DELLWOOD, Mo. — Midwest BankCentre is doubling down its commitment to help working men and women in the North Region. The bank has now joined forces with community leaders and became a major financer of the R&R Marketplace in Dellwood Missouri.
Pastors Ken and Beverly Jenkins are making a difference in their community.
"The R+R marketplace is a it's really a co-location of these incredible businesses. But then also services for the community to be able to take advantage of. So it's about having access to opportunity," Beverly said.
Their non profit, Refuge and Restoration, has turned this once empty 88,000 square foot shopping plaza in Dellwood into a platform for success. This location was nationally known in 2014 as the center of the Ferguson uprising and now, the community and Midwest Bank Centre are changing that narrative.
"These are lived experiences and so we know the families, we know the people. And so we had a pretty good pulse on, you know, what people wanted and what they were looking for in the community," Ken said.
Phase One of R&R Marketplace opened last month. It includes a career development training center, a co-working innovation center, behavioral health with addiction care services, an early childhood education center, a restaurant, and a bank. That bank, being Midwest Bank Centre’s Dellwood Innovation Center.
Ashley O'Neal is the Senior Vice President of Retail Banking at Midwest Bank Centre. "We've been very strategic in ensuring that we're hearing what our potential clients and future clients and existing clients are hearing what they want, but then also making sure that from a bank standpoint, we're able to provide them with the services that they need," she said.
The new location is testing ways to issue more small-dollar, non-traditional loans and products with flexible payment options. Something that is particularly useful for micro-businesses and entrepreneurs looking to grow.
Along with the Innovation center, Midwest Bank made this project possible by providing 5.57 million in lending to R&R.
"Normally in what we consider to be low to moderate income communities, no one thinks that that kind of investment is worthy. And it was Midwest BankCentre said, no, we're going to come here with an innovation center, not just a regular branch bank, but we're going to do something different here," Beverly explained.
That kind of investment speaks volumes to not only the community, but to grassroots organizations and organizational leaders.
"That's what makes it last. So that means that it be here generationally because the community set it here. So this is something that they know that they will keep and they will love, they will cherish," Beverly said.
For further information, visit midwestbankcentre.com.
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