Community First, since 1959, has been Doing Good!
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Community First Provides Key for Grants
to Local Non-Profits
Each year, through its members, of which Community First is one, the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco will entertain providing grants to particularly innovative projects. These grants (called AHEAD for Access to Housing and Economic Assistance for Development) help create new economic opportunities by expanding proven successes or piloting new interventions.
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North Coast Opportunities’ project, Building Homes, Building Lives in Lake County, was awarded $25,000. This project will provide construction and soft job skills training as well as a living wage, safety gear, and tools to clients in the rapid rehousing program, all of whom are formerly homeless or at risk of being homeless. The construction training will also support rehabilitation of dilapidated housing and tiny home construction, specifically for previously homeless clients.
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Commonwealth Multifamily Housing Corp.’s project, Affordable Broadband for Rural Homes and Small Businesses, was also awarded $25,000. This project will help Lake County Broadband Solutions (LCBS) expand services to over 100 households and 10 businesses/community organizations as well as provide FREE public Wi-Fi to downtown Clearlake. The AHEAD grant will help fund new transmission towers and associated equipment as well as subsidies for low- and moderate-income customers.
Community First is proud to have been able to help these two local nonprofits receive AHEAD grants that will help further Lake County as a great place to live, work, and play.
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Maggie is Community First’s Virtual Assistant. She is available 24/7 to answer a wide range of banking questions. Maggie can also help complete a variety of banking transactions on your behalf, including making loan payments, transferring funds, turn your card on/off, and much more.
Now, Maggie can also speak Spanish!
This means Maggie will be able to help our Members who prefer to bank in Spanish in their language of choice. Including banking transactions. It’s all in Spanish.
Maggie is a student of life, and although there might be a few misunderstandings, she’s working on perfecting her Spanish every day.
For now, Maggie can answer most questions and help with all banking transactions en español. Try it for yourself.
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There has been an increase in attempted Caller ID Spoofing within our five-county footprint.
Caller ID Spoofing is the practice scammers use to cause the telephone network to indicate to the receiver of a call or text that the initiator is a trusted source, such as Community First. These scammers impersonate trusted-source numbers on your caller ID, send unsolicited text messages or emails to trick you into giving up personal or account information.
Scammers can also create fake websites that look like legitimate company websites. Once there, they will post illegitimate phone numbers and links. Fraudsters sometimes request Members to download apps to their devices to “fix” issues. These apps allow remote access to your device, which exposes ALL of your account information. Yikes.
Here are a few ways to protect yourself from falling victim to these scams:
Beware of ALL unsolicited calls and text messages
- Community First Credit Union will never call, text, or email to ask you for your login information, security access code, or PIN. If you receive any of those requests, do not provide it. Instead, hang up and call us directly at 707/546-6000.
Don’t fall for “free” money or gifts
- Scammers sometimes pose as different types of businesses –– AT&T, Amazon, Comcast, Walmart, and even your financial institution –– to offer you free gifts or money for paying your bill on time or for being a good Member. Never give out your personal or login information!
Don’t click on unknown links
- NEVER click on links, open attachments, or respond to unexpected text messages or emails from an unknown or unsure sender.
We’re sorry we must write articles like this. Human nature sometimes has a dark side to it. But, by practicing some commonsense skepticism, it is easy to stay safe. Or, as they used to say on “Hill Street Blues,” an ‘80s police show, after roll call, “Let’s be careful out there.”
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Click to Switch with ClickSWITCH
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Community First has partnered with ClickSWITCH to make it easy for you to switch your current automated payments and direct deposits from other financial institutions to your CFCU account.
ClickSWITCH takes the “hassle” out of switching banks and having to re-setup your automatic payments and deposits. Now you can find them all in one place and easily switch them over. ClickSWITCH can help keep your important financial transactions in one place.
Examples of transferrable electronic transactions include:
- Payroll/Direct Deposit
- Social Security/Pension
- Automated Payments (gym fees, mortgage payments, PG&E, etc.)
Interested in making your life easier? Then switch your automatic payments and/or deposits to your Community First account. It's easy, just visit your favorite LOCAL branch or call us at 707/546-6000 and we’ll get the processes started.
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Best Places Results Revealed
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Last month we found out that CFCU was named one of the “Best Places to Work” in the counties of Marin, Napa, and Sonoma. On September 15 we found out exactly how best.
In the 27 of 28 questions that comprised an anonymous survey, CFCU scored higher than the aggregate for the other companies. And these “other” companies weren’t just random companies, we scored higher than the other “Best Places” companies! Call us best of the best!
Pictured below: Chief Marketing + People Officer David Williams, Chief Executive Officer Scott Johnson, Sebastopol Branch Manager Michelle Phillips, and VP of People Sara Griggs.
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707-546-6000
PO Box 6004,
Santa Rosa, CA 95406
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