The Foundation previously awarded $910,000 in CIF grants in February 2006.

The most recent round of grants focused on innovation as the Foundation sought to highlight credit unions that used creative approaches to offering affordable services, financial education and asset-building opportunities.

The more than $540,000 in grant money went to nine recipients around the country. Here is a summary:

o ASI Federal Credit Union, headquartered in Harahan, La., received $80,000 to help low-income families open Individual Development Accounts for down payment assistance in buying homes in the hurricane damaged zone. This will complement the credit union's housing counseling service through a Department of Housing and Urban Development grant from NCUF.

o Mile High United Way, headquartered in Denver, received the same amount to fund a potential national model partnership between a credit union and a United Way chapter. This project will create an IDA program in partnership with Denver Community Federal Credit Union for formerly homeless residents of a transformational housing project and provide an array of financial education and independent living skills classes.

o El Paso Affordable Housing CUSO received $75,000 to fund a multi-dimensional program incorporating financial literacy, credit management, asset development and homeownership activities for low-income families. o The New York Credit Union Foundation received a $60,485 NCUF grant to advance consumer awareness of identity theft and cyber safety through a statewide credit union marketing and education program. o The Latino Community Credit Union, headquartered in Durham, N.C., received $60,000 to support financial education and tax preparation services for Latinos in North Carolina as well as the development and distribution of a comprehensive guide and kit on implementing such programs for recent Latino immigrants with low incomes.

o LA DOTD Federal Credit Union, headquartered in Baton Rouge, La., received $50,000 to support a comprehensive financial education, financial products, and IDA program for down payment assistance for low-income families. This will also complement a counseling program that is being funded with a credit union's housing counseling service through a HUD grant from NCUF.

o Tongass Federal Credit Union, headquartered in Ketchikan, Alaska, received $45,180 to provide financial education on thrift, credit, money management, budgeting, and online financial tools for 50 Metlakatla Indian families through a personal financial advisor.

o The Progressive Neighborhood Federal Credit Union, New York, received $35,000 to provide an alternative credit-building program that combines counseling with group training to help people who lack relationships with banks or credit unions with financial education, loans and savings. o Spokane Neighborhood Action Program, located in Spokane, Wash., received $30,000 to support access to affordable financial services, counseling, savings incentives, and asset-building opportunities in partnership with Numerica Credit Union in Spokane, Wash., and Washington State Employees Credit Union in Olympia, Wash.

o Lower East Side People's Federal Credit Union, New York, received $25,000 to provide affordable housing outreach and lending for cooperative apartments, and financing for housing development fund corporations serving members of two credit unions that recently merged with Lower East Side People's FCU.

"In addition to the grant dollars they will receive from the Foundation, these 10 grantees have raised over $2.6 million of leveraged funds within the credit union system and from other non-profits," noted Grants Committee Chairman Francois Henriquez, senior vice president/general counsel at U.S. Central. "We believe these grants will make a real impact in credit union communities."