The $9 million, Chicago-based North Side Community FederalCredit Union has its roots in activism.

In the early 1970s, when Angela Turley sought a bank loan to buya house in the city's uptown neighborhood, a banker said no,instead suggesting she look for a new home in a Chicago suburb.Because of that redlining experience, in addition to her knowledgethat women lacked access to financial services, Turley was inspiredto establish the credit union in 1974 when the Equal CreditOpportunity Act was passed, giving women the right to apply forcredit.

That same activism lives on at North Side Community, which isbelieved to be the first financial institution in the nation tolaunch a gender-affirming procedures loan product package, whichwas created by the credit union's accounting specialist, Lee Dewey,an LGBTQ activist.