Archive: Business & Technology

Alternatives Federal Credit Union has recently received national recognition and several awards for its innovative community development work.  Alternatives was awarded a capital grant of $20,000 from Opportunity Finance Network (OFN) as part of the Create Jobs for USA initiative, a prize of $25,000 from the NEXT Awards for Opportunity Finance for Advocacy, expanded rural outreach for its community programs, and was recognized by NerdWallet as one of their top 10 community-focused credit unions for business support.

Opportunity Finance Network (OFN) partnered with Starbucks on the Create Jobs for USA Fund, a new initiative that creates and sustains jobs across the U.S. by providing grants to community development financial institutions (CDFIs) that lend to Community Businesses. Alternatives will use the funds to assist in job creation and retention by lending to local businesses. Alternatives won one of four national $25,000 NEXT Awards for outstanding performance in the CDFI field.  The award, from OFN in partnership with Wachovia Wells Fargo Foundation & the John D. and Katherine T. MacArthur Foundation, was given for overall excellence in Advocacy, focusing on Alternatives' work to promote a local Living Wage.

NerdWallet named Alternatives as one of their favorite community-focused credit unions.  They cited Alternatives for Best Business Support. NerdWallet is a personal finance search site that "scour(s) the financial universe to bring you any and every bank and credit union we can find, along with our own unbiased take on what various rewards programs or deposit accounts are actually worth.”

In addition to these national awards, Alternatives Community Ventures (the 501c3 that supports Alternatives' community programs) received local support for several community programs this year.  An award from the Community Foundation's Tompkins Today and Tomorrow Fund will support the new Rural Introduction to Entrepreneurship Workshop Series and the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program's expanded rural outreach; the rural VITA program also received a new award from the Johnson Graduate School of Management Community Impact Fund of the Community Foundation. The VITA program has also received generous support from the Tompkins County Legislature and United Way of Tompkins County.

The Student Credit Union program benefits from a gift from the Friends of Tompkins County Public Library to purchase financial literacy books and from a National Credit Union Foundation award to support the Youth Entrepreneur Program.

v8i9