The heart of money matters: Inside the building of a credit union for Disabled people

When Ed Roberts was a child, he overheard doctors telling his mother that polio would force him to live as a vegetable. At that point, he recalled later, he decided that he would “be an artichoke—a little prickly on the outside but with a big heart.” 

That quip from Roberts, who later became a disability activist and winner of a MacArthur Foundation fellowship, has since become a familiar in-joke within the disability community. It also inspired the name of a new financial institution focused on expanding access to financial services for Disabled people, who face distinct barriers in accessing banks and other financial services.

Announced last month, Artichoke Credit Union seeks to address such barriers through expanding accessible banking services, tailored financial education, responsible lending, inclusive product design and tools to support long-term financial well-being. The institution will also incorporate ongoing feedback from the community it serves to improve its offerings.

The credit union, slated to launch in early 2027, will offer members checking and savings accounts, certificates, personal loans, credit and debit cards, budgeting tools and financial education resources. Its members will be able to access support through live chat, phone and video services. Accessibility-focused features will include account alerts, guardian access options and other tools designed around members’ needs.

For Rebecca Cokley, the director of the U.S. disability rights program at the Ford Foundation, the motivation to build a credit union for Disabled people was personal. For one, she watched her Disabled parents struggle to navigate an inaccessible financial system and banking-related advertising focusing on parents of Disabled children rather than Disabled people themselves. However, she has also seen many Disabled people—including high-profile people—lack the ability to retire.

Cokley stresses these concerns to grantees, especially organizations that employ Disabled people.

“I ask them if they’re planning for retirement and what kind of retirement savings they have set up — because I watched Judy Heumann work until she died,” she said, referring to the late disability-rights activist. 

Ford partnered with the MacArthur and Robert Wood Johnson foundations as well as Michigan State University Federal Credit Union (MSUFCU) to make the program a reality.

Instead of starting from scratch—a process that can take years—the organizations involved in Artichoke’s creation used private labeling, whereby a company creates a unique product for another business, which brands the product as its own. In this case, the foundations behind Artichoke provided the seed capital while the Michigan State credit union had deep experience tailoring sub-brands for clients.

The process of choosing the credit union partner began in the Ford Foundation’s cafeteria—which Ford’s senior program officer for mission investments, Margot Brandenburg, likened to speed dating.

“We didn’t kiss any frogs,” Brandenburg says. “We only talked to really great credit unions.”

Defining the problem

Data shows that Disabled people are vastly unemployed or underemployed in many areas of the world, including the U.S., and disproportionately live below the poverty line. According to Disabilitystatistics.org, approximately 23.5% of Disabled people in the U.S. live below the poverty line. That figure does not include those who are institutionalized, so the number is likely higher.

The dire financial reality for many Disabled people compounded by financial instability includes heavily restrictive asset limits for people receiving health care benefits, reduced access to financial education and forfeitures tied to Medicare.

At the same time, Disabled people’s purchasing power—buoyed by high earners—is starting to be noticed. Researchers in the U.K. and the U.S. estimate that the so-called Purple Pound (the buying power of Disabled people and their families) numbers in the hundreds of billions per year.

That complicated financial landscape is part of why MSUFCU was so appealing, according to Cokley and Brandenburg. They already have a longstanding practice of having Disabled people involved in their leadership structure, are actively reducing barriers for Disabled clients, are able to operate nationally, and were also already aware of financial products specifically tailored to Disabled consumers, like ABLE accounts. 

April Clobes, the Michigan State credit union’s president and chief executive officer, says that the partners involved in Artichoke have already helped inform their current practices even though the accounts won’t go live until spring 2027.

A credit union, which has an ethos of returning money to the communities it serves, was a more appealing structure for the program than a traditional bank. For example, a credit union can assess a member’s financial responsibility through data points other than metrics like credit scores, Clobes says.

“You can use cash flow — what [are] your direct deposits every month and where are they coming from?,” Clobe said. “You can use on-time rent payments. You can use utility payments. So, there are a lot of other data sources where you can validate that an individual has been responsible with their financial history.”

A similar level of intentionality went into settling on the Artichoke name. There were some initial concerns that a play on Roberts’ famous line might be off-putting.

“I wondered if the ‘prickly’ part was going to present as less accessible than we are setting this up to be. When I understood the significance and also thought about the reality that is everyone’s financial lives, and in particular people with disabilities,” Brandenburg said before ultimately deciding: “Let’s be candid about that.”

Cokley felt strongly about consulting Roberts’ close friends and family as well as trusted community members about incorporating the artichoke reference. 

“[They said] don’t make it just about Ed. This is about the situation that every family faces. This is about what every Disabled person faces. That’s how we landed on Artichoke,” she said.

Defining success

Clobes and Cokley say that a customer base of 35,000 over five years would mean the project is a success. That growth would allow the credit union to explore expanding into offering mortgages or small-business loans.

Checking and savings accounts with zero fees are the current priority, alongside educational tools that the Michigan State credit union has already developed. Conversations also continue about offering specialized services for Artichoke members, such as tools to mitigate the risk of accidentally eclipsing asset limits.

For her part, Clobes has two pieces of advice for Disabled people trying to improve their finances. 

“One is keeping a budget and managing your budget is very easy to say — it is very hard to do… We have all had challenging moments in our personal financial experiences. I may have suffered a job loss. I may have an unexpected expense that creates a challenge in my budget,” Clobes says.

“The other is, when possible, pay yourself first. Even if it’s $5 every two weeks, put some money aside.”

Artichoke has a website where prospective members can sign up to receive email updates about the credit union’s official launch early next year. Visit artichokecu.org for details.

Editor’s note: Several foundations mentioned in this story are funders of the Disabled Journalists Association. They played no role in the production of this story and are not involved in editorial decisions.