dvaughan@heraldsun.com; 419-6563
DURHAM -- If Durham had a George Bailey, it would be Martin Eakes, CEO of Self-Help and the Center for Responsible Lending. The leader of the community development lender was the keynote speaker at the annual meeting of Durham Congregations in Action this week at Epworth United Methodist church.
Eakes told the DCIA group how he came to have the job he does. His father was a Jesse Helms devotee and his mother a liberal. They moved unknowingly to a predominantly black neighborhood in Greensboro. Eakes learned about the wealth disparity between blacks and whites and wanted to help minorities gain equity through homeownership.
Self-Help gives loans to those who are underserved by conventional financial institutions, particularly persons of color, minorities, rural residents and low-income families. Started with $77 raised at a bake sale, the lender now has $1.5 billion in assets, Eakes said. Self-Help has provided nearly $6 billion in financing to more than 60,000 homebuyers, small businesses and nonprofits.
Eakes said it drives him crazy that the majority of subprime mortgage loans were given to minorities.
"It was unjust the way this product was delivered," he said, adding that there was one method of lending for blacks and another for whites. "It truly was morally corrupt," Eakes said.
Eakes said he has three beliefs, or preaching points. He believes it is our duty and privilege to fight for justice; we are all trustees for everything we possess and anything we touch; and that suffering and self-sacrifice can heal corrosion in the country.
He invoked St. Augustine and Martin Luther King Jr. in his thoughts about actions being more important than just words.
Eakes thinks he has the best job in America, he said, regardless of death threats he has received both from the Ku Klux Klan and drug dealers unhappy with their neighborhoods changing. Self-Help has given thousands of home loans in Durham and bought, fixed up and sold homes in West End and Walltown.
"My mother said if you have the vision to see a problem, you have a duty to solve it," Eakes said.
Past guest speakers at DCIA annual meetings have include Tim Tyson and N.C. Central University Chancellor Charlie Nelms. DCIA is a group of about five dozen congregations that work together on issues of diversity, justice and peace. At the meeting, DCIA also installed new officers. The Rev. Jimmie Hawkins of Covenant Presbyterian Church is the new president and the Rev. Ginger-Brasher-Cunningham of Pilgrim United Church of Christ is the new vice president. The Rev. Joe Hensley of St. Luke's Episcopal Church was reinstalled as secretary, and Bob Newlin of Parkwood United Methodist is treasurer for another term. New DCIA board members are Marry Morris of St. Joseph's Episcopal Church, Rev. Linda Parker of Covenant Presbyterian and LaNella Smith of Asbury Temple United Methodist Church.
Rev. Joe Harvard thanked departing president Charles Byrd. "This man is quiet, but effective and gets the job done," Harvard said.
Byrd will continue to serve on the DCIA board along with Harvard, Rev. Larry Bowden of McMannen United Methodist Church, Hank Eichin of Holy Cross Catholic Church, Lisa Salzman of Judea Reform Congregation and Doris Smith of Fisher United Holy Church.
