When hurricanes rip through the Gulf, they leave behind disrupted lives and disconnected communities. In those moments, access matters as much as empathy. When disaster strikes, The New Orleans Firemen’s Federal Credit Union  ($275.0M, Metarie, LA) is ready to roll with a mobile branch that brings back banking to the front line of recovery.

The Problem

A dozen hurricanes have impacted Louisiana or made landfall there since the year 2000, according to NOAA data. FEMA’s National Risk Index classifies New Orleans and its environs as being at high risk for hurricanes and with high levels of social vulnerability, although the area also rates highly for resilience.

“As we observe the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, it’s not if it’s going to happen again, it’s when,” says James Hunter, the cooperative’s chief advocacy and culture officer. “When disaster hits, things shut down. People don’t have access to energy, to gas, to cash —  anything you take for granted, we don’t have anymore.”

As an institution serving low-income, underbanked, and overlooked communities, the credit union wanted a way to ensure it was accessible in the worst of circumstances.

The Solution

With storms an ever-present threat, the credit union used a CDFI grant to shore up its capital position, in turn creating the flexibility needed to free up approximately $170,000 for a mobile branch, says President & CEO Judy Delucca.

The result is a full-scale branch on wheels. Just one foot shy of a commercial truck, it includes a computer and ATM access, cash on hand, a generator, and more. It’s a way to serve communities that don’t have access to banking services due to storm damage or other factors.

“We’re trying to fill a void,” Hunter says. “We’d love to be able to mobilize anytime to reach communities. Cash is king in these times. If you don’t have cash, you don’t have anything.”

What’s Next

New Orleans Firemen’s isn’t waiting for disaster to strike; it’s got plans to fill accessibility gaps in other ways.

“This is probably the most downtime we’ve had for disasters in a long time,” Hunter says. “We haven’t had a chance to show it in its full form, but we’re looking at different ways to use it.”

For example, the credit union’s community advisory team has pinpointed accessibility as a major issue in the region, particularly in pockets of Louisiana and Mississippi where many people lack access to reliable vehicles or live in banking deserts. Hunter says the credit union is working to schedule times to take the mobile unit into those spaces.

Also on the table are potential partnerships with local farmers to provide a fresh-food initiative for community members who live in food deserts. New Orleans Firemen’s also is working with Feed The Second Line, which has hubs ready for when disaster strikes. The credit union is discussing how to partner with that local community agency to provide access to financial services when consumers need them most.

Of course, it doesn’t have to be a top-tier disaster to bring out the branch. Even something like power outages from thunderstorms are reason enough to spring into action, Hunter says. The credit union knows it can be anywhere within a given radius quickly and is trying to be thoughtful about how and when it deploys the branch.

“These are all creative ways we can use that vehicle as an opportunity to serve our community,” Hunter says.

And when the next big storm hits, New Orleans Firemen’s is ready.

“If you’ve ever seen on TV what happens after a hurricane, it doesn’t do it any kind of justice,” Hunter says. “We’re talking about big trees blocking roads, powerlines on the ground, nobody can get gas — it’s a cash-only environment. The fact that we’re now ready for those things and able to reach out to certain areas changes how we can be more impactful.”

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Vantage West Credit Union ($3.2B, Tucson, AZ) is deepening its social impact work with the help of CDFI grant funding.

The Arizona-based cooperative has been certified as a community development credit union since 2018, but after the pandemic, leadership wanted to be more deliberate with that work.

The Problem

With roots in serving the Air Force community in and around Tucson, it’s no surprise the bulk of Vantage West’s membership resides in Pima County. However, the credit union’s field of membership also includes Pinal, Cochise, and Maricopa counties, with each county presenting its own mix of economic challenges.

Phoenix, in Maricopa County, is one of the fastest-growing, highest-paying markets in the country. Tucson is the opposite, with lots of low-income consumers — many in rural areas — and considerable under- or disinvestment. Many banks have pulled back — both in the Tucson market and more broadly across Southern Arizona — meaning financial services aren’t always accessible, and payday lenders and others have been more than happy to fill the void.

“COVID highlighted a lot of disparity in the economy,” says Jon Bruflat, Vantage West’s vice president of community impact.

The pandemic and follow-on inflation, shifting interest rates, and more have revealed just how many Americans live paycheck to paycheck or need help managing their finances. Vantage West understood the statistics around those facts, but it needed a person to turn data into action.

The Solution

A $625,000 CDFI grant helped the credit union hire a manager in 2023 to launch a financial wellness program that focuses on consumer coaching and connects program participants to vetted local nonprofit partners that support Vantage West’s community-impact areas, including housing, education, and economic development. That second goal is important because Tucson has a dense population of nonprofits, according to Bruflat, and the credit union wants to tap that knowledge base and build relationships with the right ones.

“A lot of people who come to [work in] credit unions have had some financial experience,” the VP says. “We wanted a person who had been more on the needs side of this with nonprofits.”

The candidate Vantage West initially selected to run the program spent more than a decade in the Tucson nonprofit world, including United Way, local foundations, and more. That experience helped the credit union better understand the financial education needs of potential program participants and craft topics — such as how to budget, save, and build credit — that would resonate. Of note, the initial hire left the credit union, but a new hire (again from a local nonprofit) has maintained the momentum.

