The National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions and Suncoast Credit Union invite Florida credit unions with an interest in serving the underserved to apply for CDFI certification. This is a unique opportunity for credit unions to become CDFI certified. Suncoast is providing up to 10 grants of $2,000 toward certification. The Federation's CU Breakthrough consulting group is providing the technical support for the certification process.
CDFI Fund: The US Treasury Department's Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund provides Technical Assistance and Financial Assistance grants to community-focused credit unions and other financial institutions. Since it's inception in 1974, a total of $2 billion in grants has been awarded to CDFIs to promote the delivery of financial services to some of the nation's most impoverished communities. Suncoast Credit Union was certified and became a CDFI in May 2014 with the assistance of the Federation, a CDFI Intermediary. Learn more about the CDFI Fund and the benefits of certification here.
Eligibility and Process: Florida credit unions with assets of less than $100 million and an interest in serving low- and moderate-income consumers are invited to complete a brief letter of interest to be considered for this funding.
1. Provide a paragraph describing why you want to become CDFI Certified. (200 words maximum)
2. Provide a paragraph describing your strategy once you become CDFI Certified. (200 words maximum)
3. If you are granted CDFI Certification, will you be seeking to apply for a CDFI Fund grant in 2015? (yes/no)
Please email your completed letter of interest to Jules Hebert at jhebert@inclusiv.org by May 6, 2015.
The Certification Process: The CDFI certification application takes approximately six weeks to complete and involves a seven step verification process including target market, legal entity, primary mission, financing entity, accountability, development services and non-government entity. Your application will be completed by one of the Federation's CU Breakthrough consultants that specialize in CDFI certification.
About Suncoast Credit Union: Suncoast Credit Union is the largest credit union in the state of Florida, the ninth largest in the United States based on membership and the fourteenth largest in the United States based on its $6.1 billion in assets. Chartered in 1934 as Hillsborough County Teachers Credit Union, Suncoast Credit Union currently operates 58 full-service branches and serves more than 641,000 members in the following Florida counties: Charlotte, Citrus, Collier, DeSoto, Glades, Hardee, Hendry, Hernando, Highlands, Hillsborough, Lee, Levy, Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas, Sarasota and Sumter. For more information visit: http://suncoastcreditunion.com/, http://facebook.com/SuncoastCreditUnion, or @SuncoastCU.
About the Federation: The National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions is a certified CDFI Intermediary representing community development credit unions (CDCUs). The Federation's member CDCUs provide credit, savings, transaction services and financial education to more than 4 million residents of low- and moderate-income urban, rural and reservation-based communities across the US, and hold over $32 billion in community-controlled assets. Founded in 1974, the Federation is headquartered in Lower Manhattan with offices in Madison, WI. We offer a wide range of advocacy, educational, training, investment, marketing, and outreach programs to support and assist CDCUs. For more information about the Federation and its programs, please visit www.inclusiv.org. For more information on the performance of CDFI Credit Unions see CDFI Certification: A Building Block for Credit Union Growth, a white paper prepared by the Federation with CUNA, the Credit Union National Association.
If you have any additional questions regarding this initiative, please contact Jules Hebert at jhebert@inclusiv.org.