[San Francisco | June 12, 2020] Rafael O. Morales is the new senior development, policy and impact manager for Self-Help Federal Credit Union. Based in San Francisco, Morales will lead the work of the California-based teams helping to raise and manage grants, deposits and other impact investments. The Senior Manager will also participate in the strategic planning and execution of development activities that support Self-Help’s work nationally, working in close collaboration with executive leadership at Self-Help Federal Credit Union in California, North Carolina, and colleagues across the country.

Morales came to Self-Help from the Irvine Foundation, where he served as a program officer.  Previously he led the economic security portfolio at Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF), where he supported financial education and asset-building for low- and moderate-income families throughout Silicon Valley to help them increase their savings, reduce high-cost debt, and build credit. While at SVCF, he also oversaw its anti-payday lending policy advocacy portfolio, working to curb predatory payday lending and secure pro-consumer regulations.

Prior to SVCF, Rafael served as community development program fellow at The San Francisco Foundation. There he oversaw grant-making in support of affordable housing, asset building, job training and creation, and foreclosure response and neighborhood preservation.

Rafael also spent nine years at the National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions, a certified CDFI intermediary representing more than 250 community development credit unions nationwide. While at the Federation he led a statewide coalition of community-based lenders and their 10-year effort to establish the New York State CDFI Fund, signed into law in July 2007.

In 2008, he relocated to San Francisco to open Inclusiv’s West Coast regional office.  As West Coast Program Officer, Rafael served on the Bank on San Francisco Credit Union Subcommittee, the San Francisco Smart Money Network, the Coordinating Council for the California Credit Union Network for Community Development, and on the boards of the U.S. Solidarity Economy Network and the California Center for Cooperative Development.

Rafael was a founding board member of Homeownership SF, an affordable housing nonprofit, where he served on the board for nine years including four years as Chairperson.

Born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Rafael is a graduate of Middlebury College and holds a degree in international studies with concentrations in political science and Spanish.

Self-Help Federal Credit Union was chartered in 2008 to build a network of branches that serve working families and underserved communities. With 19 branches in California, 10 branches in Illinois, and 1 branch in Wisconsin, over $1.2 billion in assets, and serving more than 78,000 members, Self-Help Federal is one of the fastest-growing low-income designated credit unions in the country. It is part of the national Self-Help family of non-profit organizations whose collective mission is to create and protect ownership and economic opportunity for all. For 40 years, the Center for Community Self-Help and its affiliates have provided $9.3 billion in financing to help over 175,000 low-wealth borrowers buy homes, start and build businesses, and strengthen community resources.

For more information, go to www.self-helpfcu.org and www.self-help.org.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

For More Information, Contact: 

Jenny Shields, Director of Media Relations, Self-Help Credit Union

Direct Line: 919.794.6798 Cell: 919.695.2037 Email: Jenny.Shields@self-help.org