<p>WASHINGTON – Oakland Catholic Credit Union in Troy, Michigan and Oakland County Credit Union in Waterford Michigan each recently invested $100,000 in the National Credit Union Foundation's (NCUF) Community Investment Fund (CIF), making Michigan the 28th state with credit unions backing the NCUF's grant making arm, according to Bruce Wheeler, Director of Public Relations for the Foundation. The CIF, which began accepting investments in January 1999, provides funds for national and state level development initiatives and funds NCUF grants. Credit unions deposit their investments into specially designated accounts with their corporate credit unions. The corporate credit unions are in turn CIF partners, Wheeler explained. "The Community Investment Fund is an innovative way to raise funds to support credit union development in Michigan and through the National Credit Union Foundation," said Bill Wallby, CEO of CenCorp. "I am pleased that CenCorp is able to make this fund available to members," he added. Gary Officer, the NCUF's Executive Director recently went on record praising the CIF's investment structure for allowing the Foundation to continue making grants at when stock market downturns had forced many other foundations to cut back drastically on their grant making.</p>