Self-Help Shares

You know Self-Help has all the personnel you would expect in a credit union, like loan officers and member service reps. Maybe you don’t know we also have a Director of Sustainability, Melissa Malkin-Weber.  When Melissa began working with us nearly six years ago, she was charged with helping Self-Help “walk the talk” by implementing more sustainable practices inside our own offices and also through loans that encourage conservation.

The results have been fantastic. Check out Melissa’s article in the current issue of Green Money Journal, where she describes how we’re making sustainability part of everything we do. The article features one of our favorite western borrowers, Rush Creek Lodge, and also two great community development partners, Craft3 and RSF Social Finance. 

From our staff in North Carolina, California and Chicago, we send our greetings to you

and thanks for a great year!  You may spot some familiar faces in our year-end newsletter, including a video and a few of our favorite photos from 2015. 

At Self-Help, we’re always looking for “mission bullseye” opportunities – projects that get right to the heart of our mission, ideally in multiple ways at once.

Back in 2012 when Craft3, a fellow community development financial institution (CDFI), approached us about a partnership, we saw a bullseye.

Oregon-based Craft3’s mission is to strengthen economic, ecological and family resilience in Pacific Northwest communities. Along with partner Enhabit, they’ve been providing energy-efficiency loans since 2009. The loans help homeowners afford effective but expensive improvements like high-efficiency furnaces and water heaters.

Plenty of lenders offer energy-efficiency loans. But Craft3 added an innovative twist. The Craft3 program enables On Bill Repayment, or OBR, and lets borrowers make their loan payments through their monthly utility bill. Easy, convenient and effective.

Terri McClernon’s personal chef business, “Food Fairy,” grew from her passion to nurture and support people by providing a sustainable way for them to manage their time and their health. Terri’s business takes her on creative journeys through her clients’ kitchens to fill their refrigerators and freezers with a week or even a month’s worth of nourishing meals. To that end, she uses the freshest ingredients and often ones that are locally grown. To encourage clients to explore local foods, she offers to create meals from their own shopping sprees at the farmers’ market.

Congratulations to North Carolina’s Michael Curry, former Bishop of the NC Episcopal Diocese, who was recently installed as Bishop of the national Episcopal Church. Bishop Curry has been a great friend of Self-Help’s and a strong advocate for our mission.

Earlier this year, Bishop Curry interviewed Thad Moore and Armeer Kenchen of Self-Help. Watch the video to hear this inspiring conversation.

Our fall newsletter officially launches this blog, Self-Help Shares -- ta da! -- and offers lots of news you can use:

• Come to Revolution Mill for the best annual meeting ever.
• Consider switching to a credit card that’s on your side.
• Learn about an innovative business in Morganton.
• Get a holiday loan, skip a loan payment, or possibly both!

 To stay up to date, please visit us here often and subscribe to our newsletter now.

After surviving Hurricane Katrina, Darrell Molett had to start over. Watch this video about a Self-Help Federal Credit Union member who did the hard work of building his credit, step by step. 

When Molly Hemstreet graduated from Duke and returned to her hometown of Morganton, North Carolina, she was distressed to see high unemployment and many in need. Molly knew the big textile companies were gone, but that many skilled workers and other resources remained. Using her background in international development, community activism and education, she developed a vision for a different kind of textile business.

Today Molly is the founder and a worker-owner of Opportunity Threads, a thriving business in Morganton. Unlike the textile giants of days past, Opportunity Threads serves other small businesses to make custom apparel and sewn goods. And in a very different twist, the business is owned and operated by the men and women who work there, the majority of whom are first- or second-generation immigrants from Guatemala. 

Pre-construction view of one of the west Charlotte buildings NCBK is developing.

We’re pleased to announce our recently closed loan to North Carolina developer NCBK Delphen Property Investments. The loan provides construction and permanent financing to renovate 17 units of low-income multifamily housing in west Charlotte, NC.

When finished, the properties will provide much-needed affordable rental housing for 17 Charlotte families and will serve primarily low-income voucher tenants, including providing supportive housing for veterans. Plus, NCBK’s efforts will help strengthen the neighborhood by fixing up dilapidated and boarded-up buildings and putting them back into use.

Self-Help has extensive experience with the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP), and we were able to use NSP funds from the City of Charlotte for this project. By spring 2016 the properties will be fully renovated and ready for residents.

• Loan amount: $510,050
• Use: Renovation of dilapidated property to create low-income multifamily housing.
• Total project cost: $1.3 million 
• Project square footage: 20,119 SF 
• # of housing spaces created or maintained: 21

Interested in a multifamily housing loan with Self-Help?

Get in touch with us or learn more about our multifamily housing loans.