MANCHESTER, N.H. -
St. Mary's is working with the City of Manchester and the Southern New Hampshire Planning Commission on the Rimmon Heights/West Side Initiative, an effort to improve homes, businesses, parks, street lighting and public infrastructure.
West Side Manchester is a neighborhood rich with history and is the birthplace of St. Mary's Bank itself. Community policing will also be part of the West Side program and funding.
"It's a tremendous neighborhood. It's got a lot architectural charm," according to Tom Champagne, Director of Community Outreach. "It's where St. Mary's began."
It's also where credit unions here in the U.S. began, as St. Mary's is the oldest CU.
St. Mary's is providing $12 million for loans for first-time buyers, home equity lines of credit, but also for existing homeowners to improve or refurbish their houses.
Business owners are also eligible for the program with loans for new businesses, capital expenditures or even new vehicles to increase business. "Anything that will support any kind of economic development," said John Flanders, Director of Commercial Portfolio and Credit Administration with St. Mary's.
St. Mary's Bank officials said the credit union is intimately connected to the West Side of Manchester and the revitalization project is a natural extension of the credit union mission.
Flanders said the $12 million in loans will be kept in-house, like nearly all of the credit union's loans.
"Servicing these loans within the credit union is part and parcel of our commitment," he said. "We're the true local financial institution."
Another aspect of that commitment is a resource center built at a local branch that details the West Side Initiative project with loan information, city press releases, artist renderings of proposed projects, neighborhood history, maps and a slideshow running during business hours.
All members of the public are welcome to visit and St. Mary's officials said citizens who don't live in the area have even stopped by for information.
