A federal awards program that encourages banks to increase their community development activities, including through investments in credit unions that are certified as community development financial institutions (CDFIs), will be explained during a June 12 webinar hosted by the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), according to a release issued Wednesday by the agency.
The webinar focuses on the Bank Enterprise Award Program administered through Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund. Staff from the NCUA Office of Credit Union Resources and Expansion (CURE) and from the BEA program will present during the webinar.
Information on the CDFI Fund website explains that the through the BEA Program, the fund provides monetary awards to FDIC-insured banks and thrifts that successfully demonstrate an increase in their investments in CDFIs or in their own lending, investing, or service activities in the most distressed communities. It defines BEA distressed communities as those where at least 30% of residents have incomes that are less than the national poverty level and where the unemployment rate is at least 1.5 times the national unemployment rate.
Topics for the June 12 webinar, slated for 2 p.m. ET and lasting about one hour, include:
- Overview of the BEA Program;
- Benefits of BEA-related partnerships for credit unions and banks;
- Actual examples of credit union and bank participation in the program; and
- Benefits of the program for minority depository institutions.
The NCUA plans to post Twitter updates during the June 12 webinar (the agency’s Twitter handle is @TheNCUA). Participants can submit questions over Twitter during the presentation and in advance by email to WebinarQuestions@ncua.gov. The email’s subject line should read, “Bank Enterprise Award Program.”
The webinar will be closed captioned and archived online approximately three weeks following the live event, the agency said.