The NCUA on Tuesday announced it had awarded grants totaling close to $2.5 million to help low-income credit unions expand services to underserved communities, train staff, improve cybersecurity and provide students with work experiences.

“This grant round was the largest in [the] NCUA's history,” NCUA Board Chairman Rick Metsger said. “These grants will help credit unions provide affordable financial services to more people, improve operations and train a new generation of leaders.”

In this round, the NCUA awarded 116 grants totaling almost $1.5 million to credit unions attempting to expand financial access to underserved communities. The agency also awarded 112 grants totaling $752,529 to credit unions to help them better protect sensitive data. In addition, the NCUA gave 33 credit unions some $125,795 to provide students with work experience and awarded $125,700 to four credit unions to help them train staff.

In this round of grants, the NCUA received requests totaling $9.6 million from 608 credit unions; because of high demand, the agency only awarded one grant per credit union.

The NCUA's Office of Small Credit Union Initiatives administers the grants that are made through the Community Development Revolving Loan Fund.

“Each year, we look at the challenges low-income credit unions face and develop initiatives that support growth and member outreach,” Office of Small Credit Union Initiatives Acting Director Martha Ninichuk said.