SAN FRANCISCOSeveral consultants, including well-known former Alternatives FCU CEO Bill Myers, have created the Credit Union Funding Access Team to help credit unions take advantage of the Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) Fund.
The team's goal is to help credit unions through the CDFI certification process so they will be eligible to apply for dramatically increased funding from the Treasury Department's CDFI Fund. Thanks to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act signed into law on Feb. 17, the current round of funding is expected to reach $145 million and there is no requirement for matching funds. The FY10 budget proposed by President Obama seeks to maintain an elevated level of approximately $100 million for CDFI funding for the next fiscal year.
"There is money on the table here for credit unions to serve their communities in new and better waysbuild a new branch, upgrade their computer systems, open up lending to more small businesses," said Bill Myers, founder of Alternatives FCU, a CDCU in Ithaca, N.Y., and one of the consultants on the Credit Union Funding Access Team.
Myers is joined by Blake Myers, a freelance CDFI consultant; Paola Diaz-Torres, who helped found the Georgia Family FCU, and Molly Schar, who has worked for the Public and Congressional Affairs department of the NCUA, as well as the World Council of Credit Unions.
