CDFI Awards $3.4 Million to Credit Unions

The U.S. Treasury Department has awarded $3.4 million in grants to 28 credit unions to support their programs as Community Development Financial Institutions.

Nine NCUA-insured credit unions, representing 104,628 members with $917.1 million in assets, received $1 million, while 19 credit unions in Puerto Rico that are outside of NCUA jurisdiction received $2.4 million.

The credit unions were among 73 organizations receiving $9.2 million in technical assistance grants from the CDFI Fund.

The CDFI program invests in and builds the capacity of CDFIs to serve low-income people and underserved communities lacking adequate access to affordable financial products and services. Award recipients often use the funds to analyze which products and services are appropriate for their target markets, develop lending policies and procedures and build staff lending capacity.

The maximum award available was $125,000.

Members Credit Union of Cos Cob, Conn. ($29.6 million in assets, 3,080 members) said Tuesday it plans to use its $120,000 grant to fund a bi-cultural loan officer to increase lending to its lower-income and underserved minority community.

The grant award is part of Members’ broader community-development strategy aimed at the financial inclusion of lower-income, minority, and immigrant communities in Fairfield County, Conn. The state has the third-largest income gap in the country: Members of its top 1% each earned an average of $2.7 million in 2015, 51 times more than the average $52,000 earned by other residents.

The other eight NCUA-insured credit unions receiving technical assistance grants were:

• East End Food Cooperative Federal Credit Union, Pittsburgh ($613,464 in assets, 377 members) was awarded $100,000.
• Episcopal Community Federal Credit Union, Los Angeles ($5.6 million in assets, 1,270 members) was awarded $37,500.
• Light Commerce Credit Union, Houston ($2.7 million in assets, 798 members) was awarded $125,000.
• Marine Federal Credit Union, Jacksonville, N.C. ($735.3 million in assets, 84,507 members) was awarded $125,000.
• Mills42 Federal Credit Union, Lowell, Mass. ($21.8 million in assets, 2,760 members) was awarded $125,000.
• NuVista Federal Credit Union, Montrose, Colo. ($90.8 million in assets, 7,004 members) was awarded $124,380.
• Park Manor Christian Church Credit Union, Chicago ($994,450 in assets, 284 members) was awarded $125,000.
• Southern Teachers & Parents Federal Credit Union, Baton Rouge, La. ($29.8 million in assets, 4,548 members) was awarded $125,000.

On Monday, the NCUA announced it had extended the deadline to Nov. 30 for federally insured, low-income credit unions to apply for qualification to use the agency’s streamlined CDFI certification process. So far, 50 credit unions have been certified through the process developed by the NCUA and the CDFI Fund.