On this episode of Banking on KC, Joe Mendoza, the new Community Development Officer at Country Club Bank, joins host Kelly Scanlon to discuss his strategic role in enhancing community development and financial literacy in underserved communities.
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Kelly Scanlon:
Welcome to Banking on KC. I'm your host, Kelly Scanlon. Thank you for joining us. With us today is Joe Mendoza, who is the new Community Development Officer at Country Club Bank, and he's also the Chairman of the Board of the Hispanic Economic Development Corporation, and he's here to talk with us today about, really, his legacy of community involvement here in Kansas City and elsewhere, and also what he's going to be doing here at the bank and what that means for both the bank and the community. Welcome. We appreciate you coming here, Joe.
Joe Mendoza:
Thank you, Kelly. Thank you for having me.
Kelly Scanlon:
Like I said, you're very new. This is a newly created position at Country Club Bank. What does a Community Development Officer do?
Joe Mendoza:
Country Club Bank wants somebody to be involved with some of our local non-for-profit organizations, but also coming up with different lending opportunities to some of those emerging markets within the community, as well as just some of the unbanked and underbanked communities, because there's a lot out there that are just unbanked. That's why I'm here today.
Kelly Scanlon:
Why did you choose Country Club Bank? Why did you decide at this point in your career that this would be a good move for you?
Joe Mendoza:
Well, the role, really. I had done something similar with another organization that I was with, and I've always been in lending, but during that time that I was in that role of doing community development, there was a lot of satisfaction. You felt that you accomplished helping out somebody by being in that role and helping out the community that, again, nobody was really reaching out to or even had the idea of how big that community is, and it was a very fulfilling role so at the end of the day, I always went home feeling good about what I did. And I had heard so many great things about Country Club Bank, and as I read more about the position, I thought, "You know what? That is right up my alley."
Kelly Scanlon:
Let's talk a little bit about some of the specific things. You gave us a broad overview of what you'll be doing, but let's talk about some of the specific things that you'll be doing. For example, I know there's some programs, literacy programs that you'll be heading up. Can you talk with us about those?
Joe Mendoza:
Sure, absolutely. So we've come up with Curriculum of Financial Literacy that we want go out and present to people in the community that maybe have not had the opportunity to be informed, and ironically, people are reaching out to us asking for it.
Kelly Scanlon:
Word's getting out about it.
Joe Mendoza:
Yes, yes. You're finding out how big of a need that is in the community, and we're happy to jump on it, and with the help of some of my co-workers, we've come up with these different modules that we're going to be able to present and educate the community on being financially smart.
Kelly Scanlon:
Give us some examples of what you're going to be teaching.
Joe Mendoza:
We got one for budgeting. We have one for starting up a new business, what it entails on, do you want it to be an LLC, an S Corp, all these different types. On saving, on home buying. That's a big one because there are programs that we are discovering right now that offer grant money for down payment assistance, and one of the requirements is that they go through a home buying class, so we're going to be able to offer that as well as offer them the opportunity to have a chance at getting a grant for a down payment on the purchase of a home.
Kelly Scanlon:
It sounds like you have a curriculum that you developed to serve both the individual and the business owner.
Joe Mendoza:
Correct.
Kelly Scanlon:
It's a mix of both. And is it all under the umbrella of one program or are these several separate programs?
Joe Mendoza:
There's several different programs. A lot of these, it's from information that we get that the FDIC provides, and we've tailored it to fit how we want to proceed with the program and the modules that we want to use. But there's a library of information out there, so if somebody comes to us and says, "We'd like for you to teach on this." We know we have that option available for them. Here in October, I'm going to be conducting a series of financial literacy classes at Della Lamb with a lot of their new clients that, I mean, they never banked.
Kelly Scanlon:
You led me right into my next question. First of all, are you going to be teaching these or will it be a group of people teaching them? How will that work?
Joe Mendoza:
Well, I'd love for it to be a group of people.
Kelly Scanlon:
But right now it's you?
Joe Mendoza:
But right now, it looks like it's just me. But the more associates, the more they start to find out and the people in our committee, finance makes cents and that cents with the C, they're going to be helping me out as well. They're the ones along with the marketing team that helped put the curriculums together, and I'm going to have some help. I'm going to be doing them on a weekly basis at Della Lamb this coming October, and it's a time commitment. It's a commitment from the bank as well, but we understand the importance of it.
Kelly Scanlon:
So aside from Della Lamb, do you have plans to collaborate with other organizations to present these classes?
Joe Mendoza:
Yes. So I've already had a couple of meetings with Catholic Charities of St. Joe Missouri, with Elevate KC at the Hispanic Economic Development Corporation. Those are some of the organizations that have reached out asking, "Can you provide us with this because our clients need this."
