Community Development Programs

Community Visa

Community Development Resources

More Than Just Commerce

Child Care Economic Impact Report

Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)

Member Highlights

Frequently Asked Questions

At the Santa Cruz Community Credit Union, we care about two things. First, we care about serving our members, who are also the owners of this community-based financial institution. Second, we care about contributing to lasting social and economic justice. We accomplish this through our work in community development programs in child care, financial education, the Individual Development Account matched savings program, free tax assistance, and microenterprise lending. The community development work of the Santa Cruz Community Credit Union is implemented in coordination with Santa Cruz Community Ventures, the 501(c)(3) affiliate of the SCCCU, which also secures additional funding for these programs.

Each of our ongoing programs is described below. You can either scroll below or use the quick links to jump directly to a particular program description.

Community Development Quick Links:
[ Make a Donation | IDA Program | Child Care Revolving Loan Fund ]
[ Accessory Dwelling Unit Loan Program | ChildCare Ventures ]
[ Community Partnership Lending Program ]
[ Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) Project

Investing in Paths to Prosperity

Who We Are:

Santa Cruz Community Ventures, the nonprofit affiliate of Santa Cruz Community Credit Union, equips people in our community to achieve lasting financial security. Through asset building tools, fi nancial education and technical assistance, SCCV helps low-wage, working families and individuals build assets including homes, higher education and small businesses.

What We Do:

Getting ahead in today’s economy takes more than having a job and income. It takes building long-term wealth and using fi nances wisely. Santa Cruz Community Ventures’ strategy links financial education with products and services — including matched savings accounts, free tax assistance, and technical assistance. We provide solutions.

How You Can Help:

Support our programs and make a real impact in your community. Your tax-deductable donations can boost the savings match toward assets and provide financial education. Make a difference! Join us in making an impact against predatory lenders, debt cycles and anxiety. Make a tax-deductable donation to Santa Cruz Community Ventures. You can mail a check to P. O. Box 1877, Santa Cruz, CA, 95061-1877 or make an online donation. Call Ellen Murtha for more information at 460-2345.

Financial Education and Outreach
Financial education, in conjunction with a number of other services, is increasingly being used as a tool to alleviate poverty. A good financial education program promotes long-term financial security for individuals and families through homeownership, small business creation, education, and savings. SCCCU's financial education program strives to promote family financial security by introducing the principles of budgeting and saving and access to affordable financial products and services. SCCCU offers financial education workshops to members and throughout the community. For information on upcoming workshops contact Ellen Murtha at 831-460-2345 or emurtha@scruzccu.org.

SCCCU continues to deepen its outreach to the underserved by leveraging its expertise through partnerships with community-based organizations. Collaboration has allowed SCCCU to provide financial education workshops to partner clients and through in-home workshops for friends, family and neighbors of interested individuals

A cornerstone of SCCCU's financial education program is the innovative Economic Justice Project. SCCCU and its partners (La Manzana Community Resources and the Watsonville Law Center), with support from the Cowell Foundation, has expanded the Economic Justice Project (EJP) through June 2010. EJP connects participants with money management workshops and social and legal assistance.

Fall 2009 Free Financial Education Schedule

Reservations required. Call Claudia Lopez, 460-2228 or email claudia.lopez@scruzccu.org to reserve a place.

Controlling Credit and Debt

Friday, October 23, 12:10 pm

Friday, November 20, 12:10 pm

Individual Development Account Program
SCCCU's Individual Development Account (IDA) program is an outstanding asset building and savings incentive model for low-income individuals and families. An IDA account is an asset building opportunity that offers matched savings accounts that enable low-income families to save, build assets, and move towards financial security.

SCCCU received a grant from the Richard Myles Johnson Foundation to expand our IDA program, working in partnership with the Independent Living Program to foster youth aged 14 and over. This pilot program will work wtih seven of the area's 35 - 40 youth on track to age out of the foster care system when they reach 18. Participants will attend financial education workshops, and will open IDA accounts at the Credit Union. Participants will save $500 over two years and will have their savings matched 2:1 for a total matched savings of $1,500.

