As Bertha Mullins travels around northeast Reno, she sees concrete evidence of her life's work the single mom who managed to save the down payment on a car, the family that opened a tiny business.
In fact, Mullins figures, the Wells Fargo community outreach center she oversees has touched the lives of more than 8,000 people in the 10 years that it's been teaching consumers about banking.
Working in a low-income neighborhood with a large population of recent immigrants to the United States, the center provides the most basic banking skills how to write a check, how to use credit wisely, how to create a household budget.
And once they've developed some confidence, consumers often ask that Mullins or one of her staff accompany them as they make their first visit to a traditional banking location to open an account.
The center is nestled between a pizzeria and a convenience store in an unassuming strip center at 2145 Sutro St., and Mullins says the location was carefully chosen.
Traditional bank locations, she says, are intimidating to newcomers.
The 2,200- square-foot shopping center location near a bus stop is anything but intimidating.
The decor is spartan.
A mock automated teller machine sits on a counter next to a stack of deposit slips.
A conference table used by community groups as well as consumer classes fills one corner.
Another corner provides space for Adalerto "Beto" Rosas Jr., a home mortgage consultant who works at the center.
Most instructional materials are available in Spanish as well as English, and Wells Fargo employee Maria Arias teaches classes in both languages.
Yet another corner is devoted to nine computer stations provided by Wells Fargo where volunteer instructors help neighborhood residents improve their job skills.
And on one wall is posted photographs of a recent session at which top Wells Fargo executives in the state including Regional President Kirk Clausen met with a roomful of neighborhood residents to hear how the bank can better serve northeast Reno.
Those meetings, Mullins says, are a regular feature at the community center and always are well-attended.
In fact, similar meetings in the early 1990s led to the creation of the center.
Executives of American Federal Savings Bank which merged with Norwest Bank before it, in turn, merged with Wells Fargo began asking neighborhood residents how the bank could serve them better.
The answer: "Not everyone knows about banking services," Mullins says.
"They felt banks made an assumption that everyone knows what banks are for."
American Federal officials gave Mullins the job of developing an outreach center, and she spent a year and a half putting it together.Within a year after it opened, the center had doubled its space.
Although word of mouth in the community sends a steady stream of consumers their way, Mullins and Arias keep a high profile with a heavy schedule of community involvement.
Wells Fargo executives, Mullins says, have been unflagging in their support.
Sean French,Well Fargo's retail banking president for northern Nevada, praises the educational work undertaken by the center's team.
"And because they are in such close contact with area residents, they are a tremendous resource for helping Wells Fargo to assist both individuals and businesses reach the next stage of their financial success," French says.
