Our institutions had the greatest needs; we served the 'bad credit risks,' even while suffering from regulatory pressure to meet 'industry standards.' The establishment of the CDFI Fund was the 'holy grail' of my decades-long quest for capital for our credit unions.
CDCUs [community development credit unions] had long struggled as the only banking institutions with the explicit mission of serving low-income communities. I saw the CDFI Fund as a crucial source of donated equity that low-income credit unions could leverage to obtain additional deposits.
If there was one issue that I 'owned,' it was the CDFI Fund. Our members were content to have me campaign for it, but it was not the focus of their hopes and plans.
Some were skeptical that it would become a reality; others were cynical that they would benefit, since the federal government had so often overlooked the needs of communities of color.
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