Credit Unions & Cooperativas Receive CDFI Funds
Some 16 credit unions are first-time recipients of financial assistance awards.
The department said that 302 organizations received a total of $202 million as part of the 2018 round of grants and loans.
“The FY 2018 CDFI Program and NACA Program awardees will provide vital financial services and lending to low-income communities nationwide,” CDFI Fund Director Annie Donovan said. “The awards will also benefit Native communities, areas of persistent poverty, and individuals with disabilities.”
The CDFI program invests in and helps build the capacity of community development financial institutions to serve low-income people in communities lacking affordable financial products and services.
For this round, the CDFI fund received applications from 432 organizations for financial assistance and technical assistant awards.
Some 16 credit unions were first-time recipients of financial assistance awards.
Officials from the National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions have been encouraging cooperativas in Puerto Rico to apply to become certified as community development institutions.
And this year, four received grants ranging from $108,179 to $125,000.
Cooperativas are credit unions backed by the Puerto Rican government, as opposed to other credit unions on the island backed by the NCUA.
The assistance comes as Congress fights over how much the CDFI program should receive in FY19. The Senate has proposed $250 million—the same amount the program received in the current fiscal year.
The House has proposed $34 million less than that; the appropriations measure funding financial services programs is in a House-Senate conference committee.
The Trump Administration has proposed eliminating the CDFI program since President Trump took office, arguing that it has served its purpose. And when Congress appropriated funds for the program, Trump proposed rescinding the money.
Congress has rejected the administration plans.