In 2008, SCCCU received a grant from the federal Assets for Independence program to expand our IDA program. Participants will receive free financial education and use their savings - which are matched dollar for dollar up to $2,000 - to build assets for higher education or starting or expanding a business. Two-person households can save $4,000 toward a shared goal, for a total of $8,000 with the 1:1 match. SCCCU is collaborating with community services agencies, educational institutions, and county government on this program. For more information about the program, to review eligibility requirements call Ellen Murtha (831)460-2345 or email emurtha@scruzccu.org. Click here to download an application form.

Child Care Revolving Loan Fund
One simple and attainable solution to many financial problems faced by child care providers is to make low-interest, short-term loans available to them.

While most commercial lenders do not make such loans, the Santa Cruz Community Credit Union does - through the Child Care Revolving Loan Program. The SCCCU has been able to secure three grants for the purpose of guaranteeing low-interest loans to child care providers serving low-income families. The loans are relatively small loans, up to $15,000, and for a period of time usually less than two years. Because of the source of these funds is from grants, the SCCCU is able to make these loans at a 3% rate. As the child care providers pay back their loans, the loan funds are then available to other child care providers.

Here's how it works: contributors make tax-deductible donations to the SCCCU. These deposits serve as full or partial collateral, which enables the Credit Union to make low-risk, low-interest loans to child care providers. And since it is a revolving fund, loan repayments replenish the fund making the money available to other providers.

Any of the county's licensed child care providers - both private and nonprofit - are eligible. Loans are used to modernize equipment, purchase educational materials and toys, improve facilities, obtain technical assistance, and meet short-term cash flow needs.

The Child Care Revolving Loan Fund served as a model that has been adapted to the Affordable Accessory Dwelling Unit Loan Program - a collaboration among the City of Santa Cruz and the SCCCU.

This innovative Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) Loan Program intends to create more affordable housing in our community. In a study designed to identify housing types that could help alleviate the City's housing crisis, Accessory Dwelling Units were identified as one way to provide more affordable rental housing. Building ADUs will increase the overall stock of rental housing and may be able to help homeowners more easily afford their home. An ADU is an additional dwelling unit that has a kitchen, sleeping, and bathroom facilities; is attached or detached from a primary residence; and, is in a single-family lot.

In addition to the loan component, the ADU program includes additional components designed to address concerns about the potential effects on neighborhoods. These include: 1) Design Prototypes; 2) Technical Assistance; and, 3) Development Assistance.

ADU program loans of up to $70,000 available at 4.5% interest in exchange for providing affordable rental units. To qualify for an ADU loan, you must be a homeowner in the City of Santa Cruz at the same address as the ADU; have at least 50% of the loan amount as equity in your home; and, agree to keep the rental unit affordable to low-income tenants for a period of at least 15 years. The ADU loan program restricts incomes and rents to provide for households at or below 80% of the Area Median Income(AMI).

If you would like more information about the ADU program, please contact Norm Daly at the City offices at 831-420-6265 or email Norm at ndaly@ci.santa-cruz.ca.us. After you have spoken with the folks at the City, and you would like more information about the loan program, contact Lisa Carrisales at (831)460-2304 or by email at lisa@scruzccu.org.

ChildCare Ventures

Overview

• In order to maintain the existing supply of child care spaces, and to support child care programs as sustainable enterprises, child care programs must have access to business management training.

• In order for child care supply to continue to increase rapidly to meet local demand, child care programs need access to facilities development technical assistance, appropriate financing products, and land use and real estate assistance.

ChildCare Ventures exists to meet these needs.

ChildCare Ventures (CCV) functions as a collaboration of five organizations - the Central Coast Small Business Development Center, El Pajaro Community Development Corporation, the Child Development Resource Center/Santa Cruz County Office of Education, the Santa Cruz Community Ventures, and the Santa Cruz County Human Resources Agency. The Santa Cruz County Office of Education is serving as the fiscal agent through June 2003. CCV became a program of the Santa Cruz Community Credit Union in July 2003.

