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Houston Chronicle
November 17, 2004
By Jenalia Moreno
Houston's Salvadoran immigrants can now help support social and economic development in El Salvador by sending money home to their families.
Every time customers wire cash to El Salvador through one of Banagricola's two Houston branches, the company will donate at least 25 cents to its United Hands for El Salvador program.
As well as helping poor areas in El Salvador, the move could help Banagricola increase its business with the growing Central American population in Houston.
For several years, Latin American governments and nonprofit agencies have worked to maximize the economic impact of remittances sent home by immigrants.
Several Mexican states now match the money raised by immigrants for social projects, such as construction of churches or schools. But this is one of a few instances where a for-profit institution is participating in a program to improve impoverished communities with immigrant dollars.
"We're not just an agency collecting remittances," said Rene Montano, who runs the bank's newest branch in the Spring Branch area. "We're sharing that collection with the same people who need it most."
The program, supported by the Pan American Development Foundation and the Organization of American States, supports poor communities in El Salvador.
Community members propose project ideas and agree to pitch in money to cover 30 percent of the project. The bank and its nonprofit partners select the winning projects every July.
"I think it's an innovative proposition that may have an important impact in rural El Salvador," said Manuel Orozco, project director of Central America for the Washington, D.C.-based Inter-American Dialogue.
But he said the bank should be doing more to provide financial services, such as bank accounts, to the recipients of the money.
"Once you get inserted into the financial sector, then your opportunity for upward mobility increases," said Orozco, who has tracked remittances.
Banagricola — a U.S. arm of Banco Agricola, El Salvador's largest bank — introduced the program last year at its California, Virginia and Washington, D.C., branches.
Through the $150,000 set aside for the program, the bank helped support seven projects — ranging from $15,000 worth of computers for students to $16,000 for a reforestation pro-ject and nursery in San Miguel.
On Friday, the bank introduced the program to its Houston clients.
In August, the first Texas Banagricola branch opened on a stretch of Bellaire Boulevard populated by other Salvadoran-owned businesses, such as restaurants, a store that sells shoes made in the Central American nation and other Central American money-transfer companies.
Two other Salvadoran-owned banks, Bancomercio and BancoSal, are located in the Gulfton area. Each bank charges customers $10 to send $100 to El Salvador.
Last month, the second branch of Banagricola opened off Long Point Road inside the General Consulate of El Salvador's office.
The bank plans to continue its expansion, with at least 25 offices opening in the United States next year to benefit from the $2 billion immigrants send home to El Salvador each year.
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