PALS in Serving Underserved
On Monday's bank holiday, CUs rallied around the idea of expanding their service to the underserved

By Lisa Hochgraf

October 13, 2004

Whoever said credit unions have lost their cooperative nature in favor of competing with each other just isn't seeing the bigger picture. According to U.S. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), there are lots of opportunities for increasing the size of the membership pie before competition need become a fast rule in the land of credit unions.

"We're looking to open the doors of the traditional marketplace," she told about 300 credit union leaders in attendance at the Partnering for Leadership Success meeting, titled "Serving the Underserved Without Losing Your Bottom Line," held in Rochester, N.Y., Monday. "There's a lot of money out there that isn't part of any financial institution."   

When NCUA Board Member Deborah Matz (center) asked that the PALS program include an address from the leader of a local group that was reaching out to underserved populations, CUES member Mike Vadala (left), a key program organizer and president/CEO of $328 million The Summit FCU, Rochester, N.Y., said he immediately thought of Jean Howard (right). Executive director of Rochester's Wilson Commencement Park, Howard told attendees how her transitional housing and work support services program helps low-income, single-parent families become economically self-sufficient and break the cycle of welfare dependency.

Jan Adams, manager, $19 million Canandaigua School District FCU, Canandaigua, N.Y., asks PALS session panelist Kirk Kordeleski, CCE, CEO of $1.8 billion Bethpage FCU, Bethpage, N.Y., about leveraging school contacts to reach less-served populations.

CUES Chairman Mickey Wilson, president of $65 million Greater Warren Community Federal Credit Union, Warren, Ohio, connects with Curt Chambers, manager of Progressive Neighborhood Credit Union, a community development credit union in Rochester during the meeting. Wilson's interest in how credit unions can help teach members about personal finance spurred the development of CUES' Financial Literacy Clearinghouse this year, as well as her attendance at the meeting.

Clinton said that those in attendance were "going beyond charitable giving" when they reached out to serve underserved populations. "You're learning how best to expand the pie, how to get more credit union customers," she said.

Program organizer Mike Vadala, president/CEO of $328 million The Summit FCU, Rochester, also debunked the idea that credit unions consistently compete with each other and no longer share.

"Your presence here today in this cooperative environment knocks that premise to the ground," said Vadala, a CUES member.  

Monday's meeting was coordinated through the PALS program, started by NCUA Board Member Deborah Matz, to give credit unions a place to share their successes on a variety of topics.

"It's particularly gratifying that this is a holiday," Matz told attendees. "You've all given up your day off. The real difference (between credit unions and banks) isn't credit unions' structure, but what you do and how you function."

The program consisted of two panels, one focused on "Meeting Critical Needs"; the other, on "Building Members' Wealth." Panelists gave short presentations on relevant initiatives at their credit unions, and audience participants asked questions.

In addition, program sponsors, including CUES, made possible the support and financial commitments that were presented during the day to Rochester's Wilson Commencement Park and to MicroBizNY. Wilson Commencement Park, a transitional housing and work support services program, helps low-income, single-parent families become economically self-sufficient and break the cycle of welfare dependency. MicroBizNY is a state association dedicated to furthering microenterprise development, which Senator Clinton helped establish in 2003.

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