maybe you finally found a stable job, but your car breaking down means you can’t get to work.

One local neighborhood association is working to give neighbors that hand up to overcome those financial hurdles, and in turn, redevelop the entire ecosystem.

However, payday loans can have really high interest rates, which leaders in South Bend’s Near Northwest Neighborhood say can be a dangerous path to go down if you’re strapped for cash.

That’s why they’re working with Holy Cross Parish to one day give neighbors a better alternative to level up and uplift the whole community.

“The whole gist of this story is about shared resources,” said Kathy Schuth, executive director of Near Northwest Neighborhood (NNN) Incorporated.

The idea of sharing resources is a model for rebuilding and revitalizing NNN.

“We find that our social wealth is something that we can’t take for granted,” Schuth said.

Whether it’s a shared, free community fridge and pantry, installed this month, or a co-op offering small businesses the opportunity to get off the ground, neighbors are building up from within.

“I see it change rapidly, like every day,” said Mykale Williams, associate with Brain Lair Books. “I’m really passionate about keeping people my age in the city. I think that is a way to keep people who graduated during the pandemic in the city who are still, you know, getting their own legs.”

Just in the planning stages, the NNN is looking to implement a small loan program.

“Even having to go $400-500 beyond your regular monthly budget, especially if it’s an emergency, is a big stretch,” Schuth said. “And for some, that means they have to make difficult choices.”

The community development corporation is partnering with Holy Cross Catholic Church and Notre Dame Federal Credit Union.

“Holy Cross Parish has been a really strong partner in their desire, understanding, willingness, action, and energy for connecting with the neighborhood as a whole,” Schuth said.

In an area once described as a forgotten piece of South Bend, neighbors are slowly gaining more and more opportunities to build up themselves and their community.

“This idea of community sharing and fostering ideas really causes this growth,” Schuth said. “It’s because we’re thinking about it together. There’s a lot of conversation that happens between neighbors, and encouragement, and then also figuring out the practical ways forward together and how we can share the work.”

She said the goal is to implement the “Holy Cross Neighborhood Mutual Aid Program” within the next year.