The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has issued an advisory and a separate report  for banks and credit unions on best practices to prevent and respond to elder abuse. Estimates of annual losses range from $2.9 billion to $36.48 billion. The bureau is encouraging financial institutions to use fraud detection technology and to train employees to detect and respond to suspicious activity. It suggests using "age-friendly" account features to curb the illegal or improper use of a senior's funds. Among the recommendations are opt-in limits on cash withdrawals, alerts for specific account activity and view-only access for authorized third parties. 

Clifton Forge’s historic Masonic Theatre is entering a new chapter of its long history thanks to financing from Virginia Community Capital. Until its temporary closure in 1987, the Masonic Theatre was the oldest operating theater in Virginia. Designed in turn of the century beaux-arts style, the theater once played host to acts including Gene Autrey, Burl Ives, and the Count Basie Orchestra. Now, in time for its 111th year, the three-story theatre will be refurbished into a new performing arts, entertainment, education and community facility. Virginia Community Capital has provided significant financing with a historic tax credit bridge loan, in addition to support from community partners and contributions from local residents.

An analysis by the New York Federal Reserve finds that low-income neighborhoods are increasingly devolving into “banking deserts” with inadequate financial services. The researchers found that people in low-income tracts are 80 percent more likely to live in a banking desert than their counterparts in higher income tracts. From 2009 to 2014, the fraction of residents living in low-income tracts that are also banking deserts increased by about 0.2 percentage points, more than twice the rate for residents in higher income tracts. However, the analysis also found that residents of majority-minority tracts were actually less likely to live in a banking desert than their counterparts in non-minority tracts, reflecting the fact that majority-minority tracts are more likely located in urban areas where thick branch networks are sustainable.

As part of the 27th Annual Savannah Black Heritage Festival, the directors and staff of Carver State Bank led a group of community leaders, bank customers and other supporters to the monument honoring the bank’s founder, Louis B. Toomer. Toomer was one of Savannah’s prominent business and civic leaders, and was appointed by President Eisenhower to serve as Register of the U.S. Treasury from 1953-1956. In his remarks, Carver President Robert E. James said that one of the great tests of pioneering leaders is that the causes and institutions they champion continue long after the individuals are no longer with us. James honored Louis B. Toomer for championing the causes of economic independence, self-help, political inclusion and respect for African Americans.