Resources and Guidelines for Media

MEDIA KIT & PROMOTIONAL GUIDELINES

"Hello!  I’m Ines Polonius, CEO at Communities Unlimited. We hope this media kit provides you with what you need to get a full picture of Communities Unlimited and the work we do."

— Ines Polonius, CEO

2023 Impact

1,061,128

people served

$171,904,879

leveraged

$7,163,141

lent

Impact Map and Metrics
2023 Annual Report
Communities Unlimited Service Area

Communities Unlimited serves in seven states: Arkansas, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas

Communities Unlimited consists of 4 primary program areas:

  • Community Sustainability partners with communities to create vibrant, sustainable economies
  • Entrepreneurship works alongside small business owners to grow their businesses
  • Environmental Services works with rural communities’ water and wastewater treatment facilities
  • Healthy Foods works with small-scale farmers and promotes healthy eating
  • Additional supplemental program areas include Housing, Broadband, and GIS mapping

These program areas create economic opportunities and solutions for communities in our seven-state service area to grow and thrive.

More information on Communities Unlimited on our About Us page
Read the stories of our projects in action on the Stories page

Leadership Bios and High-Res Photos

Here are some of our leadership biographies and photos for your use.  You’ll see a link at the bottom of the bio to the photos.  Should you need a biography of another staff member, please use the Staff page. If you’d like to request a high-res photo of a staff member not listed, please email comms@communitiesu.org

Ines Polonius
Chief Executive Officer

Ines Polonius
Cynthia Terry
Director of Entrepreneurship

Cynthia Terry
Karen Conrad
Community Infrastructure Director

Karen Conrad
Michael Rivera
Director of Lending

Michael Rivera
Russ Garner
Director of Community Sustainability

Russ Garner
Area Director for Broadband

Catherine Krantz
Area Director of Rural Housing

Audra Butler
Ines Polonius

Chief Executive Officer

Ines Polonius

Ines Polonius, Chief Executive Officer of Communities Unlimited, joined the organization in 2014 and works out of the Fayetteville, Arkansas, office.

She has been active in national and international economic development for over 30 years. She has dedicated her career to accelerating community economic development in persistently poor, rural places in the South. She leads Communities Unlimited, a CDFI dedicated to moving rural and under-resourced communities in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and Alabama toward prosperity.

She received a Master of Business Administration degree and a Master of Economics degree from Boston University in Boston, Massachusetts, and a certificate in Public and Not-for-Profit Management. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. 

Phone:(479) 443-2700

Cynthia Terry

Director of Entrepreneurship

Cynthia Terry

Cynthia Terry, Director of Entrepreneurship, joined Communities Unlimited (CU) as a Management Consultant in 2004 and became the E-Team’s Director in 2016. She oversees fundraising, partner relationships, and daily operations, leading a team across CU’s seven-state service area.

The Entrepreneurship Program supports businesses at every stage, offering tailored one-on-one consulting, webinars, workshops, and an on-demand learning platform with 30+ courses. Its core focus is problem-solving growth challenges, developing strategic plans, and implementing solutions alongside business owners.

Cynthia has led key initiatives, including MEMShop, a retail popup model with the City of Memphis, and CU’s Wealth Builder program, helping entrepreneurs set realistic wealth-building goals. A lifelong small business advocate, she has also supported her husband’s business for 20 years. Cynthia holds an MBA and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Memphis and has been a licensed Tennessee attorney since 2003.

Phone:(479) 236-4631

Karen Conrad

Community Infrastructure Director

Karen Conrad

Karen Conrad is the Community Infrastructure Director. Prior to becoming the Community Infrastructure Director, Karen was the Central Regional Area Director in Miami, Oklahoma, and began at Communities Unlimited (CU) in 2007 as an Operations Management Specialist. She was promoted to Oklahoma Coordinator in 2017. She has worked with water and wastewater systems for more than 37 years. She has been a Certified Water and Wastewater Operator in Oklahoma and Missouri since 1980.

Karen received a Master of Business Administration degree from Pittsburg State University in 1999 and a bachelor’s degree from Missouri Southern State University in 1993. She also attended the Water and Wastewater Technical School in Neosho, Missouri, and graduated with high honors in 1980.  

Phone:(918) 919-1653

Michael Rivera

Director of Lending

Michael Rivera

Michael Rivera started Communities Unlimited (CU) as a Director of Nuestra Casa in April 2022. In January 2024, he was promoted to the Director of Lending. Michael provides leadership to a team of 7 employees. He handles the management of the loan process as well as Communities Unlimited’s Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) program. The CDFI Program includes small business, consumer, and commercial portfolios with assets of $17 million.

Michael has a 15-year background in banking and finance. During his time as Director of Nuestra Casa, he led the Nuestra Casa program that offered small-dollar loans to people in the Colonias for home improvement projects.

He has an Associates of Arts Degree in Business Management and Marketing from Athens Technical College.

Phone:(870) 403-3285

Russ Garner

Director of Community Sustainability

Russ Garner

Russ Garner started Communities Unlimited (CU) in January 2023 as a Community Facilitator on the Community Sustainability Team, promoted to Area Director for Field Operations and is now Director of Community Sustainability. He facilitates community members on projects and funding opportunities to help the communities. He coordinates with strategic partners to implement training and technical assistance to accomplish goals and outcomes for communities and partners with communities and businesses to find funding opportunities, tools, and resources to achieve needs in the community.

Russ has an M.P.P.A. from Mississippi State University and a research and rural development background. Russ received Professional Economic Developer certification from the Community Development Institute in October 2023. 