Kelly Scanlon:
One of the other things that you are involved in outside of the financial literacy classes, you mentioned community outreach and you mentioned Della Lamb, but you're also going to be working with organizations like High Aspirations, El Centro and others in the community. What will your outreach be like? What will that look like with those organizations?
Joe Mendoza:
Again, a lot of it revolves around the financial literacy, but you take a look at High Aspirations and what they do mentoring young men within the inner city.
Kelly Scanlon:
We've had them on as a guest before.
Joe Mendoza:
Yeah.
Kelly Scanlon:
Great organization.
Joe Mendoza:
I've known Henry for a long time, almost since he started High Aspirations. And we went out and we did an event for them during Juneteenth and just seeing that community, and them coming and asking about just financial products, the organization G.I.F.T.
Kelly Scanlon:
Yes, G.I.F.T., yes.
Joe Mendoza:
We went out there and did a financial seminar with them and questions that they asked, and then the moderator of the event was, they've come out to us, come out to here. So they've already broken that barrier that keeps us from just walking into a bank and asking for somebody. They've sent representatives out here, they're telling you, "Come see me." I had some of the attendees come up to me afterwards and said, "It's a breath of fresh air seeing a minority in your position." And as I mentioned to them, I said, "You know what? All of us in this room are minorities. And I understand while the obstacles that you've had to go through may not be the same ones for me, but there are obstacles that both of us have faced when it comes to certain situations, and I understand that." And they were like, "Wow, this is a breath of fresh air, and thank you for coming out here to talk to us."
Kelly Scanlon:
And it's so important, as you say, to have what you could call a warm introduction. They're not just walking through the doors and hoping somebody will serve them. They're actually being invited in by you, by the bank.
Joe Mendoza:
Yes, yes. And ironically, when we talked about the unbanked or the underserved, I've already had a couple of folks reach out to me that tell me, "I haven't had a bank account in years. I can't even remember when I had one." And I take it for granted, I've worked at a bank, I have a checking account. I know how it works. But to hear that, I just can't imagine going through life without a checking account and how important it is, and to hear that from them, and thankfully, the bank, we've got a product for them that they can use.
Kelly Scanlon:
That is such an important thing to make people feel welcome in terms of the financial part of their lives. But sometimes you encounter people and you realize that that's only one part of the situation. They may be unhoused, they may have children who have a specific need. So will you or the bank be working in a collaborative manner with other organizations to make referrals to nonprofits that can help in those situations?
Joe Mendoza:
Absolutely, absolutely. Habitat for Humanity met with our CFO not too long ago, and they have customers that will go to them that don't speak English. And so they've got some counselors on staff that speak Spanish because a lot of times that is what they prefer to speak in, but they have the need for Spanish-speaking lenders. And I've been in lending my entire 24 years, and so I understand the process and I understand there's a lot of handholding with non-English speaking customers. As a son of an immigrant, I can recall at the age of five or six years old where I was having to go and translate for my parents. You see that need, and my parents didn't have somebody like myself there to help, and I want to be able to pay that forward and be that person that can be there to help that community that doesn't speak English and prefers to talk in Spanish just because it's their native language.
Kelly Scanlon:
Can you talk in a broader sense about how the work that you do in banking the unbankable, teaching the financial literacy courses and so forth, lifts up a community? What kind of results have you seen from that, from your previous experience?
Joe Mendoza:
Yeah, so I'll give you an example. My dad learned through the hard knocks the importance of having insurance. He worked on a dairy farm and they didn't provide insurance. And when I was about three years old, I remember vividly, I said, "I broke my leg" and they rushed me to the hospital. And when I finally got the cast off, that same day, we were going home and we stopped at the church to pray, thanking God that I got the cast off, and me and my sister decide to race after we got done praying. And as we were getting to the door, we were neck-and-neck. And then she gives me this slight little tug and pushes me, and I end up hitting the door and breaking the same leg right on the spot. And so they rushed me back to the hospital. And when my dad got the bill from the hospital, he couldn't believe the cost because there was eight kids in the family, but they never needed medical attention, or at least we didn't-
Kelly Scanlon:
Not to that extent.
Joe Mendoza:
Not to that extent. The hospital ended up forgiving him and forgiving the debt, but he realized I need to have insurance. And so during the day, would work at the dairy, and in the afternoons he would go and he started working for the local school district as a janitor. You might look at a janitor as, oh, that's not like a big career move, but in his eyes, it was big because he was going to get provided with benefits, and it made a big difference. Unfortunately, he learned that the hard way, and it was myself that had to teach him that lesson.
Kelly Scanlon:
Teach him that lesson. But you're hoping to, with the people that you helped, to secure their financial futures.
