$60K Grant Aimed at Creating “Culture of Savings”

DURHAM, N.C.–Latino Community Credit Union (LCCU) has been awarded a $60,000 Innovation Grant from the National Credit Union Foundation (NCUF) to create a “Culture of Savings” throughout a state that has one of the fastest-growing Latino populations. To create that culture, the credit union will first have to overcome inherent aspects of the Latino culture. “Some of the barriers are cultural,” acknowledged LCCU CEO Luis Pastor.  “Many Latin American economies are significantly more cash-based than the United States.  Political unrest or a history of currency fluctuations in some countries has created an understandable distrust of banking systems.  Most Latin American nations have not created deposit insurance programs, fostering further reluctance to consider a bank or credit union as a location for your family’s life savings.”
North Carolina has a Latino population of more than 600,000, of which it is estimated 80% are unbanked. Their per-capita income of $8,650 is less than half of other North Carolina households, and their average household net worth of $8,000 is less than one-tenth of white families.
The credit union said the goal of the Culture of Savings project is to get everyone involved in and learning about the concept of savings, and will include monetary awards through long-term share term certificates.”