Members of the World Council Young Credit Union Professionals (WYCUP) Program aim to replicate a model for youth committees established by the largest credit union system in Brazil and expand it worldwide.
Those WYCUP representatives recently participated in World Council’s Young Professional Exchange in Curitiba, Brazil. SICREDI—a credit union system that serves more than four million members at 116 affiliated credit unions throughout Brazil—hosted its 2nd Annual Youth Summit during the Exchange. The Summit brought the WYCUP representatives together with young credit union professionals and members who make up SICREDI Youth Committees.
Youth Committees are established at the individual credit union level. Most of the committees are made up of credit union members, with a few employees involved as coordinators. The initiative builds awareness of financial cooperatives among this important demographic to ensure the future viability of the organization, but also strengthens the relationship with young members by:
- stimulating a culture of volunteering.
- encouraging social responsibility.
- providing professional development opportunities.
- encouraging entrepreneurship and cooperativism as a tool for social and economic development.
The WYCUP representatives who attended the Youth Summit were so inspired by the active involvement of SICREDI members, they took on the challenge of finding a way to replicate the SICREDI model globally and network youth committees through the World Council.
“In order to maintain relevance, credit unions need to look for new ways to not only attract young talent to work for them—but also to increase awareness and attract younger members,” said Stacey Walker, who sits on the Board of Directors for XCEL Federal Credit Union.
Walker is among several WYCUP members now involved in a 90-day challenge to develop a toolkit that all credit unions can use to implement such youth committees.
“These youth committees have the potential to redefine the way young people perceive their credit unions. As we plant the seeds for credit unions to create their own youth committees—we will be working with state leagues and national associations to create the structure that networks them with their global peers,” said Thomas Belekevich, World Council program manager for member services. “With our local focus and global impact, we look to a future where credit unions inspire young people to come together, collaborate and demonstrate the credit union difference during an annual Global Youth Summit.”
Stacey Walker (seated left) at the SICREDI Youth Summit
