JACKSON, Miss. — A rapidly growing community development credit union has merged with an older mainstream credit union and the CDCU will remain the surviving institution.

The $63 million Hope Community Credit Union, headquartered in Jackson, started business in 1995 as an project of a local church and has since been sponsored by a larger community development organization, the Enterprise Corporation of the Delta. The merger partner, the $48 million American Savings Credit Union began as a credit union serving International Harvester employees and their families in 1949 and has since grown to serve about 200 employee groups, the credit unions said in an announcement of the deal.

"This partnership builds on the strengths of two institutions to provide an important resource for people struggling to weather the current financial crisis," said HOPE CEO, Bill Bynum. "Credit union members have always pooled our resources to help our neighbors through difficult financial times. That's more important now than ever before."