WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Agriculture has granted $400,000 to credit unions in Vermont, Kentucky, Mississippi, Montana, and Texas to help with rural financial and housing education. The National Credit Union Foundation will match the $400,000 to offer the five credit unions a total of $800,000. The Foundation declined to name the credit unions because it had not reaffirmed with them that they would still be willing to meet the reporting requirements that will come with the grant, according to Amy Swanstrom, marketing manager for the Foundation. "We fully anticipate that they will still want to participate, but we have to check in with them before we make the announcement," Swanstrom said. The Foundation submitted the grant application to the USDA in September on behalf of the five rural credit unions. It will fund initiatives such as reaching out to the under/unserved; increasing rural lending capacity through training and education; developing a bi-lingual financial literacy program and increasing asset accumulation through homeownership.