To help satisfy the second goal, the financial wellness program manager works with employees to help them improve their own financial wellness and provide better guidance for members across a variety of channels. The credit union has certified close to 80 employees as financial coaches via an internal program that blends methods and information from America’s Credit Unions, United Way, and others.

“We’re developing relationships and resources so our staff is comfortable referring members to the right support — generally either a community resource or a community partner we know,” Bruflat says.

Vantage West also tweaked how it approaches sponsorships. Rather than saying “yes” by default to many requests, it now zeros in on two dozen or so key partnerships related to housing, education, and workforce development.

The Results

Nearly 700 people have participated in financial wellness coaching programs. Some of those attendees have met just once, but many have taken part in more than one session.

“The record is 13 appointments over the course of a year helping someone build credit,” Bruflat says. “We’ve had success stories of helping someone get out of transitional housing and into an apartment, helping somebody get their first home loan, and refinancing high-rate debt and rebuilding credit with us through lower-rate loans.”

Vantage West has also embedded itself into the work of local partner organizations, including the Gospel Rescue Mission, which serves families in need of transitional housing, counseling, workforce, and recovery services.

“Gospel Rescue Mission added us to the mix as their financial services support,” Bruflat says. “We come on site a couple of times per month to do education in group settings, but we also help people add a banking account. That has differentiated us in the market, and we’ve grown.”

Partnerships like this have not only helped Vantage West improve its community outreach but also inadvertently bulk up business-banking relationships. Bruflat says he can think of at least 10 such relationships the credit union has added in the past year based on its wellness and impact work.

The program’s success has changed Vantage West’s approach to partnerships, particularly in how it pulls together multiple organizations to make a greater, coordinated impact.

“Having that sense of those areas you really care about and tying back partners or donations to that can make a big difference,” Bruflat says. “You can do that whether you’re a CDFI or not. Ask yourself ‘What do we want to be known for?’ That’ll drive your strategy and drive it outside of just social impact.”

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Hurricane Maria slammed the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico in 2017, leaving behind landslides, flooding, power outages, destroyed homes, and more. With nearly 3,000 fatalities, the island’s power grid completely destroyed, and damages estimated at $90 billion, it was the definition of a crisis.

Fortunately, a pair of CDFI grants helped JetStream Federal Credit Union ($265.5M, Miami Lakes, FL) play a major role in recovery efforts.

The Problem

The Center for Puerto Rican Studies estimates more than 3,000 people left the island for the U.S. mainland in the wake of the storm, many of them settling in nearby Florida. But for residents of an island more than 1,000 miles from the continental United States, relocating was anything but easy.

For starters, many lenders on the island didn’t allow residents to transport their cars, forcing those who emigrated to the mainland to leave behind their mode of transportation. Once on the mainland, many people needed help covering security deposits for living arrangements, replacing damaged and ruined belongings, and securing other essentials.

Those who stayed behind also had belongings to replace, homes to repair, and urgent expenses to cover.

The storm inflicted $90 billion in damages, and a report from Moody’s estimates insured losses might have reached as high as $30 billion, making Maria one of the costliest hurricanes in U.S. history.

The Solutions

JetStream FCU’s field of membership includes anyone who lives, works, worships, or attends school in Miami-Dade County as well as Carolina, Trujillo Alto, and San Juan counties in Puerto Rico. Its branch presence in Florida and Puerto Rico enabled the credit union to serve displaced members seamlessly.

To help members manage the aftermath of Maria, JetStream tapped two CDFI grants — one of $776,000 for funds to resettle people who left after the hurricane and a $1.25 million grant to help members who remained on the island.

The resettling grant helped new and established members cover costs such as security deposits for rental homes, vehicle shipping, and more.

“Somebody came in to join and right away asked, ‘Can I refinance my car?’ says Jeanne Kucey, CEO at Jetstream. “They wanted to ship it to Florida, so we became the answer for a lot of people.”

Shipping a vehicle from Puerto Rico required members to first refinance their auto loan with JetStream, which enabled them to pay off the loan at the originating institution, then ship it from the island to the mainland at a cost of approximately $2,000. After that, members also could use grant funding to cover the cost of vehicle registration.

Members who stayed on the island needed help, too. One of their major expenses was replacing personal goods, everything from furniture to patio covers, home repairs, and more.

The credit union offered a loan to existing members only that Kucey says was essentially a standard personal loan in terms of pricing; however, JetStream stretched its normal underwriting criteria as far as credit scores, debt-to-income levels, and more, to serve as many people as possible. That’s important because many low-income borrowers used the funds — with loans averaging $10,000 — to improve energy efficiency, eliminate mold, and make essential repairs and updates. The credit union was even able to help two of its own employees who lost nearly everything inside their homes, Kucey says.

“We had a lot of people use these loans to replace their goods,” the CEO says. “We were surprised at how many people had the savings to take care of what they needed, but for those who didn’t, this was a lifeline.”

