JODELL E. PINESETT: President, Orange County chapter, National Assn. of Urban Bankers

In mid-1992, African Americans working in Orange County’s financial services industry, tired of trekking to Los Angeles for events sponsored by the L.A. chapter of the National Assn. of Urban Bankers, formed an affiliate in Orange County and turned it into an official chapter in June. Jodell E. Pinesett, the local chapter’s president, said the young chapter is the only one representing Orange County’s minority bankers. She talked recently with Times staff writer James S. Granelli about the group’s growing pains and goals.

How did Urban Bankers decide to form an Orange County chapter?

Well, Orange County really does not have a support group for minority bankers. There are plenty of minority banker organizations in Los Angeles, but there’s really no such organization in Orange County. Because so few minorities are involved in banking in Orange County, we thought it was essential to provide them with a program in Orange County.

Does Urban Bankers exist mainly to help minority bankers or to help minorities?

It’s a business organization that supports minorities. Its main focus is the professional development of individuals in banking. It’s a networking tool, a resource, where different financial service companies can pull individuals from. But the organization, through the seminars and workshops that it puts on, also benefits the community by bringing out what’s available in financial services--home loans as well as other financial needs--to the people.

Urban Bankers has been identified primarily as an African American group. With African Americans representing about 2% of Orange County residents, what will be the organization’s role in this county?

We look at the whole ethnic composition of the community. We’ve had non-ethnic people come to our functions. We don’t try to segregate. Right now we have all African American members (in the county chapter) and the basic group in our association is mainly African Americans, but we don’t discriminate and we don’t discourage people from joining if they’re non-African American. It’s strictly a minority-based organization.

During organization of the chapter, Urban Bankers put on a workshop for the public, correct?

We’ve done two seminars where the community was invited to attend. But the largest thing we did for the community was the (Community Reinvestment Act) workshop in February. We invited banks and other financial services to sponsor booths that could explain to the community at large what type of programs were available, how they would qualify and so forth. It was just the basic procedures, but the majority of people do not know how, for example, to qualify for loans. That’s what that workshop targeted.

Federal regulations require banks and thrifts to offer services to poorer neighborhoods under CRA. What kinds of services did Urban Bankers talk about at its workshop?

Everything from business loans to home loans, car loans to personal loans--any type of financial service. We didn’t get the turnout we really wanted, but we’re going to have another CRA workshop this February.

How do you plan to get the word out this time to get more people to attend?

We’re starting earlier. We’re trying to attend other organizations’ functions to get our name out there. From there, we hope to win their support to get the word out through them. Our treasurer, Kelvin James, is the CRA officer at Downey Savings, so he is getting a lot of (informational) materials and doing a lot of the footwork for the workshop. So I think it’s going to be a lot stronger, a lot better. We’re also trying to look at location. Is Santa Ana a good location? There are so many minorities here in Orange County, but where are they? Where would it mostly benefit a community? That’s what we’re looking at now.

What other things do you have planned for the community?

We want to focus on different kinds of small investments that individuals like you and I and anyone else can get into--such as investing income tax returns. We’re talking with an individual from (the brokerage) Merrill Lynch and also another individual from an insurance company to help us with this. We’re just trying to get programs together that we can present to the community.

What is the local chapter’s main goal?

Our main goal right now is to get more members. Currently, we only have 23 paid members. We’re trying to let minority bankers out there know that we’re here. We’re trying to get that support.

Do you have any specific goals for attracting more new members?

We’re trying to invite to our meetings panelists who we think are beneficial, who promote professional development. And through that, I think we’re attracting a lot of individuals. We’re also trying to piggyback on some things going on in the community. We’re going to be involved in a ballet coming up with the Orange County Philharmonic association. They’re asking for our support in trying to get people to attend the ballet. It’s just a matter of getting out there and letting people know that we’re out there too. We’re giving other organizations our support so, in turn, they can give us their support.

Do you have corporate sponsors that provide you with members?

To be honest, we’re trying to find where the minorities are in Orange County. I don’t know if there is a lack of minorities in financial services in Orange County; if the numbers are that low. That’s what we’re trying to find out. That’s one of our goals right now. Where are they? Is Costa Mesa centralized for a majority of the people? Is Fullerton? We’re looking at everything right now because we’re trying to build a strong organization.

On obtaining corporate sponsors. . .

“It’s a matter of letting people know we’re out there, we’re serious and we’re not a fly-by-night organization.”

On seeking other minorities as members. . .

“We open up our meetings and our membership to anyone. We’ve had other minorities and non-minorities attend. We extend the membership packages to anyone.”

On serving all levels of bankers. . .

“We want to encourage minorities at all levels--from teller to president--to consider joining the association. You don’t need a title behind your name because this is for development.”

On educational programs for local students. . .

“We want to expand our mentor programs at Cal State Fullerton and UCI, and we want to talk at high schools about financial career opportunities.”