Community Capital: Race, Equity, and the Credit Union Movement

McCray, Michael R.: - Michael McCray was an advisor and official of the Kappa Alpha Psi Federal Credit Union. A public policy expert on community and economic development finance and grassroots organizing, Michael participated in KAPFCU's rare, almost unprecedented battle to save the credit union, bringing its case to the second highest court in the land.Michael is an alumnus of Georgetown Law, Howard University, American University, and Florida A&M University. His diverse educational and professional background includes Fortune 500 experience in marketing at Johnson & Johnson, Personal Products Company; accounting at Honeywell Information Systems; and investment banking at SunTrust Bank. He began his career in community development finance when he worked for the Federal Empowerment Zone and Enterprise Communities (EZ/EC) Program, a White House Economic Development Initiative of the Clinton Administration. Michael also taught community development finance for the Graduate Community Development Program at Prairie View A&M University.He received statewide recognition from the OMNI Center for Peace, Justice, and Ecology, which in 2008 honored him as an Arkansas Peace and Justice Hero. In 2011 he published the breakthrough volume, Race, Power, and Politics: Memoirs of an ACORN Whistleblower. Most recently, McCray is a 2021 recipient of the Cliff Robertson Sentinel Award for his advocacy with the ACORN 8 from the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE). Eight courageous low-income board members fought back against the 400,000-member association and internal corruption following the embezzlement. Dubbed the ACORN 8, Michael McCray led the fight first as a national spokesman and then as a breakthrough author. His gripping memoir gives an insider's account of ACORN at a crossroads and the rise and fall of the Rathke family empire. Tom Devine, leader of the Washington-based Government Accountability Project (GAP), called this story "one of the most important corporate whistleblower stories in twenty-five years." It is the story of systematic waste, fraud, and abuse at a powerful nonprofit organization.