<p>ALEXANDRIA, Va.-In an effort to further NCUA's Access Across America initiative, NCUA Chairman Dennis Dollar is focusing on a regional and national approach for economic empowerment. Dollar held a meeting on March 13th with Pete Johnson, federal co-chairman of the Delta Regional Authority (DRA), a newly created federal-state partnership serving a 236-county area in an eight state region to discuss opportunities to increase accessibility to financial services in the region. The DRA's mission is to assist economically distressed communities to leverage other federal and state programs, which are focused on basic infrastructure development, transportation improvements, business development, and job training services, DRA officials said. Dollar and Johnson discussed possible involvement of credit unions in the region's development initiative. "Pursuing opportunities to assist the eight-state Delta region is another opportunity for Access Across America to join together with other federal and state partners to provide greater opportunity for folks to access the American Dream through empowerment and by providing access to additional resources to support their efforts," said Dollar. The agency will continue to work with DRA. The DRA consists of Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, and Tennessee.</p>