Phone:(479) 445-2950

Area Director for Broadband

Catherine Krantz

Catherine Krantz started working at Communities Unlimited (CU) in November 2022. She is the Area Director for Broadband. Catherine manages the implementation of broadband strategy by developing and submitting grant proposals to ensure accessibility to infrastructure and funding for disadvantaged families in rural communities throughout CU’s footprint. Before coming to CU, Catherine worked as a Broadband Solutions Manager for Connected Nation. Catherine has a B.A. in Liberal Arts from the University of Texas at Austin and a M.P.A Master of Public Administration from the University of Texas at Arlington.  

Phone:(479) 422-4768

Area Director of Rural Housing

Audra Butler

Audra Butler started Communities Unlimited (CU) in 2022 as the Rural Housing Area Director. Audra has more than a decade in subsidized and affordable housing leadership and homeless advocacy. Over the last 10 years, Audra has worked with nonprofits and organizations focused on creating pathways out of poverty. As the Rural Housing Area Director for Communities Unlimited, Audra develops a rural housing strategy and offers a modular housing manufacturing program. Audra works in communities to help community members better understand housing and what their community needs.

Audra formerly served as the Interim Director and Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives at the Fayetteville Housing Authority. While there, Audra led the organization through leadership transitions and organizational restructuring, stabilizing operations and allowing the team of housing professionals to continue providing services to thousands of Arkansans in Northwest Arkansas. Audra also served as the Chief Operations Officer for Community Programs at ARVAC, a community action agency in central Arkansas, directing operations in 9 counties and expanding the organizations homeless services and transitional living program.

Audra lives in Fayetteville, Arkansas and works out of Communities Unlimited’s Fayetteville office.

 

 

 

 

 

Phone:(479) 684-7727

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Logos

Be sure to use the updated version of our logo on all documents, signage and other materials. Please do not add content to the logo or alter its proportions (i.e., make it look “squished” or stretched out).  There are multiple versions of the logo available in the most common formats.  If you need a different format or have a logo question, please reach out to us at comms@communitiesu.org

News Releases

Please use the following description of Communities Unlimited in press releases and other write-ups about topics pertaining to our work.

Communities Unlimited, Inc. is a 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation founded in 1976 serving seven states in the southern United States that connects people to solutions through human connections. Through ingenuity combined with cutting-edge technology and expertise, we assist by unwinding generations of inequity and disinvestment to build healthy businesses, healthy communities, healthy food systems, healthy bank accounts and healthy lives.

If you’d like more information on Communities Unlimited please contact:

Chris Baker
Area Director – Strategic Communications
chris.baker@communitiesu.org
(479) 313-2622

Let's get social!

We appreciate your sharing of Communities Unlimited on social media.  When applicable, please tag us so we can see and share your content with our audience as well.

@communitiesunlimited

@communities-unlimited

@communitiesu

@communitiesu

Our History

1975
CRG opens it’s doors
CRG opens it’s doors

Community Resource Group (CRG) opens it’s doors to provide technical assistance to help small, rural communities solve water and wastewater problems and making life better for low-income, hardworking families.

1981
CRG affiliates with RCAP

CRG becomes a regional affiliate for Rural Community Assistance Partnership (RCAP) helping communities that want to build, maintain or expand their water and wastewater infrastructure

1992
Loans begin

CRG begins making loans to help communities ensure the delivery of safe drinking water and provide safe, affordable housing for low-income families.

1995
Wealth Creation Project

After two decades of working hands-on in the Texas Rio Grande Valley, CRG joins the Wealth Creation Project, a pro-active initiative to improve the livelihoods of the regions over 420,000 residents living below the poverty line.

1998
alt.Consulting opens its office
Alt.consulting logo

alt.consulting opens its first office in the Delta and helped more than 4,000 small businesses grow, offer jobs and create new wealth in their communities

2001
CDFI starts

CRG is certified as a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI).

2011
alt.Consulting CDFI & new programs

alt.Consulting is certified as a CDFI and begins making loans to small businesses and launches Communities of Innovation to help communities identify new, innovative ways to use their rich agricultural resources and heritage for economic growth.

2014
A merger
Communities Unlimited board pictured in 2014

Community Resources Group and alt.Consulting merged to form Communities Unlimited.  Communities Unlimited is the new, innovative nonprofit designed to assist communities across the South grow and prosper by providing expertise and lending programs for small businesses, entrepreneurs, families, communities, and water/wastewater systems.

2021
Partnership In The Panhandle

Communities Unlimited held the grand opening of our office in Amarillo, TX, to serve the Texas Panhandle, an endeavor made possible by new partnerships with the Amarillo Area Foundation, area banks and local philanthropists. The office offers small business consulting, community sustainability and environmental services—a first in Communities Unlimited history.

2022
Entrepreneurship Expands

Funded by the U.S. Department of Commerce, the Arkansas MBDA Business Center is operated by Communities Unlimited.  Communities Unlimited’s Entrepreneurship Division provides expert trainings and technical assistance that align with the MBDA’s strategic goals to support the growth of Minority Business Enterprises (MBEs). The Center’s primary focus is serving mature MBEs with more significant revenues, operating budgets, and experienced staff to provide growth opportunities through contracting, partnerships, joint ventures, and subcontracting.

2022
East Texas Expansion

The T.L.L. Temple Foundation was looking for ways to serve small businesses in the 21 counties in East Texas. When the foundation realized there was a lack of CDFIs in the area. So, they created the Rural Opportunity Catalyst for East Texas (ROC-ET) Initiative. The foundation chose two CDFIs, one of which is Communities Unlimited. Since the opening of the office in October of 2022 with Lending staff, we’ve added Entrepreneurship staff and Community Sustainability.