Community development credit unions that applied for funds from the Community Development Capital Initiative have started to receive them.

The CDCI funds are those taken from the Troubled Asset Relief Program and used to help community development financial institutions build up their capital.

The credit unions that are receiving money had to apply to the U.S. Treasury Department's Community Development Financial Institutions Fund and be designated as a CDFI. They also had to provide a secondary capital plan to the NCUA and receive an agency recommendation.

One of the first to receive money was the $129 million Hope Federal Credit Union headquartered in Jackson, Miss. The credit union had applied for a $4.52 million secondary capital investment from the fund.

"By investing in credit unions and other community development financial institutions, Treasury is supporting a key segment of the nation's finance sector," said Hope CEO Bill Bynum.

"Hope has experienced a steady increase in demand for credit over recent years as many traditional lenders have restricted their lending. The Administration and Congress are to be saluted for helping to insure that the nation's hardest hit communities have access to the financing needed to stimulate economic recovery."