Full of faith in faith-based credit unions and collaboration

Credit union director also leads Faith Based Credit Union Alliance and serves on a key Inclusiv committee.

The Faith Based Credit Union Alliance that I co-chair has 23 credit union members, mainly in the Chicago area, but now also in Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, New York and Texas. Besides having a collaborative contract for a common core, online loanliner forms and credit checks, the alliance has assisted several of our credit unions in getting community development financial institution certification and obtaining grants.

It has been a blessing to help our FBCUA credit unions survive and thrive. In addition to collaborating on the vendor contract negotiations described above, we provide regulatory training for all our CUs, including sessions on the CAMELS rating system from the National Credit Union Administration.

Our 10-year virtual anniversary where many of the greats in the credit union movement were in attendance really stands out as a high point in my work. Those greats included Cliff Rosenthal, who was instrumental in starting the CDFI FundTom Kane, president of the Illinois Credit Union League, Tom Sakash, CUDE, manager of CUNA’s Small Credit Union Initiative; The Honorable Rodney E. Hood, who at the time was chair of the NCUA board; and much of the staff from Inclusiv, including Pam Owens, CUDEMonica CopelandJules Hebert, among others.

 

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