NEW YORK — Justice Department officials heard how credit unions can help in community development and crime fighting while attending an Aug. 24 national conference in Detroit sponsored by the Department.
The officials heard from Clifford Rosenthal, executive director of the National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions, who addressed them in the context of the efforts of an office dedicated to community development as a crime-fighting tool.
The Justice Department's Community Capacity Development Office helps administer the Department's Weed and Seed program, an outreach that seeks to weed out crime and seed impoverished areas with community development. Rosenthal spoke of CU's work in partnerships around the country that furthers community development, highlighting the work of the $50 million Latino Community Credit Union and the $13 billion State Employees' Credit Union in his remarks.
He also discussed the role the Federation plays in helping CUs further development partnerships and projects.
"Weed and Seed understands the link between physical security and economic security–building assets also builds security for individuals and families," Rosenthal told the audience. "The Federation's mission is to help credit unions make this possible in communities like yours."
An example of the growing partnerships and the extension of more credit unions into underserved communities, Rosenthal cited the expansion of the Communicating Arts Credit Union of Detroit into Highland Park, a blighted neighborhood that has been plagued by extensive abandonment and lack of quality housing, but which is beginning to experience a renaissance. Communicating Arts CU will soon be opening a branch in a new mall in that community, which is also the proposed site of a new police substation. Highland Park is a Weed and Seed community that hosted a site visit for participants at the Detroit conference.
For the past two years the Federation has provided technical assistance to help develop homeownership programs in 10 Weed and Seed sites using Individual Development Accounts. IDAs are savings programs that help multiply the savings of low-income, first-time homebuyers using incentives provided by the government. The 10 pilot sites raised more than $1.2 million in local, state, and federal funds to match the savings of low-income account holders. Over the next five years, these savings are expected to leverage more than $22 million in home purchases within Weed and Seed neighborhoods.
–dmorrison@cutimes.com
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