BROCKTON, Mass. — Marking its first year anniversary next week, an innovative credit union-run center here, designed initially as a deterrent to payday lending, continues to find new community group patrons and is winning accolades as model for what credit unions can do in low and middle income outreach.

The MultiCultural Banking Center, operated by the $1.6 billion HarborOne Credit Union in a former headquarters facility, has been transformed into a community hub for financial education, language training and social services.

Within the next two weeks, two more groups are being added, making 14 partners of the center as users or supporting agencies. The two latest to use the facility, South Shore Housing, will start offering rehab and rental assistance, while Signature Healthcare will be providing health insurance education.

Meanwhile, the National Credit Union Foundation cited the MultiCultural Center as a CU model in aiding the underserved and at the end of July brought in a team led by Lois Kitsch, REAL Solutions national program manager, to tour the facility and conduct a liaison seminar for state league executives. The MultiCultural Center has also won plaudits from Massachusetts Commissioner of Banks Steven L. Antonakes for recognizing the critical role that education can play “in combating the increase in foreclosures we have witnessed in Brockton and throughout the country.”