Bill Bynum

In our nation’s most vulnerable places, every vulnerable person and those more fortunate who care about their well being, are best served when we come together to help ourselves.

It is often said that you get what you pay for. Clearly, too little is being paid to create positive change in America’s most vulnerable places.

Over the course of three decades in the development finance industry, I have learned that engaging and empowering those who have the greatest stake in their communities is the best way to achieve meaningful and lasting change.

Recently, more than 150 people from across the nation rolled along the backroads of the iconic Mississippi Delta, peering through bus windows at scene after scene of entrenched poverty juxtaposed against occasional pockets of progress that had been achieved against seemingly insurmountable odds. While there were signs of advancement, they were set against the backdrop of conditions that disproportionately plague these places—substandard housing, underperforming schools, inadequate access to quality health care, and limited private and philanthropic investment. 

In his recent speech to Congress, President Trump included this pledge: “Every American child should be able to grow up in a safe community … and to have access to […]

Those of us who work in regulated industries, such as banking institutions and credit unions, often succumb to the temptation to see government regulators as adversaries and to view any […]

During a recent national housing conference, a senior HOPE colleague, along with an architect and the mayor of a small Delta town—having won a slot through a rigorous application process—presented […]

The absence of bank branches and the proliferation of high-priced alternative lenders in the region only underscore the importance of access to affordable financial services.

Trying to bring fairness to financial transactions for everyday people has long been both an avocation and passion for me, anchored largely in my belief in the “Golden Rule,” that […]

Impact investing is a popular idea that promises to channel the power of market capitalism into serving the common good. Broadly defined, impact investing is a way for individuals, philanthropies, […]

The counties and parishes in the Mid South characterized by persistent poverty have the highest unemployment rates, the lowest performing schools, and the worst health.

In my last blog post, I responded to Ford Foundation president Darren Walker’s essay in which he outlines a new direction for the foundation  and considers an important question about […]