New Partnership Committee Will Pursue Three Major CU Initiatives

August 8, 2001

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Mark Wolff
202-682-4200

WASHINGTON — The CUNA System Planning Committee has changed its name to the Partnership Committee, and its member organizations have agreed to collaborate on three major initiatives in the coming months to help credit unions build political strength, reach out to small businesses, and better serve under-represented consumers.

"Each of these initiatives will meet a pressing need. And by putting our collective shoulder to the wheel, each of us on the Partnership Committee will surely achieve more together than we could individually," said CUNA President and CEO Dan Mica. "All of us are focused on and committed to serving the credit union movement as a whole. And we each bring unique talents and resources to bear."

The committee decided on the initiatives and the name change during its meeting July 23-24 in Welches, Oregon. The group consists of the board executive committees and CEOs of CUNA, the American Association of Credit Union Leagues, CUNA Strategic Services, Inc., and CUNA Mutual Group plus the CEO of U.S. Central, the chairman and executive director of the Association of Corporate Credit Unions, the CEO of the World Council of Credit Unions, and the executive directors of AACUL and the Filene Research Institute.

At the meeting the committee placed great emphasis on the importance of unity and discussed a wide range of areas with the potential for successful collaboration before deciding upon these three:

• Providing for the financial well being of all people. The Partnership Committee identified a number of groups today that are in need of affordable, accessible financial services, including Hispanics, other ethnic groups, the youth market, retirees, low-income individuals, and micro-entrepreneurs. Because of the good work already being done by some credit unions and credit unions organizations, the committee will first look to identify successful models within the credit union movement, and then to build alliances where appropriate. An action plan will be developed within the next six months. "Ultimately, success will depend on the outreach of individual credit unions, but we can help facilitate the process and break down barriers," said AACUL Chairman Dan Egan, president of the Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Hampshire credit union leagues.



• Serving small businesses. Today U.S. credit unions serve more than 355,000 select employee groups, with thousands more added monthly. "Too often, small business sponsors are unserved or ill-served by banks," said CUNA Chairman Dave Maus, CEO of Public Service Credit Union, Denver. "Data has also shown that when credit unions provide small business assistance, member penetration within the SEG increases exponentially. So there is tremendous potential here on many levels." Next steps include taking an inventory of existing resources within the credit union movement that could be better utilized, and then looking to external resources, such as the National Federation of Independent Business and the Small Business Administration, identifying market segments, hurdles and best practices, and developing a business plan and timeline.



• Building political strength and passion for the credit union movement. "Simply stated, without passion there will be no progress on our agenda, political or otherwise," explained CUNA’s Dan Mica. "Especially as we seek to realize the vision of the Renaissance Commission, we must do more to communicate the system’s strength and the value of credit unions to policymakers, the general public, and even our own members." Mica noted CUNA and the leagues have just completed a comprehensive political involvement plan that will be shared with all members of the Partnership Committee. Following that, the group will be aligning their efforts with a common approach and then executing the plan according to its timelines and benchmarks.

To ensure continuing coordination and to monitor progress and results, the committee also has created a new subgroup, the Partnership Council, made up of the chair and CEO of the participating organizations. Council members will meet at least annually, beginning with the AACUL Winter Meeting in December. The broader Partnership Committee will meet every two years.

With its network of affiliated state credit union leagues, Credit Union National Association serves more than 90% of America’s 10,300 credit unions, which are owned by more than 80 million consumer members. Credit unions are not-for-profit cooperatives where people are worth more than money. For more information, visit www.cuna.org.

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