Talking Business with Percy Manson of Hope Credit Union

Percy Manson has built a career at the intersection of capital and community development. A longtime banker and campaign consultant, the Kenner native is leveraging his financial and political experience to help extend growth and opportunity to neglected neighborhoods.
Last year, after nearly a decade as a commercial banker working for Gulf Coast Bank & Trust Co., Manson joined Hope Credit Union as a senior vice president of community economic development and now manages a statewide team.
Hope was founded in 1995 in Jackson, Mississippi, by CEO Bill Bynum with a mission providing access to capital and financial products to underserved communities in the Deep South. In the decades since, the credit union has grown to include more than 40,000 members and $739 million in assets. Last year, it financed over $210 million of community development across Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee.
In the first half of 2025, Hope has closed more than 400 home loans, 87% of which were lent to first-time homebuyers, and nearly 60 small business and community economic development loans, with 89% going to economically distressed areas.
In his spare time, Manson serves as a commissioner on the board of the Housing Authority of New Orleans, which he has led as president for the past year. He’s also involved in local elections, having recently worked for the campaigns of the incoming mayor and sheriff.
On the eve of the new administration, Manson believes New Orleans is at a pivotal moment and called on Mayor-elect Helena Moreno to follow through on campaign promises to prioritize economic development in New Orleans East and the Lower 9th Ward.
In this week’s Talking Business, Manson discusses what he’s been seeing in the local lending market and how community development financial institutions like Hope, combine flexible lending with education programs.
This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
How would you describe Hope Credit Union and what it does?
We service folk and communities that other institutions may not want to go into. For example: Selma, Alabama. It looks like Katrina, and nobody’s really reaching out to help people in that area. We are. A lot of institutions are getting away from small business. We’re not. We’re moving more toward it, and we’re able to do some unique things to help small businesses. Credit unions are able to do things, in terms of financing, that banks cannot. With other institutions, if you don’t have the tax returns, don’t have this, don’t have that, then they’re kind of not looking at you.
What are the biggest hurdles facing small business owners who are trying to secure capital?
We have clients that come to us and this is their first account, so we kind of hold their hands and walk them through the process from start to finish. I do a lot of lunch and learns, something I started here when I got here. It’s where we go out into the communities talking about things you would need to make you bankable, things that you would need to qualify you for a loan. Then, in every one of our markets, we have what’s called technical assistance providers. If a client is not ready, we will refer them to one of the providers, and then they help them get their finances together — their P and L’s, their balance sheets and things like that, and if the taxes aren’t done, they’ll walk them through some of that stuff. Once that’s done, they refer back to us, and we’re able to move forward with a loan.
What are some of the programs or the tools that are most helpful to extend financing to underserved communities?
The main tool is our technical assistance providers. Outside of that, it’s just education. A lot of times people say,