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A $2.1 million community development grant was awarded to a credit union in Manatee County as a way to expand access to capital for small businesses.
Financial Access Federal Credit Union, formerly Manatee Community Federal Credit Union, is a treasury-certified community development financial institution located in Bradenton.
It was the only chartered institution in the Sarasota and Manatee counties area to receive the grant, according to a statement. The grant is part of the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s CDFI Fund program that awarded $1.73 billion to 603 Community Development Financial Institutions across the U.S.
There were 19 organizations in Florida that received grants, including the following four in Tampa:
“We’re grateful for this support and excited to explore creative funding strategies, empowering financial and technical support during our recovery from the pandemic,” Sherod Halliburton, Financial Access CEO, says in a release.
The grant is expected to “substantively expand lending and investment opportunities to small businesses, employers and their employees to advance our work championing equitable access to capital, and innovative credit and money management tools,” he adds.
The credit union’s main goal, according to Halliburton, is to improve regional economic infrastructure and create jobs.
“This grant will enable us to offer no-cost benefits to local employers to use for recruitment and retention,” says Halliburton. “And that will result in broadening the economic capabilities of our workforce.”
Financial Access was founded in 1958 as Tropicana Employees Federal Credit Union, exclusively serving Tropicana Products employees and family members. In 2010, the charter expanded to serve Manatee County residents and was renamed Manatee Community Federal Credit Union.
In 2020, the credit union returned to serving employment groups and was again renamed, this time to Financial Access Federal Credit Union.
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