WASHINGTON – Credit unions in Florida may be able to obtain certification as community development financial institutions thanks to funding from the $6 billion Suncoast Credit Union and the efforts of the National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions.

The National Federation offers a program called CU Breakthrough that consults with credit unions on their efforts to obtain CDFI certification from the U.S. Treasury's Community Development Financial Institutions Fund. Suncoast, the federation's largest asset member, will fund the CU Breakthrough process for up to 10 Florida credit unions, the federation announced Wednesday during CUNA's Governmental Affairs Conference in Washington.

Since its inception in 1974,  the U.S. Treasury CDFI Fund has made a total of $2 billion in grants CDFIs to promote the delivery of financial services to some of the nation's most impoverished communities. Suncoast Credit Union gained CDFI certification in May 2014 with the assistance of the federation.