This week, a new payday loan business opened its doors in Winslow, promising “fast cash” and “easy approvals.” But beneath the bright signs and smiling advertisements is a system that often traps working families in a cycle of debt they can’t afford.

Payday lenders don’t create long-term opportunity. They profit from the desperation of our friends and neighbors, offering short-term loans at sky-high interest rates—sometimes upwards of 300% APR. For many in our community already struggling to make ends meet, these loans can quickly spiral into a financial sinkhole. One missed payment can lead to another loan, then another, each one digging the hole deeper.

Let’s be clear: Our cities have no shortage of hardworking people doing their best to provide for their families in an economy that’s getting tougher by the day. What we need is investment in opportunity—jobs with living wages, local businesses that reinvest in the community, and financial institutions that offer fair, affordable access to credit. Instead, we’re welcoming a company that profits off the most vulnerable moments in people’s lives.

This is not a sign of economic growth; it’s a warning. Every dollar that goes to interest and rollover fees at a payday lender is a dollar not spent at our grocery stores, our local shops, or on our families. It drains wealth from the community rather than building it.

Winslow can do better than this. We deserve leaders and policies that promote financial empowerment, not exploitation. We should be creating pathways for residents to thrive—not allowing businesses that make their money by keeping people trapped in survival mode.

In my view, institutions like these have no place in our towns and should be banned. Every time a resident is kept further from the white picket fences of the American Dream by the high-interest grip of a payday loan, that’s one less person saving to buy a home here, one less family planting roots. And when the chance for a better future comes along, they won’t stay—they’ll leave in search of opportunity somewhere else. If we want to build strong, stable communities, we must stop making room for businesses that thrive by holding our neighbors back.