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[powellb@ucc.org]

TITLE  National church agency invests in bank
June 3, 1997
Office of Communication
United Church of Christ
Barb Powell, press contact
(216) 736-2217
E-mail:  powellb@ucc.org
On the World Wide Web:  http://www.ucc.org

National church agency invests in bank that focuses on
improving Cleveland neighborhoods

CLEVELAND--The U.S. mission arm of the United Church
of Christ has invested $2 million in Shore Bank and
Trust Company of Cleveland, part of Cleveland
Development Bancorporation (CDB).
      The United Church Board for Homeland Ministries,
based in downtown Cleveland, made the substantial
investment because of Cleveland Development
Bancorporation's focus on developing Cleveland
neighborhoods, said Matthew O'Brien, treasurer of the
Homeland Board.
      The mission of the CDB is to increase the level
of investment in Cleveland's east side neighborhoods
by residents of the targeted areas as well as other
individuals and companies.  It is a wholly owned
subsidiary of Shorebank Corporation, the Chicago-based
bank holding company which has successfully combined
banking and development activities for 24 years in two
Chicago neighborhoods.
      "We are pleased to share in this urban
development partnership with a socially conscious bank
that believes in assisting low-income families to
improve the quality of life in our city," said the
Rev. Thomas E. Dipko, executive vice president of the
Homeland Board.  "Our decision was also influenced by
the fact that Shore Bank and Trust includes in its
loan portfolio a number of local churches and a
synagogue that are seeking to renovate their
properties."
      In investing funds, the Homeland Board joins the
Catholic Diocese of Cleveland and numerous other local
businesses -- including banks, hospitals and utilities
-- in becoming a community development investor.
      CDB currently is focusing its resources on the
neighborhoods of Buckeye-Shaker, Fairfax, Forest
Hills, Glenville, Hough, South Collinwood, St. Clair,
Superior and University Circle.  These neighborhoods
include active community organizations; a university
and medical complex central to the regional economy;
300 manufacturing firms in diverse industries;
aspiring African-American working and middle class
small business owners, who comprise 30 percent of the
area's population; and affordable real estate values,
which allow families with incomes as low as $15,000-
to-$17,000 per year to become homeowners.
      The United Church Board for Homeland Ministries'
relationship with Chicago's Shorebank Corporation goes
back to 1973, when the Board became one of Shorebank's
first investors.  Shorebank, one of the original
community development institutions, made loans in
neighborhoods that commercial banks would not touch.
      The $2-million investment means that the Board
has $17.3 million, or 10.9 percent, of its investment
assets in "economically targeted investments" --
groups involved in homelessness, housing and other
social and economic development projects.
      The United Church of Christ has more than 1.5
million members and 6,100 congregations in the United
States and Puerto Rico.  It was formed by the 1957
union of the Congregational Christian Churches and the
Evangelical and Reformed Church.
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