The Results

Beyond simply deploying CDFI grant funds, these loans became lifelines for members rebuilding their lives and communities. JetStream came through with critical financing to restore homes and replace essentials, but the credit union also empowered those driving relief efforts.

For example, a Puerto Rico-based member who frequently visited the branch for his personal and business services realized the island needed diesel providers to refuel the generators that were powering residents’ homes after the storm. That member and his wife bought a truck on the mainland and shipped it to the island to start Chester Energía y Transportes, a diesel-refueling business.

“They came to us to open a business account to have accessible funds for refueling the tank,” an island staffer wrote to Kucey in an email. “They gathered all the required information and opened their account. Rapidly, many people started using their business. They covered the whole island. They’re grateful that we were there to help start their business. They always talk about how close they feel to us when conducting transactions and how they would never change their membership to another institution.”

The credit union doesn’t have plans to relaunch these disaster recovery loans for future emergencies, but their success has shaped programs like the furlough loan JetStream introduced during the 2025 government shutdown. For Kucey, the experience reinforced the core principle of “people helping people” isn’t just altruism, it’s good business.

“The losses were non-existent,” she says. “Just do the right thing and don’t worry about the bottom line because it all worked out.”

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James Hunter knows firsthand what homeownership can mean for a family’s future.

“Some people’s first love was basketball or football, mine was mortgages,” says Hunter, chief advocacy and culture officer at The New Orleans Firemen’s Federal Credit Union ($275.0M, Metarie, LA). “I’m enamored by homeownership.”

The Problem

Hunter’s enthusiasm for homeownership meets a tough reality in New Orleans, where economic barriers put buying a home out of reach for many.

A 2024 report found approximately 53% of New Orleans residents were homeowners, although that figure does jump slightly to 62% when expanded to cover the entire metro area. Still, the prevalence of low-wage jobs and one of the highest poverty rates in the nation — the Louisiana poverty rate hovers around 19%, compared with 10.6% nationally — suppresses homeownership in The Big Easy.

There are broader problems at play, as well. Louisiana ranks at or near the bottom of the nation when it comes to education, infrastructure, crime, opportunity, and more, according to a 2025 U.S. News & World Report study. Those factors and others have led many people to believe homeownership — and financial wellbeing in general — is simply out of reach for them.

“We have a unique situation where you have people who have been hit with persistent poverty, which is three generations of people who have experienced nothing but the same mindset [and] the same potential outcomes,” Hunter says. “That can stem from how you grew up to the hurricanes we’ve experienced and also going into more racial things like redlining. There are many things we’ve experienced here in Louisiana that can impact a lot of different areas.”

Like much of the country, rising prices and interest rates combined with inventory challenges have exacerbated the situation. And that’s before taking into account sky-high insurance premiums, which put housing even further out of reach for many borrowers.

“I’ve been in situations where someone’s insurance and taxes are higher than their principal and interest payments on their mortgage,” Hunter says. “That’s totally backward and sometimes prices borrowers out of a home.”

The Solution

Thanks to a $900,000 grant from the U.S. Treasury’s CDFI Fund, New Orleans Firemen’s is helping members get over that hump with a 100% loan-to-value mortgage that requires no down payment and no private mortgage insurance.

According to Hunter, the 100% LTV helps cover the down payment and other upfront costs. Additionally, he says, real estate agents may negotiate with sellers and builders to cover closing costs, and the credit union’s policies provide enough wiggle room to bridge that gap where needed.

“Two of the biggest things when buying a home are the down payment and the closing costs,” the advocacy and culture officer says. “That’s a nice chunk of change. A down payment and closing costs can add up to a lot of money people don’t have.”

In those instances where members can’t yet qualify, he adds, the credit union looks for ways to help people improve their finances and set a little money aside in the hope that improved savings and credit can get them to the finish line eventually.

The Results

Since launching the program a little more than five years ago, New Orleans Firemen’s has closed slightly fewer than 60 of these loans. That might not be a large number, but Hunter is quick to defend the program, noting the difficult environment for buyers these past few years.

“We have seen people who did not think they could apply or get approved for a mortgage find themselves in a home,” he says.

For example, a contractor who did some work for Judy Delucca, the credit union’s CEO, revealed during a conversation that he was struggling to qualify for a mortgage.

“We introduced him to our program and helped him not only get the home he wanted but also looked at his business and helped him expand his fleet,” Hunter says.

One element that makes the program so inspiring, Hunter adds, is that its success often flies in the face of conventional wisdom and helps members understand that they can take control of their financial lives.

“People listen to the news media and other resources that say interest rates are high and this is not the time to buy,” he says. “Why not find out if you can get qualified? And if not, what can you do to get ready?”

Although solving Louisiana’s insurance crisis will require legislative action, Hunter says finding ways to help more New Orleans residents achieve homeownership is a major growth and relationship opportunity for the credit union. It plans to continue to advocate for members and help them achieve financial success, whether that be through the CDFI Fund, foundations, or other avenues. That commitment recognizes both the challenges and the promise of homeownership and resonates with Hunter on a personal level.

“I come from an environment where homeownership wasn’t often possible,” he says. “So to be in a place where I see people be able to bridge that gap and build generational wealth is invaluable.”

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