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Federation Hosting Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference: Credit Unions and Community Development: Lessons and Impact
April 27, 2011 | Charlottesville, Virginia
The Federation is pleased to announce the second in our new series of regional conferences, our Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference: Credit Unions and Community Finance: Lessons and Impact.
This special event, being organized in partnership with the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business and the Virginia Credit Union League, will highlight Professor Gregory Fairchild, Executive Director of the Tayloe Murphy Center and Associate Professor of Business Administration at the Darden School of Business, who will unveil seminal research analyzing the impact of community development financial institutions (CDFIs), including CDFI-certified credit unions.
If your credit union is Low-Income Designated or CDFI certified, has expanded into underserved areas, or simply wants to serve low- and moderate-income (LMI) members within your field of membership more effectively, you will benefit from the specialized curriculum we've developed. Participants will learn about resources available from the federal government and regional programs, designing successful strategies to meet the needs of LMI communities, learn from field experts and listen to from well known community based organizations serving these markets.
This event is designed to help credit unions gain a better understanding of:
- CDFI certification and Low-Income Designation;
- Resources to strengthen your capacity to serve the underserved;
- Innovative programs to meet the needs of LMI consumers;
- Partnerships to expand your service to the underserved;
- Tools to develop effective outreach strategies in LMI markets;
- And much more!
Confirmed Speakers include:
- Randy Chambers, CFO, Self-Help CU (Durham, NC) and Federation Board Chairman
- Gregory Fairchild, Executive Director, Tayloe Murphy Center and Associate Professor of Business Administration, University of Virginia, Darden School of Business;
- Daniel Merenda, Vice President of Planning & Consultation, Council of Community Services;
- Paul Phillips, President & CEO, Freedom First CU (Roanoke, VA)
- K.C. Soares, Ph. D., International Management Consultant and Executive Director, Smith Soares Associates;
- Pablo DeFilippi, Federation Director of Membership; and
- Terry Ratigan, Federation Senior Development Consultant
Register Today!
For more information about this conference, including registration rates and lodging information, please click here.
Federation Now Accepting Applications for New "Borrow & Save" Pilot
The Federation is conducting a two-year pilot program through which five CDCUs, three nationwide and two in New York City, will offer a “Borrow & Save” loan to members. Our goal is to assess the impact of this type of product, to see whether it helps low-income people reduce their dependence on borrowing by providing an alternative to predatory financial products and by building a small emergency savings fund.
The Federation will support participating credit unions in three ways:
- We will provide a one-time grant of up to $5,000 to support the credit union’s time and effort in publicizing the program, tracking the loans and savings, and following up with clients.
- If required by a participating credit union, we will make a special risk-sharing deposit of $10,000-$25,000 at a rate of 2.5%. This deposit will absorb up to 25% of any losses resulting from small dollar loans made, assuming all record-keeping and reporting is carried out according to agreement.
- The Federation will help the credit unions to conduct market surveys, using focus groups and borrower interviews to improve the design, marketing and impact of the product.
For more information, and to download a Request for Proposals, click here.
Federation Conference: Maximize Your Resources for Serving Communities
(March 28, 2011 – New Orleans, LA) On March 21, the Federation launched its new series of regional conferences: Credit Unions and Community Development: Lessons and Impact, the first of which was held in New Orleans, Louisiana, organized in collaboration with the Louisiana Credit Union League and Jefferson Financial Credit Union (Metarie, LA).
The one-day event held at Jefferson Financial Credit Union, was designed to help credit unions:
- Gain a better understanding of the benefits of CDFI certification and Low-Income Designation;
- Learn about innovative programs and products to meet the needs of LMI consumers;
- Identify resources to implement high-impact programs;
- Develop community partnerships to leverage and expand credit union service to the underserved; and
- Understand the tools available to develop effective outreach strategies in LMI markets
The conference also included a special track on foreclosure prevention strategies that provided credit unions with information and resources to assist members in need.
To read the full press release, please click here.
Bay Area CDCU Tax Prep Sites Lauded by SF Media
Northeast Community & Cooperative Center Help Low-income People This Tax Season
(March 14, 2011 – San Francisco, CA) With tax day fast approaching, preparers nationwide are working overtime to file their customers’ taxes. However, for millions of low-income Americans who can’t afford professional tax preparers, or for recent immigrants who may be filing taxes for the very first time, the process can be a daunting and stressful one. Fortunately for many, assistance is available thanks to thousands of volunteers across the nation helping low-income people file their taxes for free through Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) sites.
Credit unions are not new to VITA, but for community development credit unions (CDCUs) dedicated to serving some of the most underserved communities across America, tax season is often one of the busiest, with many CDCUs operating VITA sites throughout their communities. Their efforts have not gone unnoticed, and in the past week, two San Francisco Bay Area CDCUs, Northeast Community Federal Credit Union (San Francisco, CA) and Cooperative Center Federal Credit Union (Berkeley, CA) were the focus of recent media pieces lauding their work with VITA, with Northeast Community Federal Credit Union featured on ABC7 Television’s “Money on Your Side” segment, and Cooperative Center Federal Credit Union featured in an article in the San Francisco Chronicle’s SF Gate.
To read the full press release, please click here.
Brooklyn CDCU Receives $300k to Pilot "Impulse Saving" Program
(March 9, 2011 – Brooklyn, NY) Brooklyn Cooperative Federal Credit Union, a low-income designated community development credit union (CDCU) in Brooklyn, NY, is a member in a partnership that recently received a $300,000 grant from the Center for Financial Services Innovation (CFSI) to pilot Piggymojo to new and existing account holders, in an attempt to boost participants’ savings balances.
Research has shown that while impulse buying provides momentary satisfaction, it often hinders savings efforts and contributes to personal debt, so the goal of this project is to help the credit union’s low-income members increase their savings by motivating and enabling them to make “impulse saves” that retain the satisfaction element of impulse buying without the financial costs. By integrating the Piggymojo solution with Brooklyn Cooperative’s core processing platform, members’ impulse saves result in money actually moving from their checking account into a savings account.
CFSI selected just five cutting-edge projects to receive $1.5 million total in grant support from among 246 applications totaling more than $67 million in requests. Organizations from more than 44 states responded to the request for proposals released in September 2010.
To read the full press release, please click here.
NY Times: “Talk to a Credit Union”
CDCU Federation’s Rosenthal Discusses Credit Building Options
(February 22, 2011 – New York, NY) For millions of Americans struggling to regain their financial footing following the loss of a job, a home foreclosure, mounting debt, or bankruptcy, rebuilding credit is essential to accessing mainstream financial services and getting back on track. However, repairing credit is not an easy process, it takes time and diligence, but according to a recent article from the February 19 New York Times’ “Your Money” section, there are several ways for consumers to speed up the process, including reaching out to local credit unions who “may be more likely to consider alternative credit scores, offer free credit counseling or have products tailored for people with poor credit histories.”
In the article, Federation President/CEO Cliff Rosenthal, recommended that consumers “talk to a credit union,” citing credit unions’ specialized financial products aimed at helping people in need, products that include credit rebuilder loans.
“Credit unions should be the natural first stop for any consumer seeking to repair their credit,” explains Rosenthal. “The Federation’s member community development credit unions (CDCUs) specialize in serving low- and moderate-income consumers, and many have pioneered financial products and services that help members struggling with their credit. The [New York Times] article mentioned credit builder loans, but there are a host of other programs and products, such as financial literacy, credit counseling, alternative credit reporting and much more, that are offered by credit unions nationwide to help struggling Americans.”
To read the full press release, please click here.
