Neighborhood Trust Financial Partners (formerly Credit Where Credit Is Due) was founded in 1994 in response to the growing financial disenfranchisement of Upper Manhattan. Washington Heights in particular represented the challenges facing the Latino immigrant community, striving for financial mobility, but waylaid by structural barriers to wealth creation and the perils of a ubiquitous fringe banking industry grown up to fill the financial services void.
STATISTICS: Overwhelmingly low-income and Latino, Washington Heights comprises the largest concentration of Dominicans outside the Dominican Republic. It is one of the most crowded urban landscapes in the nation, with 300,000 people living within three square miles, with consistent and rapid growth among the Hispanic population. It is also one of the most underserved communities in New York City. The median household income for Community District 12 (Washington Heights & Inwood) is $28,865, with 20% of households earning less than $10,000. Sixty percent of households are headed by single women.
–text excerpted from the Neighborhood Trust Financial Partners website