CLEVELAND-NCUA revived its moribund underserved expansion program over the final two months of 2009, even allowing one CU to serve all of the city of Cleveland as an underserved area, the latest big city to gain that designation.
NCUA said it approved a request for Steel Valley FCU to serve virtually all of Cleveland and surrounding neighborhoods, a total of 578,000 residents, as an underserved community.
Cleveland, which had a population of less than 450,000, joins other big U.S. cities, including Houston, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Baltimore, Tucson, Washington, and Miami that have been designated underserved areas to qualify their entire populations for service by one or more credit unions.
NCUA, which had only approved 18 underserved expansions through the first ten months of 2009, approved nine in November and December, including grants of 480,000 (most of Washington, D.C.) to Government Printing Office FCU and a grant of 210,000 people in Tennessee and North Carolina for Clinchfield FCU in Erwin, Tenn.
