|
|
There were peanuts! There were cracker jacks! There were home runs! All this as over 75 credit union employees partook in America's favorite past time- baseball! CUaware's latest event had employees "Storming the Stadium" at the Durham Bulls and the Winston Salem Dash. Both games took place on Thursday, July 25th and employees had a unique setting to gather, have fun and continue to learn.share.grow! 2 cities, 2 teams, 1 heck of a time! CUaware's mission is to create unique opportunities to bringing credit union professionals together to:
The 2013 Principles & Philosophy Conference will be held October 22-24 at the Graylyn International Conference Center in Winston-Salem. CUaware is awarding one full tuition scholarship to a future credit union leader 35 years of age or younger from any credit union in NC. To view and download the scholarship application form, please click on the link below. If you have any questions, please contact Lauren Whaley at 919-457-9066. 
 CUaware held the June Lunch & Learn at State Employees’ Credit Union Operations Center where over 35 attendees learned about a collaborative CUDE project. The project is a financial reality simulation called “The Reality of Money”.
Kelli Cheatham, Member Education Specialist at SECU, outlined the program for the attendees. The program’s intent is to educate students on the basics of setting a budget and the consequences of purchase decisions. As usual, we have a CUaware quiz question to earn one of our cool t-shirts. The question this time was based on the presentation and Ashley Springs from Summit Credit Union was first to correctly answer the question. Congrats to Ashley, and we hope to see you sporting your new shirt at the next event! “The Reality of Money” is built on the philosophy of People Helping People, and this program will be available to credit unions. For details and more information, please contact Jeff Hardin at the North Carolina Credit Union League. Top Ten Things I Learned at the 2013 Future Leaders Forum
By Carla Kimel @carlasimoto “Impact today. Influence tomorrow,” was the slogan for this year’s NC Credit Union League (NCCUL) Annual Meeting in Pinehurst. I found this slogan to be appropriate, especially since I was fortunate enough to be part of the Future Leaders Forum where I learned from credit union executives and expert advisors who have already made an impact on the credit union industry. Now that I’m back from this enlightening experience I’d like to share the top ten things I learned, and who I learned it from, with the CUaware community. 10. I learned how tailoring loan and credit building programs to fit my member’s unique needs can impact the entire community in a positive way. During the lunch panel on credit union social responsibility, I learned how Latino Community CU helped their members with the Dreamer Loan, a loan that financed the cost of the $465 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) application. I also learned how State Employees CU provided a 15-year no interest loan to the Hoke County School System that allowed Hoke County to build affordable housing for their teachers. Without this zero interest loan, Hoke County’s Schools would continue to lose teachers who were forced to move due to the lack of affordable housing. SOURCE: Erika Bell, Vice President, Strategy and Services at Latino Community Credit Union and Mark Twisdale, Executive Director of State Employees CU Foundation. 9. There’s always time to learn something new. Those of us who spend 15 minutes or more commuting to work everyday will spend more time inside of a car than a college student will spend in class over the time span of four years. So, turn that commute into a “traveling university” (or commutiversity –see what I did there?), download your audio lesson and let your car stereo be your teacher. Maybe you won’t have enough time to become fluent in Chinese, but the point is that if you manage your time wisely you will find time to learn something new. SOURCE: Taylor Wells, Communications Director for On the Mark Strategies. 8. Kindness is an important trait of a successful credit union professional! Decide on your career path, treat people kindly, and be helpful while you work towards your goal. You never know who you’ll need to call on for help as you climb the ladder of success. SOURCE: Genice DeCorte, CEO at Greensboro Health Care Credit Union. 7. It is not as important to love your career as it is to do your job exceptionally well. When people excel at something, they love doing it. Source: Michael Spink, Innovation Strategist at Local Government FCU. 6. Social Responsibility is all about relationships. Teaching financial literacy, providing mortgage assistance and offering loans that help improve credit are programs that build trust among members. Identify the needs of your members and potential members by getting involved in your community, and if you can meet those needs at your credit union you’re creating a stronger bond between the community and your credit union. SOURCE: Leigh Brady, EVP-Organizational Development at State Employees CU. 5. Story telling is powerful. As credit union employees we should constantly educate members and other credit union employees about the benefits of belonging to and working for a credit union. That’s why creating opportunities to tell our credit union’s story to the communities we serve through volunteer, social and educational events are an integral part of marketing. SOURCE: Patrick Livingston, Director - Strategic Projects at Coastal FCU and Brandon McAdams, Business Transformation Director at Coastal FCU. Both are co-founders of CUaware. 