Tell me a story: Drafting community narratives

When I was a little kid, one of my favorite weekly events was story time at my local library. I would pester my mother all morning long as I impatiently waited for the time we could all jump in the car and head to the library. Upon arriving at the library, I would pace around the children’s section until the librarian opened the doors to the story room. I was always eager to hear about the next mystery Nancy Drew or the Hardy Boys would inevitably solve and the hilarious antics Beezus and Ramona would engage in. My fondness for stories has stayed with me as I continue to be an avid reader.

 
Turns out, NCUA likes stories too. In the most recent volume of the field of membership (FOM) series, NCUA amended its community chartering rules to provide additional guidance on using the narrative approach. As you may recall, the narrative approach allows federal credit unions to provide evidence of interaction within a particular area to demonstrate that area is a well-defined local community and can be added to a community charter. The narrative approach was available for federal credit unions prior to the 2010 final FOM rule when it was abandoned for a more objective approach. The narrative approach was reintroduced to NCUA’s Chartering and Field of Membership Manual (FOM Manual) in the 2016 final FOM rule.

 

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