Southern Bancorp is a

community development financial institution A community development financial institution (US) or community development finance institution (UK) - abbreviated in both cases to CDFI - is a financial institution that provides credit and financial services to underserved markets and populations, ...

headquartered in

Arkadelphia, Arkansas Arkadelphia is a city in Clark County, Arkansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 10,714. The city is the county seat of Clark County. It is situated at the foothills of the Ouachita Mountains. Two universities, Henderson ...

. It was founded in 1986 as Southern Development Bancorporation, and is often referred to simply as "Southern". With 43 locations, the organization focuses most of their work in the

Arkansas Delta The Arkansas Delta is one of the six natural regions of the state of Arkansas. Willard B. Gatewood Jr., author of ''The Arkansas Delta: Land of Paradox'', says that rich cotton lands of the Arkansas Delta make that area "The Deepest of the Deep ...

and

Mississippi Delta The Mississippi Delta, also known as the Yazoo–Mississippi Delta, or simply the Delta, is the distinctive northwest section of the U.S. state of Mississippi (and portions of Arkansas and Louisiana) that lies between the Mississippi and Yazoo ...

. Southern's community-development work in these areas has directly improved various aspects of resident's lives through different projects such as the Delta Bridge Project,Official website
Delta Bridge Project
/ref> The Arkadelphia Promise,Official website
Arkadelphia Promise
/ref> and numerous other sponsorships and projects.

Origin

In 1986, then Arkansas Governor

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

partnered with the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation to help combat different issues plaguing the state.{{cite web , title=About Southern , url=https://banksouthern.com/about/ , publisher=Southern Bancorp , access-date=23 September 2021 From this initiative, various nonprofit development agencies came together to form Southern Bancorp.

Structure

There are three entities that make up Southern Bancorp: * Southern Bancorp Bank (SBB) * Southern Bancorp Community Partners (SBCP) * Southern Bancorp Incorporated (SBI)

References

External links

Southern Bancorp's website
1986 establishments in Arkansas Banks based in Arkansas Banks established in 1986 Clark County, Arkansas Community development financial institutions Global Alliance for Banking on Values