Joe Mendoza:
Exactly, exactly. And a lot of times you think about the unbanked or unbanked and underserved and that not just unbanked and underserved, but underinsured. And I don't think that a lot of the community thinks about those things that you and I probably take for granted on a daily basis.
So what I've seen from providing these financial literacy classes is you're educating them on topics that they wanted to know but didn't know and didn't know who to ask.
Kelly Scanlon:
In some cases, maybe too embarrassed to ask.
Joe Mendoza:
Too embarrassed to ask, yes, absolutely. And again, they see you in that more approachable manner because they're not walking into this three story building that they don't know who to go in and talk to. Now, you're out there in the community with them, and they feel free to just, "Hey, I have a question. I don't know how this works." Or "Hey, this happened to me. What do you recommend I should do?" And you also try to find resources for them. A lot of times, they're just not aware of those resources that are out there. Right now, I'm working with a couple of organizations where there are some grant money that they desperately need that can be facilitated through Country Club Bank, and they're just asking themselves, "I didn't know this was out there, and we appreciate you letting us know about this." And it's going to impact them and the lives that they help significantly.
Kelly Scanlon:
Yeah. So that ripple effect.
Joe Mendoza:
Yes, yes. That ripple effect. That's a great way of putting it. I come across some customers that I see they need help paying their bills. They need help buying food, groceries, and there are these organizations out there that offer that. Catholic Charity is a great example, and they just relocated, and they were forecasting roughly about 300 people to go through their food pantry. They said that it doubled, and they're trying to figure out how do we provide more groceries for these families? So organizations like that that you really feel that you need to help out, whether it's through volunteering or financially helping out.
Kelly Scanlon:
Well, and there's something already here at Country Club Bank that I'm not sure that the larger community knows a lot about that probably will work hand in hand with you in some cases, and that is the Team Impact Program. It's a formalized program here at the bank where associates get volunteer time off hours, and they go into the community on a regular basis every week supporting these different organizations through volunteer activities and so forth.
Joe Mendoza:
It's funny you bring that up because I've already asked, "Hey, one of my benefits," I said, "It says I get X amount of hours a year. I might exceed those this year. And I've only been with the bank for three months." And they were like, "Don't worry about it. We'll cover you." Because they understand that I'm out volunteering a lot, and that's what they expect. That's what they want, so.
Kelly Scanlon:
Well, and you have a whole group of 450 or whatever the number of employees is behind you supplementing your efforts as well. You obviously are very passionate about this work that you do. You've been in banking, as you said, for a couple, three decades now, and you've also simultaneously been involved in community outreach. Talk to us about some of the different organizations that you've been involved with, aside from the Hispanic Economic Development Corporation, and what drives you. Sometimes people will go on volunteer jags, for five years, they're involved in everything. Then they're burnt out and they're not doing it anymore. But you have made this a lifelong outreach. What drives your passion and what are some of the things that you've done?
Joe Mendoza:
To answer your question, what drives my passion? It goes back to that nobody was there for my folks. And when I think about some of the struggles that they went through, I don't want to see families go through those struggles. Being involved in organizations like the Hispanic Economic Development Corporation, the Guadalupe Centers, the El Centro, ONDA, and as well as the Arts Council of Johnson County, I never was really into art, but I believed in their mission of what they wanted to accomplish. It's a gratifying feeling that when at the end of the day, you can tell that you made an impact in somebody's lives.
Kelly Scanlon:
And so you continued that. And you have worked for organizations that recognize that and encourage it.
Joe Mendoza:
Yes. Yes. That's been one of the most fulfilling things of my career. I got a degree in criminal justice. I wanted to go out and change the world. I wanted to stop seeing people using drugs. I wanted to make an impact. But graduating college, I was approached by a financial institution and they said, "Hey, we need somebody that speaks Spanish." And I was like, "But I don't know anything about finance. I don't know..." They said, "Don't worry about it. We just need somebody that can speak Spanish. We'll teach you the rest." And here I am 24 years later in banking just because of being bilingual. It's helped my career tremendously.
Kelly Scanlon:
What is that they say that, referencing your volunteer work, people who volunteer or give back actually feel like they get more than what they gave?
Joe Mendoza:
That is very true. That is very true. And again, I think that's one of the reasons, that's what has driven me is that I get back more than I give.
Kelly Scanlon:
You have received multiple awards and recognition in many categories. Leadership, service, your sales production, I assume, at the financial institutions that you have been a part of. But you also, and this is the one that I just really love, is the Royals O'Neil Legacy Seat. You got to sit in that. You were the VIP for that.
