United Way’s Emily DeMaria and PeopleFund’s Tanya Ladha receive the 2009 Pioneer Award from the FDIC’s Alliance for Economic Inclusion (AEI) for their work on moving Bank On Central Texas forward. Bank On Central Texas is a community initiative led by United Way and PeopleFund to bring together banks, credit unions, financial services providers, government, private sector, community organizations, and nonprofits to bring more people into the financial mainstream. Click here to learn more about Bank On Central Texas.
The South Texas AEI presented five awards this year to members who through their actions and career work exemplify the group and individual goals of the AEI. The efforts of these individuals were recognized by previous Pioneer Award winners. The Pioneer Award is given to active AEI members who are committed to helping people make better financial decisions and enter the financial mainstream.
AEI is the FDIC’s national initiative to establish broad-based coalitions of financial institutions, community-based organizations and other partners in several markets across the country to bring all unbanked and underserved populations into the financial mainstream. Their focus is on expanding basic retail financial services for underserved populations, including savings accounts, affordable remittance products, small-dollar loan programs, targeted financial education programs, alternative delivery channels and other asset-building programs.