The Teller Window: Building the CDFI Sector in Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico’s community development financial institution (CDFI) sector has grown 15-fold over the last decade following a collaboration that brought together leaders from government, community development finance, and Puerto Rico’s credit unions, known as cooperativas.
Inclusiv Puerto Rico CDFI Initiative
The success of the Puerto Rico CDFI Initiative is a testament to the power of partnerships and to the resolve of financial cooperatives to obtain resources for the benefit of the communities they serve. The CDFI transformation is now a reality, and we are proud to continue to work to help cooperativas gain access to resources that were only available to CDFI’s in the mainland.
How Financial Co-ops Are Helping Puerto Rico Rebuild — and Why It Matters for New York
The banking industry in Puerto Rico, much like on the mainland, has always catered to wealthier consumers and businesses, rather than low-income people and communities. The financial cooperative system in Puerto Rico goes back at least 50 years and emerged for the same reasons as credit unions on the mainland, including lack of access to financial services. Large numbers of Puerto Ricans have long been disenfranchised from the financial system. The cooperative financial system in Puerto Rico is very strong. One in three Puerto Ricans — more than one million people — are members of these cooperativas. That network of 125 cooperativas has been part of the DNA of Puerto Rican communities, rural communities especially, for generations.
Santa Cruz Community Credit Union
Inclusiv borrower success story