2025-08-12T18:16:15-07:00 2024-09-30 990 2023-10-01 710464321 COMMUNITIES UNLIMITED INC COMM 4794432700 3 East Colt Square Drive Fayetteville AR 72703 Ines Polonius CEO 4794432700 2025-05-31 1 2023 2025-03-06 01:10:19Z Ines Polonius 3 East Colt Square Drive Fayetteville AR 72703 15434686 0 X www.communitiesu.org X 1975 AR Communities Unlimited is committed to helping create self-reliance and resiliency in rural America. 8 8 0 0 0 0 13975194 13472759 1224122 1447307 263346 498913 22738 15707 15485400 15434686 120230 421149 0 0 8429723 9949674 0 0 35706 3762524 4355729 12312477 14726552 3172923 708134 36993001 40019464 16443500 18502424 20549501 21517040 Communities Unlimited connects rural Americans to solutions that sustain healthy businesses, healthy communities and healthy lives through programs focused on community sustainability, entrepreneurship, charitable lending, and health food and water initiatives. 0 0 5892694 0 7330443 CU's Community Infrastructure Services Program works with small population community infrastructure management systems: community drinking water systems; wastewater systems; and solid waste management systems through on-site technical assistance, training, publications, and financing. With a current staff of over 50 highly trained professional technical assistance providers, CU Community Infrastructure Services supports efforts to provide access to safe drinking water for everyone and responsible waste disposal within an ever-changing regulatory environment. Our technical assistance focuses on building local capacity of governing board members, water system operators, and other system staff so that they will develop and maintain the capability to adequately manage and operate their water/wastewater management systems. CU provides infrastructure technical assistance and training throughout a seven-state region of Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas, and Oklahoma. 1657332 13455 3026632 In 1992, CU started making loans to water and wastewater systems in rural areas to ensure that residents had clean, healthy drinking water and safe wastewater treatment systems. In 2001 CU was certified as a CDFI. Loans made to water and wastewater management systems are used for improvement projects, pre-development financing, purchase of equipment and emergency financing needs. In 2024, CU closed $5,471,905 in loans to 20 water and wastewater systems to improve their systems. These loans included $1,923,985 (35%) loaned in Persistent Poverty Counties. Loans ranged from the small loan needed to meet compliance to larger loans for pre-development work that helped these communities access larger state and federal loans. These loans impacted 1,878 household in Arkansas, Alabama, Texas, and Oklahoma in communities with poverty rates as high as 23.8%. Small business lending was added in 2010 as small businesses were struggling to recover from the 2008 recession and bank lending tightened. Again, CU works to fill the gap in financing with loans from $1,000 to $200,000 to small businesses that do not qualify for traditional financing. Small business loans can be used for working capital, which is one of the biggest gaps in small business financing. Other uses include purchase or repair of equipment and real estate purchase or improvements. CU offers a variety of small business loan products that are designed to grow as the business grows. In 2024, CU's home improvement program provided 159 loans, making a direct impact on the resident' living conditions and often increasing the values of their largest asset. The program also offers credit counseling and financial incentives to pay on time and improve individual credit scores allowing for improved access to traditional financial products. Through CU's credit counseling efforts, payment monitoring and one on one personal assistance, 81% of the renewal customers have seen an increase in their FICO score, with an average increase of 41 points 4160500 407694 4332023 Housing, Entrepreneurship, and Community Sustainability: CU follows a holistic, community-centered housing approach with a focus on local capacity building, technical assistance, resource development, and housing preservation and development. CU staff works with their communities to create a housing taskforce, complete a comprehensive housing needs assessment, assist with strategic planning, and support the communities in grant writing. CU provided prepurchase homebuyer education and housing counseling to support individuals and families as they apply for mortgages for home purchases or loans for home