Community Capital: Race, Equity, and the Credit Union Movement

No margin—no mission…

What does it take to bring financial justice to communities of color?

Cliff Rosenthal, shaped by the movements of the 1960s, fought for decades against government indifference and systemic bias—finally seeing change come after the death of George Floyd. Michael McCray, a renowned whistle-blower, led an unprecedented court challenge to the unjust federal termination of his fraternity’s Kappa Alpha Psi Federal Credit Union. Here for the first time you’ll find the inside story of the landmark KAPFCU v NCUA federal court case. These stories will inspire all those working to fulfill the promise of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the financial system.

fter receiving his master's degree in Russian history at Columbia University, Clifford Rosenthal worked as a freelance translator while organizing food cooperatives in New York City and Connecticut. He brought his skills to successive nonprofit jobs for a statewide Indigenous organization and a national farmworker advocacy organization. He joined the National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions in 1980, becoming its executive director in 1983. Under his leadership, the federation became the credit union industry's leading voice on issues affecting low-income and minority communities. To bring resources to the federation's member credit unions, he launched its Capitalization Program, raising more than $100 million from faith-based and social investors, foundations, banks, and government. He cofounded and co-led the coalition that successfully advocated for the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund. He personally assisted the organizing of nearly a dozen credit unions around the country and wrote Organizing Credit Unions: A Manual. After leaving the federation (now known as Inclusiv) in 2012, he headed the Office of Financial Empowerment of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. In 2018 he published the groundbreaking volume, Democratizing Finance: Origins of the Community Development Financial Institutions Movement. He served on the Consumer Advisory Council of the Federal Reserve Board and the advisory board of the New York City Office of Financial Empowerment. Rosenthal was honored with the highest awards of the National Credit Union Foundation, the Opportunity Finance Network, the Insight Center for Community Economic Development, and the Lawyers Alliance of New York City. Recognizing his aid after Hurricane Katrina, in 2009 the ASI Federal Credit Union in New Orleans named its community center after him. In 2019, he was inducted into the African-American Credit Union Coalition's Hall of Fame.

Michael McCray was an advisor and official of the Kappa Alpha Psi Federal Credit Union. A public policy expert on community and economic development finance and grassroots organizing, Michael participated in KAPFCU's rare, almost unprecedented battle to save the credit union, bringing its case to the second highest court in the land.Michael is an alumnus of Georgetown Law, Howard University, American University, and Florida A&M University. His diverse educational and professional background includes Fortune 500 experience in marketing at Johnson & Johnson, Personal Products Company; accounting at Honeywell Information Systems; and investment banking at SunTrust Bank. He began his career in community development finance when he worked for the Federal Empowerment Zone and Enterprise Communities (EZ/EC) Program, a White House Economic Development Initiative of the Clinton Administration. Michael also taught community development finance for the Graduate Community Development Program at Prairie View A&M University.He received statewide recognition from the OMNI Center for Peace, Justice, and Ecology, which in 2008 honored him as an Arkansas Peace and Justice Hero. In 2011 he published the breakthrough volume, Race, Power, and Politics: Memoirs of an ACORN Whistleblower. Most recently, McCray is a 2021 recipient of the Cliff Robertson Sentinel Award for his advocacy with the ACORN 8 from the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE). Eight courageous low-income board members fought back against the 400,000-member association and internal corruption following the embezzlement. Dubbed the ACORN 8, Michael McCray led the fight first as a national spokesman and then as a breakthrough author. His gripping memoir gives an insider's account of ACORN at a crossroads and the rise and fall of the Rathke family empire. Tom Devine, leader of the Washington-based Government Accountability Project (GAP), called this story "one of the most important corporate whistleblower stories in twenty-five years." It is the story of systematic waste, fraud, and abuse at a powerful nonprofit organization.