NEW YORK – The Ford Foundation, which has provided tens of millions of dollars to support community development credit unions, has named Martin Eakes, the founder of Self-Help CU, to its 14-member board of trustees.
“Martin is one of the most successful social entrepreneurs of his generation, having founded a series of national nonprofit organizations,” said Luis Ubinas, president of the Ford Foundation.
Ford, one of the biggest private foundations in the country, has been a longtime collaborator of Eakes and his CDCU, providing $5 million in funding for a secondary mortgage market program for subprime loans through Self-Help CU’s affiliate Self-Help Ventures Fund; granting $2 million to Self-Help’s consumer lobby, Center for Responsible Lending; and awarding Eakes a $100,000 Social Visionary Award earlier this year.
Ford also has provided millions of dollars in grants to the National Federation of CDCUs, the North Carolina Minority Support Center, which supports local CDCUs, and several other CDCU projects.
