NEW ORLEANS— The Gentilly Woods Chase Bank branch has been around since 1954 and originally took shape around the Higgins Shipyards but with the advent of online banking, fewer people are going into the branches.

The location is now becoming a Chase Community Center branch.

Lawrence Bailey, Head of Community Banking and Business Development for Chase says, “When you think about a traditional branch, you come in there and you have most of the same features across most of the branches, but here now we’re going to have a community center as part of the community branch where we can host events and space for the community to use also.”

Today was the official ribbon cutting of the Gentilly Woods Chase Community branch with the company’s top brass was flown in, and special video messages from Mayor LaToya Cantrell and New Orleans Saints star Alvin Kamara.

One goal of the community branch is to be a resource center for small and minority businesses.

According to Bailey, “There’s one stat that really stands out when you think about minority businesses. In the first 5 years 50% of those businesses fail. So how can we help them not only start their business but sustain the businesses.”

Of the local success stories in business, Gregoire Tillery of We Dat’s Chicken & Shrimp was on hand, speaking of the importance of banking support for small businesses, even throughout the pandemic.

“They offer a line of credit, they helped with PPP, and they helped with EIDL loans. The relationship with me has been great,” said Tillery.