Business View Magazine June 2023

109 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 10, ISSUE 6 ALTERNAT IVES FEDERAL CREDI T UNION unions in the entire country – that is out of some 5000 credit unions. Alternatives was the first to receive a CDFI Grant from the US Treasury in the 1990s and right from the beginning they stayed true to their name – an alternative to some of the dangerous and predatory lending practices that often target disadvantaged populations. “We have also been designated as a low-income credit union,” Mietlicki adds, “which means over half of our membership has to be designated “The biggest thing that separates Alternatives from mainstream banking and even other credit unions is that we are a CDFI, a Certified Community Development Financial Institution,” explains Kevin Mietlicki, President and CEO. “And what that means is we’re much more purposeful about what we do and how we spend our money. We focus on what is going back into the communities that we do business in.” There are only around 400 CDFI-certified credit