rehabilitation. - Entrepreneurship - During fiscal year 2024, the Entrepreneurship Team assisted 225 clients in one-on-one engagements ranging from 25 to 100 hours of management consulting. The program served 278 business in various training events such as webinars, live workshops, and our self-paced Learning Management System. CU assisted 100 clients growing their businesses through contracting. They experienced combined gross revenues of over $42 million. Through the Entrepreneurship team's wealth building initiative (launched in August 2022), CU is teaching business owners how to use their business as a tool for personal wealth creation. Over 60 clients committed to the program so far that includes 100+ hours of consulting and training. Business owners are taught how to grow business retained earnings that are then used strategically toward increasing the owner's personal net worth, establishing retirement accounts, securing capital or other wealth creation strategies. Community Sustainability - As FY 2024 closed, CU's Community Sustainability team worked alongside leadership teams in 114 communities, developing more vibrant, sustainable economies by leveraging local assets for long-term growth. CU's staff facilitates this process and assists by coordinating internal and external resources to address broadband access and education, healthy foods, infrastructure management and improvement, community facility development, small business development and access to financing. Within the CS team our Healthy Foods program provides technical assistance and access to resources that created connections to new market opportunities for farmers; completion of GAP/GHP certification by small-scale underserved farmers; development and/or expansion of local markets; connections between local medical providers and schools to local producers resulting in increased access to fresh produce; and expanded access to resources to meet transportation, aggregation and storage needs in unserved rural areas. The Broadband work impacts communities across all seven states of CU's service area with focus intentionally beginning in those communities where CS teammates have already established trusting relationships and leadership teams allowing for expedited opportunities. The team of broadband content experts uses an award-winning broadband planning methodology recognized through the award of the nation's largest USDA Broadband Technical Assistance grant in 2024. Since 2022, the team offers broadband planning, capacity building training, to ensure all homes and businesses have access to high speed Internet. 345029 0 745588 Miscellaneous programs 345029 0 745588 12055555 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 X 158 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 X 8 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 AL AR MS OK TN X X Communities Unlimited Inc 4794432700 3 East Colt Square Drive Fayetteville AR 72703 Ines Polonius CEO 40 0 X X 145242 0 22720 Kimberly Griffey CFO 40 0 X X 128496 0 22841 Elaine Crutchfield Director of Program Services 40 0 X X 121046 0 25959 Thomas Ricks Director of Environmental Services 40 0 X X 122494 0 22490 Cynthia Terry Director of Entrepreneurship 40 0 X X 110277 0 22910 Bryn Bagwell Director of Loan Fund 40 0 X X 111887 0 15933 Martha Claire Bullen Director of Community Sustainability 40 1 X X 100489 0 24947 Donna Kay Yeargan Board member 1 0 X 0 0 0 Salomon Torres Board Member 1 0 X 0 0 0 Maximillan Sprinkle Board Member 1 0 X 0 0 0 Justin Maxson Board Member 1 0 X 0 0 0 Dominique Gomez Board Member 1 0 X 0 0 0 Deborah Warren Board President 1 X 0 0 0 Billy Hix Vice Chair 1 0 X 0 0 0 Deb Markley Secretary Treasurer 1 0 X 0 0 0 839931 0 157800 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 9565210 3907549 57338 13472759 Charitable Lending - Interest and fees 522200 1088693 1088693 0 0 Charitable assistance to small businesses 541610 36307 36307 0 0 Mobile Home Rents 531110 92434 92434 0 0 Maintenance of Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program Database 541519 150000 150000 0 0 Small population community infrastructure GIS mapping 541370 79873 79873 0 0 0 0 0 0 1447307 498913 0 0 498913 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15707 15707 0 0 15707 15434686 1463014 0 498913 360203 360203 60946 60946 0 0 0 0 301020 53763 236720 10537 0 0 0 0 7639350 6727001 891138 21211 455509 377920 75745 1844 946310 804074 140122 2114 607485 521429 86056 0 0 0 0 0 19431 19431 0 0 273072 0 273072 0 59008 0 59008 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 407673 259463 