The Pantheon of Black Banking

According to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation almost 17% of African Americans do not have a bank account. Most Black neighborhoods do not have banks for two to three miles, but ATMs are never hard to find. The Black community is underserved in banking and financial literacy. Two young men are working to change that narrative and have built, Obsidian Banking.

"Every time we talked it seemed to be about money, impact, things like that," says Steven Farrar partner of Obsidian Banking. After a few conversations, Steven decided to join Damon on this journey to supply banking services for African Americans.

Damon Kirk and Steven Farrar are the change makers building Obsidian Banking. Steven has a background in accounting, forensic accounting, community organizing, equity, and public education literacy. "A lot of my community work is spent directly on literacy," says Farrar, who has given out over 15,000 books in the community. Damon has a military background with experience in many different fields and started a family. "Everything I do is father focused," says Kirk, "I'm a do this for my kids or I'm a teach them that." Obsidian's design and logo were inspired by Damon's five-year-old daughter, Aspen. "She really liked it and wanted us to run with that and that was her only request when she found out we are about to build a bank," says Farrar. The logo, Goddess of design and create is a clay bust of a Black Woman, like their saying "The Pantheon of Black Banking."

Obsidian Banking is mobile banking. The bank is set to simplify banking, with Erupt technology that makes investing easy and allows you to buy now and pay later. The round-up feature highlights investment, as your change will be put into stocks of Congressmen, hedge funds, senators, and similar portfolios.

How did you come up with the name?

"It's one of the blackest materials on Earth. Coal can even turn into diamonds from obsidian. It's the darkest most precious thing I thought of that represents us," says Kirk.

"It is super black and formed under intense pressure," adds Farrar.

How did you all get started?

"Early 2020 I started giving out personal loans to people during the pandemic and I realized there was a market for a Black bank, this was the perfect time to do it," says Kirk. Farrar came along in 2021."Genuinely it started with him telling me about what he was doing with Obsidian and I'm just naturally a guy that tries to be helpful or be like have you ever thought about this," says Farrar, "Granted he had already started it, but it was never a time it didn't make sense to me where I feel like we couldn't actually accomplish it." They laugh while saying this is going to be the hardest thing they have tried to do; both are fully committed.

Why this field of business?

"Our bank is about closing the wealth gap, educating people and giving them different options," says Kirk. "More than just us not having representation in banks, we just don't have the banks to begin with."

On the current trend Black wealth income median will be zero by 2053. "It's not an income issue, which is what everybody believes it to be," says Kirk. He encourages Blacks to seriously invest in stock. "No racism in the stock market, they don't know who's at the other end of that trade." Obsidian Bank Erupt's technology allows round up change be invested into the stock market.

"We thought with so many being uninvested that the round up feature be like a simplified way," says Farrar. "We track senators and congressman and hedge fund stock portfolios; we have seen that it has outperformed the normal stock market," says Kirk. Their motto is "We follow the money, so you don't have to."

When did you realize a need for the service?

"I realized when I actually saw the numbers for myself. How many Black people don't have bank accounts, don't own stock, seeing the racial wealth gap, then seeing it's possible to close it with the right resources and tools," says Farrar.

"I had realized I couldn't get a loan. I didn't have no debt and like 60,000 in cash," says Kirk. The two are well aware of the challenge to make this happen. They have a lot of support and resources. Damon's father told them, "People won't trust you guys if they can't see it." His father inspired the Million Door Challenge, a plan to go to a million households in black communities teaching financial literacy and giving financial wellness tools which will begin June 19 of this year and become an annual event. "It's genuinely going to take teaching people just a way of thinking," says Farrar. A new way of thinking for sure will be needed and the guys are ensuring that the minds are ready for what is going to take place once Obsidian Banking takes off.

Gearing up for their Million Door Challenge, the two birthed another idea, Black Financial Literacy Awareness Day, April 21. "We thought the day after 4/20 would be perfect and [April] is Financial Literacy Month," says Kirk. The two reached out to Michigan's Governor's team, wrote a proposal, stated facts and boom. The Governor herself did add a line to the proposal in which she speaks on the institute and structural racism playing into the wealth gap as well. "We are not afraid to ask, that's how we got here," says Farrar. "I'm going to always have the audacity," adds Kirk about establishing Black Financial Literacy Awareness Day.

Obsidian Banking, in addition to Black Financial Literacy Awareness Day, is a Spirit of Detroit honoree and will soon be recognized by national legislation.

The gentlemen built Obsidian by themselves and put in the leg work. "We built our product without compromise. We genuinely built our product with Black people in mind," say Farrar. Investors have told them they believe it can only be on Black bank and Blacks wouldn't comprehend "Banking needs to stand for banking," says Kirk. They do not want athletes or celebrities to market for them. JP Morgan and many large banks have closed in Black communities. Most Black communities are unbanked and underserviced. Damon Kirk and Steven Farrar are here to make that change. Obsidian Banking is not available for download yet and has a waitlist in progress for it's Beta testing. In the future, the company plans to launch an investing app.

Some current facts about Black finances are; 7.3 million African American do not have a bank account, 66% do not own stock and 42% of Black communities are underbanked. Obsidian Banking is on its way to impact the community and help right track Blacks especially to financial awareness, freedom, gains, and literacy