Better Banking

Brava, Lisa Servon! In her superb presentation, the professor of urban policy explores the shortcomings of banking services for poor communities in the United States. Unlike most academics and policy makers, who have a tendency to postulate from afar about the needs to the poor, Servon climbed down from her ivory tower and got her hands dirty working at a check casher in a poverty-stricken neighborhood. Her gallant efforts were not in vain: Servon deftly found the root of the problem. getAbstract recommends Servon’s persuasive conclusions to policy makers, banking executives and oblivious middle-class Americans who assume that the poor need their systems.