148210 0 14971 9471 5500 0 879311 613378 265933 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 269956 143938 126018 0 867010 806216 60794 0 0 0 0 0 527147 339293 187854 0 128941 128531 410 0 0 0 0 0 69567 37976 31591 0 116991 80490 36501 0 Organizational Des 11783 10341 1442 0 Bad Debts 318730 318730 0 0 Loan Fees 362143 362143 0 0 29995 20818 9177 0 14726552 12055555 2635291 35706 19030391 19579989 0 0 0 0 2027651 2362776 0 0 0 0 14086236 16994481 0 0 96817 29881 1949873 1027536 991906 922337 0 0 760000 130000 0 0 0 0 0 0 36993001 40019464 487664 522852 0 0 3175027 3862310 0 -48295 -38484 0 0 1714104 1540746 11115000 12615000 16443500 18502424 X 20549501 21517040 0 0 20549501 21517040 36993001 40019464 X 708134 0 0 0 0 259405 X 0 1 X 1 1 1 X 7429214 10530532 9180615 13975194 13472759 54588314 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7429214 10530532 9180615 13975194 13472759 54588314 0 54588314 21760 10949 18260 263346 498913 813228 0 0 0 0 0 0 -24137 -37095 -23589 22738 15707 -46376 55355166 14451153 0.98615 0.99427 X Schedule A, Part II, Line 10 Miscellaneous income of $15,707 RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 90862 0 1 59008 149870 0 Schedule C, Part II-B, Line 1 General meetings with elected representatives to discuss rural issues and needs in our seven state region and advocacy fees to RCAP. 0 1 X 0 546000 546000 0 1270347 894010 376337 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 133526 133526 0 922337 15434686 0 0 0 0 0 15434686 0 0 0 15434686 14726552 0 0 0 0 0 14726552 0 0 0 14726552 Schedule D, Part IV, Line 2b Escrow funds held to pay insurance and taxes on homes financed 1 Belzoni-Humphreys County Industrial Development Foundation Inc PO Box 145 Belzoni MS 39038 640740087 501 c 6 50000 0 Planning grant Healthy Flavors Inc 300 Tinnan Ave Franklin TN 37067 824453719 30623 0 Farm to School Healthy Food Program Activities United States Healthful Food 1200 18th Street NW 7th Floor Washington DC 20036 454482654 501 c 3 206351 0 Farm to School Healthy Food Program Activites Lamar State College Port Arthur PO Box 310 Port Arthur TX 77641 760658056 501 c 3 51000 0 Matching grant for USDA RBDG Grant Trenton Special School District 2065 HWY 45 By pass Trenton TN 38382 620949407 11126 0 Farm to School Healthy Food Program purchase of refrigerator Paragould Schools 1501 W Court St Paragould AR 72450 710616000 7216 0 Farm to School Healthy Food Program purchase of Deli Case 5 1 E-Wealth Health grants for small businesses 6 23000 0 Farm to School Healthy Food purchase of freezer 1 10491 0 Scholarships for citizenships applications 18 13455 0 Delta Owned grants for small businesses 3 9000 0 Entrepreneurship Pitch It Contest Winners 3 5000 0 Schedule I, Part I, Line 2 Grant funds, were monitored through online meetings. Invoices were reviewed for accuracy and validity prior to payment X 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Ines Polonius CEO 145242 0 0 0 0 0 12263 0 10457 0 167962 0 0 0 Kimberly Griffey CFO 128496 0 0 0 0 0 10714 0 12127 0 151337 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Form 990, Part V, Line 2a Communities Unlimited, Inc. entered into a co-employment arrangement with TotalSource FL XIX, Inc. (ADP), a professional employer organization, effective 7/1/2021 through present, including the processing and reporting of employees' wages and payroll taxes. All of Communities Unlimited, Inc. employees are covered by the co-employment arrangement are reported under ADP's Federal Identification Number 65-0121767 and not under Communities Unlimited's tax ID. Form 990, Part VI, Section B, Line 11b A copy of the 990 was provided to the Board members on xx/xx/2025 and reviewed by the CFO with the Board Members in attendance at the Board Meeting. Form 990, Part VI, Section B, Line 12c Annually all employees and Board Members must review and sign the Conflict of Interest Policy. Form 990, Part VI, Section B, Line 15 The Board of Directors review the CEO salary and make recommendations for revisions For all other staff salaries, comparable data is obtained from a third party consulting agency. The consultant meets with top management to review information and make necessary adjustments. Form 990, Part VI, Section C, Line 19 Upon written request, documents are available for review at our corporate offices or we will copy and mail any requested documents. Form 990, Part XI, Line 9 Cumulative Change in Accounting Principle related to implementation of CECL CRG Realty 3 East Colt Square Drive Fayetteville AR 72703 Affordable Housing AR 0 0 Communities Unlimited Inc