Same Old Lawlessness In MD

Another example of the remarkably dishonest approach to Maryland's illegal alien crisis by our elected officials. All Maryland state and county funding to the Latino Economic Development Corporation (LEDC) should be terminated. No loans or bank accounts should be provided to illegal aliens.

The LEDC, like CASA de Maryland and Catholic Charities, attracts and sustains illegal aliens.

Hispanic Community in Wheaton gets a helping hand

Published on: Thursday, April 15, 2010 MC Sentinel
By Alix Farr

Members of the Latino community of Wheaton are finding new ways to meet their banking needs at the Community First Financial Center.

Recently opened by the Latino Economic Development Corporation, the center targets the "unbanked" and "underbanked" residents in the area in providing services such as remittance, check-cashing, phone cards, and bill-pay services, according to the corporation's spokeswoman Ash Kosiewicz.

But the goal is not just for short-term or one-time services, Kosiewicz says. Instead, the hope is that through these smaller transactions, patrons will be drawn in and begin taking advantage of LEDC's larger-impact services such as wealth building, small business, and home ownership counseling.

"We do our best to connect repeat customers with financial literacy classes," Kosiewicz said. One such customer Kosiewicz described, is a man who was using the center to cash checks and send remittances to his family in Colombia, but recently began using new services to help finance his home construction business.

These objectives are in line with Montgomery County Executive Isiah "Ike" Leggett's efforts to revitalize the Wheaton area, according to Montgomery County Economic Development Director Steve Silverman. "This is another piece of the puzzle to help Wheaton become a stronger community," Silverman said.

"They are a great organization and they provide services that government can't provide." In addition to providing fair and transparent prices to clients, the financial center also contributes to the wellbeing of the community by allowing money that is earned in the community to stay in the community, Silverman said.

"It will keep money in the community and not allow hard working community members to be ripped off," Silverman said. "We want people to be out getting payday loans. We don't people to get charged a lot for check cashing." In order to promote itself, the Community First Financial Center has been using radio and newspaper advertising, Kosiewicz said.

And in collaboration with the Census Bureau, the center was also able to offer free services to anyone that filled out the census at their office. Although it is currently the mostly-Latino population of Wheaton that is taking advantage of the center's services, Kosiewicz said that the goal is to reach the entire Washington, D.C. metropolitan community, helping many more lower-income families to reach their financial goals.