The success of HarborOne Credit Union’s Multicultural Banking Center in Brockton sounds like an unsullied feel-good story – right up there with the scene in Sister Act when jump-roping nuns help clean up the streets, or when Bill Murray learns to love at the end of Groundhog Day.

The center opened in 2007, offering financial counseling and starter bank products in an attempt to bring in low-income immigrant and other “unbanked” populations that often get their financial services from less-reputable lenders and check-cashing services. It also offers classes in home buying, as well as hugely popular English courses.

The credit union says the venture has been great for the bottom line, has helped the community and has made the credit union look like a hero to its members. So it begs the question: Why aren’t more financial institutions doing something similar?

Well, a few are – Crescent Credit Union, Brockton neighbors with HarborOne, opened a similar center in February. The United Way of Massachusetts Bay opened a financial literacy center in Lynn, after checking out HarborOne’s facility. A group of New Jersey credit union representatives are coming to take a look this month.

Good Idea, Tough Execution

But so far, no local institution has matched the scope of HarborOne’s effort.

Mark Lynch, an agent for trade association National Credit Union Foundation, uses HarborOne as an example of how to serve “underserved” populations. Most credit unions like the idea, he said, but don’t actually do it.

“I’ve had a lot of credit unions say, ‘that’s really interesting’ but haven’t had any that have said, ‘ok, let’s start working on it,’” Lynch said. While many point to the cost of such projects as prohibitive, more often than not it’s the effort involved that keeps institutions on the sidelines, he added.

It takes a big commitment to find the space for counseling and classes, as well as find teachers and students with which to fill it, he said. Many banks and credit unions offer financial literacy counseling and immigrant outreach programs, but not to the extent HarborOne has been able to.

“I haven’t seen any other credit union that’s put it together in such a comprehensive way,” Lynch told Banker & Tradesman.

HarborOne officials talk up the program often. CEO James Blake, addressing a crowd at a recent MassHousing event, said the center’s classes have become a major source of pride and confidence for the students who take them. Blake said the credit union puts on often emotional graduation ceremonies at the conclusion of its eight-week classes.

“It is common for people to come up crying when they reach the podium,” he said.

That enthusiasm has spread to the credit union’s staff, some of whom are now taking foreign language classes at night, on their own dime, to be able to teach at the center, according to Blake.

But officials add the center it doesn’t just tug at the heartstrings; it’s been good for business.

The center required roughly $200,000 to set up, said Leo MacNeil, senior vice president, and circumstances aided HarborOne in its efforts. In 2005, the credit union moved into its new headquarters. Two years later, its former offices were still sitting empty and unsold in downtown Brockton, an area that “has marketability issues,” MacNeil said.

The credit union eventually converted its former space into the center, with classrooms and cubicles for financial counseling. It now has four full-time staff members.

But those upfront capital outlays have come back in the form of new accounts; the credit union branch at the center has originated more than $10 million in new mortgages, and a few million more in deposits, he said. The boost to the credit union’s reputation has also been invaluable and yielded countless new business.

Figures from the National Credit Union Administration show HarborOne’s membership has made steady gains: Membership growth was 11 percent for the fourth quarter of last year, compared to a national peer average of 5 percent.

Often Imitated

Crescent Credit Union opened its Community Learning Center after some office space opened up, said James Ouellette, vice president at Crescent. The institution spent about $30,000 to fix up the space, and had its grand opening at a Brockton Chamber of Commerce event last month.

Ouellette said the credit union didn’t get the idea from HarborOne. It had long planned a community center, but didn’t have the space for it until recently.

Robert Cashman, CEO of Metro Federal Credit Union in Chelsea said although he couldn’t discuss long-term plans, he liked the idea of a community center. While Metro has been engaged in various educational outreach efforts and sponsorships, he said it makes sense to consolidate those operations, and have a more central focus for the credit union and the community organizations with which it collaborates.

Many banks have been doing immigrant outreach of their own, said David Floreen, senior vice president at the Massachusetts Bankers Association, although didn’t know of any constructing a center like HarborOne’s.

Steve Costello, president and CEO of the Bank of Canton, presented his ideas at the same MassHousing seminar attended by HarborOne’s Blake. Costello spoke of hiring multi-lingual employees and marketing specifically to immigrant and minority groups, efforts which have brought new business to his bank.

Floreen said other banks have adopted some of Costello’s methods, like making sure the languages of their communities are spoken in branches. The MBA itself has had educational seminars on reaching the unbanked, as well.

HarborOne has done a commendable job, Floreen said, but “there are many ways of reaching the same goal.”