Bright Hope Church puts all its money in black-owned bank

Business and city leaders gathered in Progress Plaza yesterday to hail an investment by one of the city's prominent black churches in a black-owned bank that serves North Philadelphia and other parts of the city.

Under a green-and-white tent in the plaza parking lot, the Rev. Kevin Johnson, senior pastor of Bright Hope Baptist Church, announced that the church has decided to deposit all of its money at United Bank of Philadelphia, which has a branch in the plaza, at Broad and Jefferson streets.

Johnson said that this move represented a desire to contribute to the economic development of the African-American community. He also spoke of the warmth of doing business with a black-owned business.

"We wanted to be with a bank that understood us, with a bank that was committed to us and a bank that would not leave us," he said.

Johnson called upon "all pastors of churches to do business with United Bank," and urged Temple University, the city of Philadelphia and "everyone" to do the same.

The celebratory event included prayers and a gospel solo by Valerie Gay, who sang a version of Mahalia Jackson's "How I Got Over."

Johnson said afterward that Bright Hope, at 12th Street and Cecil B. Moore Avenue, receives about $1.5 million in donations each year from its 2,100 members. The church has already deposited several hundred thousand dollars in United, he said.

Bright Hope had previously deposited its money at PNC, which Johnson called a "great bank," but said that what "it really boiled down to" was that United Bank had given the church the lowest refinancing rate on its mortgage.