ErieBank opens new branch and financial literacy center
Ash Jones talks about ErieBank’s new E. 10th and Parade Street branch
Erie native Ash Jones is the community branch manager for the new ErieBank branch office/financial education center at East 10th and Parade streets.
- The new branch is seen as a centerpiece of the East Side Renaissance’s vision for the neighborhood.
- This is the first bank to open on Parade Street in 40 to 50 years.
The odds didn’t favor Erie in its bid for a new bank office.
For one thing, the trend has been moving in the other direction.
Between 2019 and 2023, the number of bank branches in the United States fell by 5.6%, according to a report by the Federal Reserve Bank. Pennsylvania sustained some of the biggest losses as 430 branches closed during that time.
What’s more, no one seemed to be clamoring to open a branch on Erie’s east side, an area that includes some of the city’s lowest-income areas. Until now, not a single bank could be found in large sections of the city north of East 38th Street.
With encouragement from the East Side Renaissance — a minority-led effort to revitalize the people and real estate in and around Parade Street — that drought has come to an end.
An estimated 200 people gathered Monday morning for the grand opening of ErieBank’s new branch office and financial education center on the corner of East 10th and Parade streets.
New ErieBank was part of larger vision for area
The bank was characterized as a centerpiece of ESR’s vision for the neighborhood when it announced its plans three years ago. The group’s founders see a neighborhood bank as a key to improving financial literacy and increasing home ownership rates.
Among its other goals, ESR is working to purchase and restore 50 homes that can either be sold or rented.
ESR is following the ‘Hagen model’
Bishop Dwane Brock, who is both CEO of the East Side Renaissance and founder of the Eagle’s Nest Leadership Corp., had been lobbying for the bank since his first meeting a few years ago with Michael Peduzzi, who was the new CEO of CNB Bank, ErieBank’s parent company.
“Well, praise the lord,” Brock said when his introduction was met with cheers Monday. Along with other speakers and dignitaries, he spoke from the city’s portable truck-mounted stage that was parked along Parade Street.
In addition to words of gratitude for the bank, Brock singled out Tom Hagen, who is chairman of the board of Erie Insurance. Hagen is also a historic preservationist who has been buying and restoring mansions on Erie’s so-called Millionaire’s Row along West Sixth Street.
Brock, who introduced Hagen, compared ESR’s efforts at revitalizing Parade Street to Hagen’s work in historic preservation.
“We are following the Hagen model on West Sixth Street. That is what is really going on,” Brock said.
Calling it a great day for Erie, Hagen estimated it had been 40 to 50 years since there had been a bank on Parade Street.
At that time, 35-year-old Ash Jones hadn’t been born yet.
But Jones, who is branch office manager of the new location, said he does remember riding his bicycle as a kid to Denny’s Ice Cream Stand, located directly across Parade Street from the new bank.
Like Denny’s and Kraus Department Store, “We want to be a staple of the community,” he said.
Those in attendance were invited in to tour the new office, which features a wireless café-style lobby, digital displays, a coin counter and interactive computer banking.
Contact Jim Martin at [email protected].
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