Kansas City credit union helps homeless mom become a homeowner—and she’s paying it forward

A small Missouri credit union with roots in an Italian immigrant parish now serves members in multiple languages while dedicating more than 90% of its lending to low-income borrowers. Its layered approach to homeownership and small-business support shows what becomes possible when credit unions stay true to their founding purpose.

When a young woman walked into Holy Rosary Credit Union eight years ago, she was living in her car with her three sons. She had no job, no home, and no credit score.

Today she owns a house. And five months ago, she sent the credit union a letter, not asking for help, but asking Holy Rosary to help others the way it had helped her. Now a caseworker at a social services agency, she wanted Holy Rosary to serve her clients: formerly incarcerated people rebuilding their lives.

“That’s what I call a full circle,” said Carole Wight, president of the Kansas City, Missouri-based credit union. “It was one of the most gratifying experiences I ever had.”

From prejudice to purpose

Holy Rosary Credit Union was born from exclusion. When Wight arrived at the credit union years ago, the board chair (who has since passed away) told her a story from his childhood. As a boy whose family had recently immigrated from Italy, he was walking to his grandmother’s tailor shop in downtown Kansas City when police pulled over, put him in the back of a squad car, held him in jail for hours, then drove him home with a warning: “Boy, don’t you ever leave your neighborhood again.”

“I hadn’t realized the prejudice that the Italian population was facing in Kansas City at that time,” Wight said. “That’s why they formed the credit union in their Catholic parish.”

Eighty years later, that same impulse to serve those shut out by mainstream finance drives everything Holy Rosary does. The credit union now has approximately 7,000 members, nearly $46 million in assets, and five branches across the Kansas City metro area, including locations partnering with social service agencies in Independence and at Hawthorne Place Apartments in eastern Jackson County.

Meeting members where they are

The neighborhoods Holy Rosary serves have changed over the generations, and the credit union has adapted. Staff members now include five who speak Vietnamese and eight who speak Spanish. The credit union has also received requests to add Swahili as other immigrant communities discover its services.

“I think it is essential that you have someone at that credit union that speaks that language,” Wight said. “We will not add another population (to membership) without somebody on site who serves that population.”

Holy Rosary holds the Juntos Avanzamos designation, signaling its commitment to welcoming Hispanic communities, and accepts identification documents such as the Matricula Consular (for Mexican nationals) to help immigrant members access services.

The numbers reflect this focus on inclusion. According to Wight, 96% of the credit union’s loans in 2024 went to low-income borrowers. The U.S. Treasury recognized Holy Rosary as ranking in the top 25 of banks and credit unions nationwide for serving low-income populations.

“We strive to serve the people that aren’t profitable if you’re just looking at the numbers,” Wight said.

Building credit, building lives

The young woman who went from homelessness to homeownership didn’t get there through a single loan. Her journey illustrates Holy Rosary’s patient, layered approach to financial mobility.

It started with Credit Check Plus, a one-on-one coaching session where staff review a member’s credit report and map out concrete steps for improvement. From there, the credit union offered her a credit builder loan. After three or four on-time payments, Holy Rosary refinanced her predatory auto loan, saving her thousands of dollars.

Next came a credit card, but with specific instructions. “We told her, don’t use this credit to get into debt,” Wight said. “Buy a tank of gas and pay it off. Because having the credit available is about 30% of your credit score.”

Within a year, her score climbed from nothing to 720. Eventually, she closed on a home loan with Holy Rosary.

Partnerships that make homeownership possible

Wight initially resisted offering mortgages. “This was a small credit union. I didn’t want to get involved in mortgages and business lending,” she said. But when she referred 26 of her best loan files, only one member received a mortgage.

“I knew if we were going to help our people get houses, which they desperately needed, we were going to have to offer a mortgage loan.”

Holy Rosary’s solution involves stacking multiple resources. Members can save through an Individual Development Account and receive a 3-to-1 match through an Inclusiv grant, turning $1,200 in savings into $4,800. Their CDFI certification is an important part of this impact. The credit union then connects them to the Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines for an additional $15,000 down payment grant, bringing nearly $20,000 to the closing table.

But even that isn’t always enough. Holy Rosary partners with Jerusalem Farms, a Kansas City nonprofit that restores homes and sells them at below-market prices, with updated utilities and energy-efficiency upgrades. Jerusalem Farms, in turn, works with the Kansas City Community Land Trust to keep properties affordable in the long term.

Small business, big impact

The credit union also supports entrepreneurs through its Dream Builder program, funded by a $3.3 million grant from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation . The initiative addresses barriers that keep capital out of reach for historically marginalized business owners, offering training, credit counseling, and mentorship alongside flexible underwriting.

One board member’s story, shared by Wight, captures the program’s impact. He arrived in Kansas City at 17 with nothing, eating from dumpsters to survive. His daughter later worked as a teller at the credit union. Holy Rosary provided his family’s first home loan (which they paid off in four years) and later a small business loan. “Now they’re developing wealth for his sons, their families, and future families,” Wight said.

Staying true to the mission

Wight, a 30-year credit union veteran who previously served as senior vice president at a larger institution, said she sees a moment for the movement to reaffirm why it exists and who it serves.  

“What we have—people helping people, working together to take care of the needs of all—is so priceless and wonderful and powerful,” she said. “We must not lose that by forgetting who we were designed to serve. It’s not the big ROA (return on assets) client. We were made to help people with daily living.”

The needs, she added, remain immense. “When we drive through our middle-class neighborhoods, we don’t realize how many people need help. The credit union is a great environment to reach out and lift people up.”