TACOMA, Wash.–More than nine in 10 of the credit unions it assisted in applying for grants from the CDFI Equity Recovery Program (CDFI ERP) have received funds, more than $130-million in all, CU Strategic Planning is reporting.
As CUToday.info reported earlier, in all more than 200 credit unions received close to $600 million from Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund awarded grants. In total, some $1.73 billion was awarded to 603 CDFIs across the country.
The applications submitted by CU Strategic Planning resulted in $139.34 million in awards for its credit union clients.
“We are ecstatic to see 93% of the credit unions we assisted in applying for ERP funds receive this funding, which will provide the opportunity to improve the lives of even more people in need,” said CU Strategic Planning CEO Stacy Augustine. “With the more than $139 million in awards they received through the ERP, over the last 15 years we’ve assisted credit unions in earning $945 million – nearly $1 billion – to serve historically underserved areas.”
For Low-Income Communities
The ERP funds were specified by the CDFI Fund to strengthen the ability of CDFIs to help low- and moderate-income communities recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and invest in long-term prosperity.
“Knowing the CDFI Equitable Recovery Program from the U.S. Treasury believes and supports Calhoun Liberty Credit Union’s mission in supporting economically challenged rural communities is priceless,” said CEO Thomas Flowers in a statement. “This funding will only strengthen our efforts to help bring financial services to rural underbanked individuals. Calhoun Liberty Credit Union does its best every day to improve the financial lives of everyone we interact with each day. This funding will be life changing in so many ways.”
Purpose of Funds
According to Treasury, the CDFI ERP Fund was designed to:
- Provide funding to CDFIs to expand lending, grant making and investment activities in low- or moderate-income communities and to borrowers that have significant unmet capital and financial services needs and have experienced disproportionate economic impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic
- Enable CDFIs to build organizational capacity and acquire technology, staff, and other tools necessary to accomplish the activities under a CDFI ERP Award.”
Awards granted across all recipients ranged from $500,000 to $6.2 million.
Largest Grant Program Worked On
“This is the largest single grant program we’ve ever worked on, and I’m so proud of our credit unions and our team for the hard work it took to get to this point,” CU Strategic Planning Chief Experience Officer Mike Beall said. “Now the real, life-changing work begins. I can’t wait to see what’s next for our credit unions.”
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