The National Credit Union Administration has awarded Community Development Revolving Loan Fund (CDRLF) grants to four low-income credit unions in Tennessee — Copper Basin Federal Credit Union, EPB Employees Credit Union, Tennessee State University Federal Credit Union and Veritas Federal Credit Union.
The CDRLF grants will help these Tennessee credit unions and 86 others nationwide to expand outreach to underserved communities, participate in mentoring relationships, receive training, and improve digital services and security.
The CDRLF Mentoring Grant is already having an impact at TSU Federal Credit Union in Nashville.
“We received a $25,000 NCUA CDRLF Mentoring Grant,” said Alberta Hinds, administrative assistant to the board of directors at TSU Federal Credit Union. “Our mentor is Connie Anderson, manager of Outreach Credit Union. Already our interactions with that credit union have encouraged us to adopt some of their practices which have positively impacted our operations. Additionally, the funds from the grant will allow us to offer an enhanced online experience for our members. We look forward to the year ahead and what it will bring for TSU Federal Credit Union.”
The CDRLF grant will also help a downtown Chattanooga credit union as well.
“We applied for and will receive the Community Development Revolving Loan Grant for Digital Services & Cybersecurity from the NCUA for $10,000,” said Brian Trotter, manager/CEO at EPB Employees Credit Union. “We requested this grant to update our PCs, laptops, printers, etc., to better serve the members of EPB Employees Credit Union and keep their information safer. It will also help with remote work, should the need arise again. We were thrilled to learn of our selection for this honor and are very appreciative of the NCUA and their ongoing support of small credit unions like us.”
Karen Woodall, CFO at Veritas Federal Credit Union, describes the benefits of the grant.
“Last year, we received a grant to assist us with cyber security testing and training,” said Woodall, who submitted the grant. “This year, we’re excited to have received a training grant to send three employees to the University of Lending School. Without grants, we would not be able to send a group of employees to training. As we expand our field of membership into greater underserved areas, this year’s training will teach skillsets to these employees so they can find the right reasons to make loans, especially for C&D papers. They’ll be able to look at credit reports in a new way and close loans more effectively as they counsel members to be responsible in building their credit.”
Copper Basin Federal Credit Union, Copperhill
$50,000
Category: Underserved Outreach
Grant Uses: New or Expanded Outreach Efforts
EPB Employees Credit Union, Chattanooga
$10,000
Category: Digital Services and Cybersecurity
Grant Uses: Remote Workforce Management and Solutions
Tennessee State University Federal Credit Union, Nashville
$25,000
Category: Small LICU Mentoring
Grant Uses: Credit Union Growth and Expansion and Improved Management and Operations
Veritas Federal Credit Union, Smyrna
$5,000
Category: Training
Grant Uses: Staff Development