4. Moving from a service culture to a sales culture doesn’t mean you lose service. Credit unions only have nine to twelve percent of the loan market. Educating your members about the benefits of borrowing from a credit union vs. a bank is providing top-notch service. SOURCE: Rick Menton CCUE, CLE, President of Menton Consulting, Inc., Tulsa, OK. 3. Credit unions need to think exponentially about technology. Credit unions tend to take the linear approach to planning while technology grows in an exponential fashion. A plan that grows in a straight line will never catch up to the exponential growth curve of technology or be ready to meet consumer demand. SOURCE: Brent Dixon, founder of the Habdash, founder of the Cooperative Trust and advisor to the Filene Research Institute. 2. Financial education is the key to creating a loyal member. Teach your members how to become successful homeowners, borrowers and money managers. They will remember that you are different than the other financial institutions because you gave them a chance. SOURCE: Tim Vogler, President and CEO of United Labor Credit Union, Kansas City, MO 1. Credit unions are fighting for economic freedom. If that isn’t something worth getting up for in the morning, then why are we here? Credit unions are fighting for economic freedom by providing affordable lending options, offering high value and low cost financial services, and lobbying to end abusive consumer practices like pay day lending and sub-prime lending. Without credit unions, where would the average person go for a loan? Personally, this wasn’t a new lesson to me, but a good reminder of the reason and motivation behind working for a credit union. SOURCE: Martin Eakes, the co-founder and CEO of Self-Help CU, the Center for Community Self-Help, and the Center for Responsible Lending. This top ten list is just a sample of the experience I had at the Future Leaders Forum and if any future leaders are reading, please feel free to chime in with comments to describe what influenced you the most. Those of you who missed the opportunity this year, I encourage you to attend next year or check out events like Crash the GAC, Principles & Philosophy Conference, and any of the events brought to you by CUaware. The Triad Chapter of CUaware took an opportunity to give back to the community and volunteered at a special Mother's Day event to feed the homeless and assist women, mothers and children in crisis by giving out food, clothes, furniture, diapers  The April CUaware Triad social took place on Thursday, April 18th at Foothills Brewing in downtown Winston Salem. 16 credit union employees representing the area's credit unions gathered to take a tour of the brewing operations at the hometown pub! Afterwards, attendees viewed the live streaming of Chuck Purvis, CEO of Coastal FCU, as he presented to the Triangle CUaware in Raleigh! Our Raleigh Speaker Series event was hosted at Coastal Federal Credit Union's Creedmoor branch location. Over 45 guests listened to our keynote speaker, Chuck Purvis. Coastal FCU's CEO, Chuck shared his personal story, insights on leadership, and the future of the credit union industry.
The event was recorded and hope that you enjoy the talk as much as we did!  The Triad chapter of CUaware distributed 62
backpacks filled with personal care items, first aid supplies and canned food to homeless men and women on the corner of North Point Blvd. and North Patterson Ave. in Winston-Salem. The event was part of CUaware’s community service project called Project Backpack. During the month of March, Members CU, Winston-Salem Federal CU, Piedmont Advantage CU, Summit CU, and State Employees CU collected backpacks and essential supplies for the homeless. Supplies were packed in the backpacks during CUaware’s monthly social in March, and 12 volunteers from CUaware handed out the backpacks while serving a meal to the homeless and hungry on April 7th. The meal was provided thanks to donations collected at Winston Salem Federal CU and by Pastor Sylvia Dawkins of God’s Mt. Calvary PHD Church. Dawkins coordinates the serving of freshly made food from local restaurants to the homeless on the first Sunday of every month in Winston-Salem. CUaware volunteers will continue to help serve the homeless on the corner of North Patterson Ave. and North Point Blvd. in Winston-Salem during the first Sunday of every month between 1 PM. and 3 PM. A special event will take place on May 11th to help women and children who are homeless. If you would like to donate gently used women’s clothes, children’s clothes, diapers, and canned food that will be distributed on May 11th please contact Carla Kimel at carlak@memcu.com. If you are young CU professional with a video camera or iPhone, a creative flair, and a vision for engaging young credit union professionals, here's a chance for you to shine! The NC Credit Union League is providing an opportunity for a young professional in NC to attend the Future Leaders Forum during the League's Annual Meeting in Pinehurst. The deadline for submissions is May 1.
Video Contest for Young Professionals Looking for a way to connect your fellow credit union professionals to help improve our community?
Triangle CUaware is looking to fill a Volunteer Coordinator spot. Responsibilities below:
If you are interested, please email info@cuaware.org with a couple of sentences on why you want the position and what great ideas you have for the upcoming year. |
|||
RSS Feed