The T.L.L. Temple Foundation created the ROC-ET Initiative to address economic opportunity gaps and establish certified community development financial institutions (CDFIs) in rural East Texas.
After a competitive application process, Communities Unlimited and PeopleFund were selected as the CDFIs to lead the ROC-ET Initiative. In 2022, these CDFIs opened offices in East Texas, Communities Unlimited based in Nacogdoches and PeopleFund based in Lufkin. Both CDFIs are committed to rural East Texas, bringing millions in leveraged loan capital and capacity building support for small businesses and entrepreneurs.
By providing underserved rural communities with direct access to financial services that have never previously existed in East Texas, the ROC-ET Initiative aims to boost local and regional economic ecosystems.
This dashboard will track key indicators of success for the ROC-ET Initiative. The purpose of the dashboard is to keep East Texans informed of the ROC-ET Initiative’s progress since its launch and to answer basic questions about how many loans have been made, the total dollar amount deployed, where across East Texas loans have been made, and how many local jobs have been created or retained.
OUR IMPACT
TOTAL DOLLARS DEPLOYED
RECIPIENTS
The ROC-ET Initiative is intended to serve rural East Texas communities. This dashboard tracks results across the T.L.L. Temple Foundation’s East Texas service area except for Harris County.

Bowie County
Total Loan Amount: $92,525
Total Jobs Created/Retained: 14
Jasper County
Total Loan Amount: $47,000
Total Jobs Created/Retained: 4
Jefferson County
Total Loan Amount: $35,561
Total Jobs Created/Retained: 4
Tyler County
Total Loan Amount: $25,875
Angelina County
Total Loan Amount: $139,575
Total Jobs Created/Retained: 42
Anderson County
Total Loan Amount: $25,875
Total Jobs Created/Retained: 4
Liberty County
Total Loan Amount: $25,875
Total Jobs Created/Retained: 3
Nacogdoches County
Total Loan Amount: $15,000
Total Jobs Created/Retained: 6
Date of last update: February 21, 2023