ChildCare Ventures evolved as a result of the David and Lucile Packard Foundation Local Investments in Child Care (LINCC) Initiative. A diverse group of stakeholders that comprised the local LINCC Project advisory committee identified the concept of a child care facilities development intermediary as a strategy to:

• ensure child care is considered a vital element of local community economic vitality

• facilitate the development of child care facilities as a part of the economic infrastructure, particularly in low income neighborhoods, and

• support child care programs as sustainable enterprises.

Click here to download the ChildCare Ventures brochure.

Community Partnership Lending Program

The Community Partnership Loan Program is a way for the SCCCU to collaborate with community-based organizations to provide loans to their clients who might not otherwise be able to qualify for a loan. Increasing access to capital for underserved people has been at the heart of the SCCCU’s mission and we are continually seeking avenues to develop products and services that benefit our members. This innovative program is yet another step in outreach to low-income people in our community while combining the knowledge, experience, resources, and capacity of the SCCCU and of each partnering organization.

Our first shared initiative is with the El Pajaro Community Development Corporation (EPCDC), and will provide microenterprise loans to start up businesses working with the EPCDC. EPCDC has more than twenty years of experience in the provision of bilingual/bicultural small business assistance and job creation for primarily minority and low-income entrepreneurs. EPCDC is best known for its successful operation of the Plaza Vigil Business Incubator Program in Watsonville and the SCCCU has lent money to popular Plaza Vigil businesses including Conchita’s Ice Cream and Mexican Dried Products.

Here’s how the Community Partnership Loan Program works:

• The nonprofit raises funds to support the loans
• The funds are deposited with the SCCCU, and the SCCCU agrees to fund loans to a maximum of double the funds on deposit
• The nonprofit screens applicants and helps applicants complete the SCCCU business application
• The SCCCU makes all decisions regarding approval or denial of the loan application
• Loan size is between $2,000 and $5,000
• Loan terms are between one and two years
• The fund operates as a revolving loan fund where loan funds are available as loans are repaid back into the fund

The Community Credit Union has always supported microenterprise through our lending for low-income people and people who otherwise have limited access to capital. Microenterprise is generally defined as small businesses with 5 or fewer employees, requiring start up capital of less than $25,000. Lending to small businesses is widely viewed as a strategy of poverty alleviation. We are proud to develop innovative programs to increase our lending to small businesses.

Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) Project

The federal government provides economic relief for low-income families in the form of tax credits. However, when tax season rolls around many low-income families often don’t know about and don’t claim the tax credits they are owed. Those who seek help claiming these credits often lose a portion of their refund to excessive preparation fees and high-cost, refund anticipation loans.

In Santa Cruz County each year more than $6 million in tax credits remain unclaimed. How can our community recapture these dollars? Free tax preparation clinics staffed by volunteers are a proven solution. Each year free tax assistance programs have a tremendous impact in our community, bringing thousands of dollars in tax refunds and credits to low-income families. For many families this service is invaluable. A single mother working full-time at $9.70/hr., raising one child would receive $1,615 in Earned Income Tax Credits (the average EITC refund for Santa Cruz County), and the equivalent of an 8% raise. The potential impact of this service is staggering; serving 500 “average” families would bring $807,500 into the hands of those who need it most!

Offering free tax assistance to low-income families is an important part of the SCCCU’s commitment to financial education. Helping families claim the tax credits they are owed and helping them to avoid costly preparation fees, enables them to move toward greater financial security. Families often use their refund dollars to pay bills, get out of debt, or build a savings cushion.

Click here to learn more about our free tax assistance program.

Volunteer's Needed!

Did you know that one hour of your time can boost a low-wage working family's income by as much as $4,824? We are recruiting new and returning volunteers to support our free tax assistance and financial education program. Tax season is around the corner so now is the time to consider possible volunteer roles you can fulfill.

Last year, 32 volunteers assisted over 400 families. The average tax refund equaled another month's wages for low-income, hard-working families. This volunteer opportunity makes a real difference for families in our community - so please join us!

Please contact Elisa Ramirez at elisa.ramirez@scruzccu.org or (831)460-2346 if you are interested in volunteering. Thank you!