Mills42 Federal Credit Union (Mills42) today announced it is the recipient of a $125,000 Technical Assistant grant from the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund. The award allows the credit union to purchase a deposit-taking ATM to serve its low-income and underbanked membership better.
“Without a depositing ATM, Mills42’s members and future members wouldn’t have 24-hour access to simple banking transactions,” explained Carla Rasetta, president and CEO of Mills42.
The primary mission of Mills42 is to serve the low-income, distressed, and underserved consumers of Lowell, Massachusetts. Because Lowell has one of the densest populations of Asians in the country and a growing Hispanic community, helping these largely neglected minority groups is a priority for the $22-million credit union serving 2,800 members.
“As CEO of Mills42, I’ve had the great fortune of working with a committed staff and Scott Butterfield, CEO of Your Credit Union Partner, which has propelled the credit union’s success and growth,” Rasetta continued. “We are beyond proud that we’ve stayed the course and been awarded the Technical Assistance grant. This award has fueled our staff and me to deepen our efforts – not only to be a convenient place to bank for our members but to help those with imperfect credit and those who need support to build savings for emergencies and unexpected expenses.”
The CDFI Program invests in and builds the capacity of CDFIs to serve low-income people and underserved communities lacking adequate access to affordable financial products and services. Award recipients often use the funds to analyze which products and services are appropriate for their target markets, develop lending policies and procedures, and build staff lending capacity. This year’s CDFI Technical Assistance grant recipients included 73 organizations and totaled more than $9.16 million in awards.
“For 25 years, the CDFI Fund’s Technical Assistance awards have helped CDFIs grow their organizations and better their capacity to provide financial products and services in low-income communities,” said CDFI Fund Director Jodie Harris. “The FY 2019 CDFI Program…recipients will continue that work in communities across the country, including 28 states and Puerto Rico.”