What makes a bank a strong ally for your work? This section provides background information to enhance your understanding of the potential for bank partnerships in your mission, along with foundational insights to support you in developing these partnerships.
Understanding the purpose and objectives of the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) will help you see why banks are interested in partnering with vocational rehabilitation (VR), based on federal guidance for financial institutions.
- CDICD.org
- CDICD Webinar: How Can CRA Be Used to Meet the Financial Needs of Low- and Moderate-Income People with Disabilities? - National Disability Institute
- CDICD Webinar: Workforce Development and Meeting Obligations Under CRA - National Disability Institute
- Federal Reserve Board - Community Reinvestment Act (CRA)
- Engaging Workforce Development: A Framework for Meeting CRA Obligations - Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta
What are the benefits of bank partnership for SVRAs?
Many state vocational rehabilitation agencies have already established strong relationships with banks and other financial institutions. But, if your agency hasn’t established relationships with banks, please consider the following:
- The purpose of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Rehab Act) is to promote economic Self-Sufficiency.
- Lack of financial health and empowerment decreases the ability of VR participants to achieve self-sufficiency, diminishing participant and VR outcomes.
- Activities to increase financial health and self-sufficiency provide opportunities to meet the intent of the Rehab Act.
In an earlier section, we reviewed guidance to financial institutions in the Community Reinvestment Act, which directs their investments -toward low- and moderate-income communities to enhance their financial wellness and capacity. In other words, poverty and conditions that sustain it must be addressed in alignment with the purpose of the Rehab Act. VR programs address challenges associated with poverty in their support to individuals pursuing career pathways that lead to economic self-sufficiency.
Financial institutions are already addressing financial capability through training and coaching to ‘low and moderate income’ individuals, and they also invest in workforce initiatives. Of course, investments in staff time or funding by financial institutions depend on objectives that they establish in their own community development plans.
If a State VR agency identifies a common objective with a bank, it engages a partner who:
- Is a community leader, connected with wide community networks.
- Is generally a key employer in a community.
- May offer staff expertise in training or coaching in financial literacy and empowerment.
- May invest in workforce initiatives consistent with those in which many SVRAs are engaged (contributions to these types of initiatives may be used as a match to draw down federal funding).
These are contributions by a partner that can strengthen an agency’s effort to meet its objectives. Successful contributions by banks to VR initiatives also help banks meet their own objectives. Collaborating with banks who are focused on CRA work provides opportunities for SVRAs to braid and leverage funding.
What are considerations for SVRAs in developing bank partnerships?
Length of Time and Investment Needed to Commit to Partnership Development
What types of commitments in terms of time and expertise should you be prepared to commit in the development of bank partnerships?
To complete the readiness checklists in this toolkit, you must understand that developing bank partnerships require more time and expertise investment than simply accepting a donation. Recommended SVRA expertise and skill sets for this include:
- Agency Leadership (Agency Head, Deputy, Administrator) – for initial project planning and leadership to support the ability to establish partnerships and gather data/information needed to share with banks.
- Financial Manager/Director – to establish processes for accepting financial donations, providing timely answers to questions (including federal match) and supporting ongoing financial reporting.
- Project Lead – lead project design, implementation and reporting on project activity and outcomes to bank partners on a regular basis.
- Business Services – individual with a business services skill set in maintaining a business partnership, who is also able to match qualified VR participants with bank talent needs.
This investment is likely to decrease over time, requiring less agency effort for future contributions and offering opportunities to increase bank partners. The high-level and financial roles will demand less time on subsequent projects as responsibilities shift to the Project Lead and Business Services roles.
This description highlights that outreach, activity development, implementation, and ongoing partnership growth require different skill sets. Outreach activity will be led by one of the individuals who will be operating in the roles mentioned above, determined by service structure and operational design. Your agency may also combine some of these roles.
Time commitment for initial activities will vary depending on the types of activity and the amount of development needed whether it is a new service activity, an unfunded project or a project which the agency is already engaged. The roles will be strategically engaged in the steps outlined in this toolkit:
- Getting Started – basic understanding of CRA, learning about the partnership opportunities and benefits of partnership, completing initial readiness assessment and checklists
- Developing Potential Projects
- Developing Bank Partnerships
- Sustaining and Growing Partnerships
Outreach to banks can occur throughout the year and, over time, existing partnerships can grow as experience is gained and trust is developed. Funding will occur based on the bank’s planning and funding cycle.
