Arlington Community FCU Awarded $960,000 CDFI Grant to Empower Underserved Communities

12 月 19, 2024

Arlington, VA (December 19, 2024) – Arlington Community Federal Credit Union, a member-owned financial cooperative serving Arlington, Falls Church, Fairfax, and Alexandria, Virginia, is proud to announce they were awarded $960,000 from the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) Financial Assistance Award program. The 2024 awards, announced in October 2024, named Arlington Community FCU as one of 357 CDFIs, including 135 credit unions, receiving funds that will enable CDFIs to substantively expand lending and investment activity in economically distressed neighborhoods and communities.

Arlington Community FCU’s work as a CDFI is focused on expanding access to quality credit products and improving financial well-being for everyone in the communities it serves. The credit union will use the grant money to lend to those historically underserved by financial institutions. One focus will be supporting minority single mothers and female-headed households in the Northern Virginia community through a women’s empowerment initiative, providing affordable financial products and services, including emergency loans, payday-alternative loans, and first-time auto loans, along with financial counseling to help women achieve financial independence.

Arlington Community FCU partners with local, high-impact nonprofits to achieve its goal of creating positive change through financial empowerment. In fiscal year 2022, the credit union collaborated with organizations including 招待所之友 和 Together We Bake, both nonprofits focused on workforce development programs for women. For fiscal year 2024, Arlington Community FCU will deepen the impact of existing partnerships as well as create new partnerships with select changemaking organizations to further empower women on their financial journey.

In fiscal year 2022, Arlington Community FCU received a Financial Assistance  Award of $560,000, which significantly supported its financial inclusion strategy by increasing lending volume and providing minority families access to mainstream financial services, refinancing high-cost debt, and helping establish positive credit histories. Arlington Community FCU offered products such as small dollar credit builder loans, debt consolidation loans, and first-time auto loans, and hired a loan officer to assist consumers from diverse cultural backgrounds.

The fiscal year 2022 grant also enabled Arlington Community FCU to expand community lending programs to an average of $70 million per year, including $15.3 million in financial inclusion loans, impacting 2,500 low-income residents of the Columbia Pike corridor in Arlington. For the fiscal year 2024 grant, the credit union anticipates expanding lending programs to an average of $109 million per year, including $12 million in women’s empowerment loans, benefiting an additional 1,425 low-income minority and immigrant female clients.

Through its responsible and sustainable lending practices, Arlington Community FCU has successfully reduced the number of underbanked low-income individuals in our community. The credit union is committed to deepening its positive impact through community development activities in Arlington and Fairfax counties in 2025 and beyond.

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For more than 70 years, Arlington Community FCU (arlingtoncu.org) has been committed to empowering the financial lives of its members. The credit union serves more than 24,000 members who live, work, worship, volunteer, attend school, and do business in Arlington County, the City of Alexandria, the City of Falls Church, and Fairfax County. Arlington Community FCU has $513 million in assets and four branch locations in Arlington, Alexandria, and Falls Church, VA.