Joe Mendoza:
It was a tremendous honor to be nominated for my efforts of working with the Hispanic community. And this happened shortly after we had moved to Kansas City, and I went up to my boss the next day, okay, I'm just moved to Kansas City. I've been here, what, maybe four years. I went up to my boss the next day and I said, "Hey," I said, "I got nominated for this thing at the Royals." And he was like, "Well, what was it?" I said, "I don't know." I said, "It's like the Buck O'Neil or something." And he's like, "Do you know who that is?" And I said, "No, not really." And he's like, "You better Google that and find out."
And in reading more and learning more about Buck O'Neil and the efforts that he was putting into the community trying to improve the kids' lives, it was foretelling that I was nominated for that because of what I was doing as well. You just think about the tremendous work that he did and the legacy that he left behind. I'm not trying to say I'm a Buck O'Neil, but those are some big shoes to fill, but it's very rewarding. It was very rewarding and just a great experience.
Kelly Scanlon:
You're very new here, what? Since June, I believe.
Joe Mendoza:
June, uh-huh.
Kelly Scanlon:
Yeah. So just a few months. So if you were to look ahead in the future five years, and from that June day that you first sat down at Country Club Bank, what would you hope to see accomplished?
Joe Mendoza:
Wow. I would like to see us become the bank of choice from the entire Kansas City community. And I would like to see certain products being made available that I've worked on in the past that I'm bringing also to Country Club Bank. And we've gone through a couple of presentations on these and the bank, they're on board, and I want to see those launched and us be successful at getting those off the ground and making an impact in the community, helping them out.
Kelly Scanlon:
So this is a really timely interview to have with you, Joe, because Hispanic Heritage Month just launched September 15th. What are your plans?
Joe Mendoza:
Well, there's so much that goes on during this time period, and rightly so. September 15th is the Independence Day for a lot of Latin American countries. You've got Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, all celebrating their Independence Day, and then Mexico's kicking off on the 16th. Chile, the 18th. So it's nice that they've chosen that time period as being celebrated. And so many of the organizations throughout Kansas City that the recognition that they put onto it, they really honored. The Director of the Hispanic Economic Development was invited to go and sit at the owner's suite at the Chief's game honoring the Hispanic Heritage Month. So come a long way. It used to be only one week. It's a month now. President Reagan enacted it to a month back in 88. So you think about where we've come from and where we are today, celebrating an entire month, recognizing the culture and the contributions that we make to the U.S., to the rest of the world here.
Kelly Scanlon:
Can you give us an example?
Joe Mendoza:
The U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce actually started here in Kansas City.
Kelly Scanlon:
A lot of people don't know that.
Joe Mendoza:
Yeah. I've been fortunate enough to go to one of their annual events and look at the impact that they're making in helping out the minority businesses, and they're going to be here in a couple of months. Their annual convention is going to be here in Kansas City.
Kelly Scanlon:
Yes. Yeah.
Joe Mendoza:
So I've already been talking about that it's something that I want to attend, and it's a very impactful, and you think about what it's going to do just for all the companies that they help, but also economically for Kansas City, it's going to make a big difference.
So when we're thinking about the contributions that the Hispanic market has made, in 2021, it was reported that the Hispanics had reached $3.4 trillion in purchasing consumer goods in the U.S. And it is estimated that if the Hispanics that live here in the U.S. were an independent country, they would be the fifth largest GDP in the world. That's impactful.
Kelly Scanlon:
And with all the work that you're doing, and hopefully others like you, then that number will only increase.
Joe Mendoza:
Yes. That's the plan.
Kelly Scanlon:
Yeah, exactly.
Joe, it has been wonderful having you on the show today to share your plans, the bank's plans for working with, as you said, the underserved, the unbankable community and small business owners too, to just heighten your efforts there. Thank you for taking the time with everything I know you've got going on your plate and that you're trying to get launched to come in and talk with us for a few minutes today. Appreciate that.
Joe Mendoza:
Well, I appreciate you having me here today. Thank you.
Kelly Scanlon:
Yes.
Joe Close:
This is Joe Close, President of Country Club Bank. Thank you to Joe Mendoza for being our guest on this episode of Banking on KC. Joe shared insights into his role as a new Community Development Officer at Country Club Bank, emphasizing his legacy of community involvement and the impactful initiatives he's spearheading to enhance financial literacy and outreach within underserved communities. His commitment aligns perfectly with Country Club Bank's mission to lift up the community and foster inclusion through increased educational opportunities and financial services. Joe's efforts are a testament to the bank's dedication to making a significant difference in the lives of Kansas Citians, helping bridge gaps in financial services and paving the way for a more inclusive financial future.
Thanks for tuning in this week. We're banking on you Kansas City. Country Club Bank member FDIC.