Leadership Profiles
Socially Responsible Investing
Ebony Perkins, Investor and Community Relations Manager
Ebony Perkins is a dedicated, solution-oriented social entrepreneur whose heartbeat is community. She has a demonstrated ability of working with investors and philanthropists to help them make smart and strategic decisions. As Self-Help's Investor & Community Relations Manager, Ebony helps groups and individuals invest funds in a socially responsible financial institution that supports communities of all kinds, especially those underserved by conventional lenders. Before that role, she served as the Donor Relations Manager at Central Carolina Community Foundation where she managed a system to engage and educate over 400 individuals and groups to help them achieve their charitable goals.
Ebony’s commitment to community investing is evident by her service and contributions to Women In Philanthropy, Durham Center for Senior Life, and the University of North Carolina MPA Alumni Board. Ebony was also recognized on the SRI Conference's inaugural 30 Under 30 List.
Ebony holds a Master of Public Administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Bachelor of Science in Marketing from Claflin University as a summa cum laude graduate. She also has an Executive Certificate in Financial Planning from Duke University.
Nuray Ozbay, Policy and Impact Investment Associate
Nuray Ozbay leads Self Help’s efforts to cultivate mission-supportive depositors and impact investors within and beyond Self-Help’s California footprint. As a global movement and relationship builder, Nuray loves working with change-makers across non-profit, corporate, and public sectors. Her expertise is in intersectional gender equality, global civil society activism, social justice, and ESG investing. Nuray currently serves as a Board Director at the UN Women San Francisco Chapter and a National Expert on Violence Against Women at the European Women’s Lobby, the largest umbrella organization of women’s associations across Europe. Before joining Self-Help, Nuray spent 11 years in the social impact sector as a researcher, consultant, and non-profit leader across Turkey and Europe, working on issues including but not limited to immigration, women’s access to economy, financial literacy & inclusion, entrepreneurship, and care economy.
Kimberly Jones, Investment Associate
Kimberly's professional career spans both the nonprofit and community development financial services sectors, with expansive senior leadership roles in arts management; business and resource development; community relations; and corporate philanthropy. Currently, she's Self-Help's Investor Relations Manager, where she helps individuals and institutions align their banking and investments with their mission, vision, and values. Kimberly has held leadership positions that advanced the missions of creative organizations and community development financial institutions seeking to make a difference in communities in their footprint. She has been a founding board member of mission driven organizations that supported the growth and development of young artists, creatives, and professionals in the nonprofit sector.
In 2015, Kimberly was selected to be a PLACES Fellow with The Funders Network, where she explored the role of philanthropy through an equity lens in low to moderate income communities. She has served as a grant/award reviewer for organizations that championed organizational excellence, community development, and environmental sustainability. Kimberly has a BA in Political Science from the University of Minnesota-Morris and an MA in Arts, Entertainment, and Media Management from Columbia College Chicago.
Green Economy; Sustainable Society; Investing for the Environment
Melissa Malkin-Weber, Sustainability Director
Melissa has worked across a broad span of hands-on sustainability practices. At Self-Help Credit Union, she integrates the triple bottom line into the organization’s financial products, operations, and buildings portfolio. She led Self-Help to realize over $1.7 million in net present value from initiatives in this sector, including $180,000 energy savings in our own operations. Melissa previously directed the residential energy efficiency and indoor air quality research program at Advanced Energy and worked in industrial pollution prevention at RTI International. She earned her law degree from University of Michigan, and her Master's from UNC’s School of Public Health.
Shondra Tanner, Mortgage Lending
Shondra Owens Tanner brings her extensive experience and commitment to making mortgage loans for low-wealth families to her position as Self-Help's Director of Mortgage Originations, where she oversees all North Carolina home loan origination and new business development. Shondra's areas of expertise includes buying your first home, mortgage basics (documentation, closing costs, down payments), delinquency and loss mitigation (What is a forbearance and loan modification and what does that do to your credit?)
The Role of Remittances in Latino & Hispanic Finances
As Latino and Hispanic Heritage Month comes to an end, we are continuing our recognition of these important cultures in our communities by discussing the essential role of remittances in Latino and Hispanic American finances. According to a brief from World Bank Group, in 2023, remittances to Latin America and the Caribbean saw the highest increase of any region at 7.7%, reaching a record $155 billion, primarily from the U.S.
In this post, we will be discussing the significance and benefits of remittances, challenges, and tips for people who send remittances.
The Significance and Benefits of Remittances
Remittances are often an important part of the lives of immigrants and their families. Many of these transfers of money are from people living and working in the U.S. and are sent to family and friends in other countries. They have become an essential part of community care and support, and they provide a bolstering to these countries’ economies.
These figures from World Bank Group show how prevalent remittances are in Latin American and Caribbean countries:
Mexico was the country that received the second-largest amount of remittances globally, at over $66 billion in 2023.
Nicaragua’s remittances grew by a whopping 45% in 2023, which represents 27% of the country’s GDP. This is likely the result of a surge in emigration in 2022-2023.
Remittances are typically a stable source of income that reduces the government’s need for overseas borrowing in a crisis, and they are often sent to the poorest states, helping to mitigate some regional economic disparities, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. Much of the time, remittances help people to support their families with:
The Current Challenges with Remittances
One of the biggest challenges with remittances is hidden fees. This is often due to misleading advertising from international money transfer providers that claim to have low or no fees, but actually hide these fees in inflated exchange rates.
According to Wise, Americans have lost $15.4 billion to hidden exchange rate mark-ups.
A UnidosUS servey found that 67% of Latinos either didn’t know remittance providers could add fees through exchange rate mark-ups or weren’t sure.
Luckily, the U.S. is taking steps to address these issues, with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issuing a warning to remittance providers and banks earlier this year about hidden fees possibly violating federal law.
Even outside of hidden fees, the cost to send money from the U.S. is around 5.8% per transaction, which can really add up. Because of the value of remittances in supporting struggling countries and the global economy as a whole, one of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals is to reduce remittance costs to below 3% by 2030.
Tips for Sending Remittances
While sending remittances can be costly and challenging, there are ways to send remittances that can maximize their impact.
Here are a few tips if you're sending remittances to your communities outside the U.S.:
Compare providers: Compare exchange rates and service fees for the providers that are available to you, just like you would with any other product or service.
Consider digital options: Many online services have lower fees than traditional banks.
Pay attention to exchange rates: If you are able to plan ahead and send larger amounts less often when exchange rates are working in your favor, that can make a big difference in how far the money you send is able to go.
Set a spending plan: There can be a lot of pressure when you feel like you have people relying on you for aid, but the best way to make sure that aid is sustainable is by building it into a spending plan that meets your own needs as well. You should be saving for your own cushion of 2-6 months of expenses to make sure that if something happens, you are still able to support yourself, which will in turn help you better support the people you care for long-term.
Manage expectations: Unless necessary, the goal should not be for the people you are sending remittances to completely rely on those funds long-term. Fidelity suggests helping family members with education and support toward financial independence as well as managing expectations by making sure you’re on the same page, setting a specific amount you’ll send, and offering potential circumstances that they can ask for more (with the understanding that you may not always be able to accommodate those requests).
Remittances to Latin America and the Caribbean have steadily grown over the last several years and continue to be a crucial lifeline to many of these countries. This Latino and Hispanic Heritage Month and beyond, it is important to acknowledge the essential role remittances play in supporting families. At Self-Help, we believe in ownership and economic opportunity for all, which means working to financially empower our Latino and Hispanic American communities as you navigate how best to support the people you care about.