Local banks team up with UMKC to create new scholarship

Kansas City Business Journal, September 3, 2024, Written by James Dornbrook -

The University of Missouri-Kansas City teamed up with five local banks to create a scholarship for students interested in a financial services career.

The scholarship, called Banking Leaders of Tomorrow, is through the Bloch School of Management. It's organized by Jocelyn Evans, associate dean of diversity, retention and academic integrity at UMKC and the Henry W. Bloch Endowed Professor of Finance. Arvest, Academy Bank, Commerce Bank, Lead Bank, UMB Bank and an anonymous foundation all committed to donating at least $25,000 for five years to the fund, which was matched by the Bloch Family Foundation.

Scholarships of up to $10,000 each will be awarded per recipient based on an essay describing his or her interest in a banking career and how past experiences make way for banking relationships with individuals and businesses in Kansas City’s low-income areas. Preference will be given to first-generation college students or applicants from census tracts where median household incomes are below the national average.

“People who are from the community probably know who the good businesses are,” Evans said. “They probably know the people who actually pay their bills every month. They probably have inside information about their community. So they can help the bank decide who’s a good credit risk and who’s not a good credit risk. They can help lower the number of unbanked and underbanked members of the community.”

Low-income residents often don't trust traditional financial institutions because of their history of inequality.

“If we’re going to get people back into the traditional banking system, we probably need people who look like them, who speak their language and understand their community,” Evans said. “We need bankers willing to provide financial literacy so they better understand how banks work.”

Arvest CEO Mark Larrabee said bringing talent into the local banking scene is important. Even more important is building diverse talent.

“We saw this as a way to make an investment in students who are interested in banking,” Larrabee said. “Hopefully we get to work with them one-on-one, mentor them, maybe have an internship with them and bring them into the bank.”

Teresa Ascencio, chief administrative officer for Kansas City-based Academy Bank, said mentoring is a key facet of the scholarship. There will be networking events, opportunities for internships and bankers involved in guest lecturing.

“We often talk to finance or business students, and when they think about a career in banking, they think about investment banking,” Ascensio said. “But we know that there are so many opportunities within banking, especially community banking, where you can impact entire communities and small businesses and individual consumers. So this program has a much more well-rounded approach, where they’ll get to learn about all the different opportunities, especially in Kansas City, for a career in banking.”

See article here: Kansas City Business Journal