Preparation for Bank Partnership Development
These checklists will support you in assessing your readiness to partner with banks and are based on our previous work with CRA-funded projects. These documents are meant for internal agency use and designed to prepare you to move quickly when the opportunity to work with a bank arises. If you are unable to complete pieces of one of the four checklists, that should be an area to continue to develop as you work through the toolkit. Some items may take time to complete internally, but this should not prohibit moving forward.
Which banks are most actively involved in your communities and state?
It is useful to take a broader look at the overall bank presence and market share in your state or territory. This step will help you in the identification of potential bank partners that might have community development objectives which align with an activity to meet your agency’s mission. To support this review, we suggest pulling a state-specific report and bank CRA ratings.
How to Pull Market Share Reports and Bank Ratings
Part of the preparation for leveraging Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) funding for SVRA programming and match involves understanding the opportunities within your state by identifying how to get to the right people in financial institutions to present your project proposals. Banks undergo exams with their federal regulators to demonstrate that they are completing CRA activities for low- to moderate-income (LMI) individuals and communities, which may include lending, investments (donations) and services. Pulling a market share report for your state provides information on what banks are most active in your state and allows you to check which banks you already have relationships with to further prepare for successful collaborations.
Federal regulators can help you form connections to appropriate staff in banks. There are three main bank regulators that evaluate banks and give ratings to those banks based on their CRA activities – the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the Federal Reserve Board of Governors (FRB).
Ratings show whether banks have met their CRA obligations for community development activities. If a rating is below Outstanding, a bank must work on improving their rating, which gives motivation to build relationships with community organizations. However, all banks are continuously looking for CRA activities. You may also have better luck building relationships with the smaller or regional banks.
Here are the steps for pulling a Market Share Report:
- Go to BankFind Suite: Summary of Deposits—Market Share Reports.
- In Report Type, select Deposit Market Share.
- Institution Type should always be Banks.
- Report Period Ending should always be the most recent one (usually already selected).
- In Locations, Find Office Locations By, select State / County / City / ZIP.
- In Select States and Territories, select your state. If you only want to look at part of your state, you can also select specific counties you want to focus on.
- Click Generate Report.
- In the upper right-hand corner, next to the number of Matching Results, there is an arrow button that is to Download Options. Click the button and hit Download All Results. It will save as a .csv file, but open it and then save as a .xls file.
- Read through the list to determine which you may have relationships with and highlight them.
Here is an example for St. Louis, MO based on data pulled in September 2025. Occasionally, you may not be able to locate the information for a specific bank when pulling your market share report. This is another area where regulators can help you move forward and connect you to that bank.
- St. Louis, MO Example Market Share Report (XLSX, 28KB)
Identify Bank Relationships You Already Have
Many of you have experience with financial institutions both as customers, professionally and engaging with bank officials as community leaders. Some of you may have approached banks for career pathway opportunities while supporting individuals that we serve, while others have included bank leaders on our State Rehabilitation Councils.
After identifying any banks that you already have relationships with in the market share report, mention them to federal regulators when reaching for help in approaching banks.
What are groups that could help you find and develop bank partnerships?
How are banks already working in partnership with others to increase the financial health and wellness of individuals in low- and moderate-income (LMI) communities? Here are some models and examples of bank partnerships:
- Connect with Bank On, Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) or another coalition in your area to identify locally driven partnerships that include public officials, financial institutions, community organizations and others focused on improving the financial capability of low- and moderate-income individuals.
To build relationships with banks, it is important to participate in local groups that banks are involved with already. There are a variety of opportunities when you become involved with local groups.
- Suggested groups for SVRAs to participate in:
- CRA Alliances
- Alliance for Economic Inclusion | FDIC.gov
- State Bankers Association
- Bank On Coalitions
- Financial Stability Coalitions
- Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) Coalitions
- Economic Development Councils
What groups are you already involved in that you could invite banks to?
- Suggested groups to invite banks to be a part of:
- State or Local Workforce Boards
- State Rehabilitation Council
- Business Engagement Groups