• In 2013, Silver State Schools Credit Union partnered with a non-profit to create a savings program that puts real-world financial literacy concepts to the test.

• In five years, SSSCU has helped students in the Las Vegas area save more than $250,000.

When a financial management non-profit in Las Vegas had the idea to launch a savings program for area schools, it found the perfect partner in another local institution:Silver State Schools Credit Union ($773.6M, Las Vegas, NV).

The non-profit,Andson, approached the cooperative in 2013 with the idea to create a program that builds on the in-classroom financial literacy lessons Andson already provides to young people. Because SSSCU is an education-based credit union, the partnership made sense.

It felt like a natural fit,says CEO Scott Arkills.

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The Need

Las Vegas was hit hard by the Great Recession, and the local economy which runs on the strength of tipped service workers is still recovering.

CU QUICK FACTS

Silver State Schools Credit Union
Data as of 03.31.18

HQ:Las Vegas, NV
ASSETS: $773.6M
MEMBERS: 53,134
BRANCHES:8
12-MO SHARE GROWTH: 4.4%
12-MO LOAN GROWTH:14.0%
ROA: 1.15%

Median household incomes lag behind state and national averages. Per 2016 data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the median household income in Las Vegas was $51,115. That trails the state’s median of $55,180 as well as the U.S. median of $59,039. Additionally,the average credit scores of Las Vegas residents, 645, rank near the bottom nationally. The national average, as of 2016, was 673. People there also exhibit some of the lowest rates of financial security.

There are a number of low-income pockets,Arkills says.Because of that, we have a high number of low income schools.

Together, SSSCU and Andson developed the Piggy Bank program, which serves as a real-world complement to Andson’s weekly financial literacy course that covers the basics of personal finance, such as determining needs versus wants, setting savings goals, and learning how interest works.

Once a week in one of its five Piggy Bank schools, the bank opens for business. The program gives students in grades one through six deposit bags and deposit ledgers and encourages them to bring in any amount they can.

It can be a nickel or twenty dollars or more,says Rebecca Freeman, SSSCU’s associate vice president of marketing who oversees the program.

The program then deposits funds into participants’own deposit-only accounts. When students enter sixth grade, they can open a real SSSCU membership account or withdraw their accumulated funds via a check.

Instead of us giving another lesson, this is something we can do that applies what students are already learning,Freeman says.

Preparing To Make Deposits

Students preparing to make deposits at Decker Elementary School.

The Teller Line

One of SSSCU’s newest locations is Decker Elementary School. Pictured here on the bank’s opening day, SSSCU’s business development coordinator, Jennifer Beckwith, works the teller line

Piggy Bank Bus

Jennifer Beckwith pictured inside the Piggy Bank Bus at the grand opening day of Dearing Elementary School Piggy Bank.

Opening Day

Opening day for the 2016-2017 school year at Bracken STEAM Academy, the first Piggy Bank location and the school with the highest participation.

Making Deposits

Group shot of Andson and SSSCU employees at the 2016-2017 opening day of Piggy Bank at Bracken STEAM Academy.

Reaction And Best Practices

Thus far, the response has been strong. In January, SSSCU added two Piggy Bank schools to the fold, bringing its total to five, and continues to look for opportunities to increase funding and support.

The Piggy Bank program is primarily funded by the credit unions partnership with Andson schools do not pay to host the program but SSSCU continually looks for grants to offset costs. For example, the Federal Home Loan Bank of SanFrancisco provided a grant for the program in February 2018, says CEO Arkills.

In January 2018, the regional transportation authority donated a retired bus, which SSSCU retrofitted, wrapped with branding, and deployed as a Piggy Bank on Wheels. The bus travels to participating schools to create an easy, mobile-enabled, central location for students to gather and deposit money. It also allows the credit union to offer the program in additional locations.

On the support side, SSSC principal and teacher buy-in is essential before deploying the program.

It’s the teachers and principals who remind students to get their deposits together each week,Freeman says.They have to be dedicated. It has to be top of mind.

The first three schools at which SSSCU offered Piggy Bank shared the same principal, so support was not a problem. And the two new additions had been asking for the program for several years, says Freeman.

They are such advocates of providing financial literacy to their students,Arkills says.We don’t have to sell them. They are on fire for it.

It’s not difficult to see why there is such enthusiasm. Since 2013, students have saved more than $250,000 though the Piggy Bank program.

But even as new opportunities arise, the credit union is conscious of overexpansion. For Arkills, the most fulfilling part of the program is watching a student’s mindset change. For example, at the start of the year they save for a video game. Buttheir goals evolve as they become more literate and aware of their money. They start to save for college, a house, or a car. They grow more confident with their money.

Although the credit union ideally would provide that to students across its footprint, it understands the quality of the program looms large. Overextending the offering and losing its value is not an ideal outcome.

We’d like it to be in every single school, help every student, but we want it to be sustainable,Freeman says.We don’t want to water down our offerings.

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Top-Level Takeaways

• In October 2017, the Tubbs Fire became the most destructive wildfire in California history, burning nearly 37,000 acres and incinerating more than 5,700 structures, including nearly 3,000 homes.

• Quickly, Redwood Credit Union reopened its North Bay Fire Relief Fund, collecting more than $32 million to support its communities in their time of need.

October 8, 2017, was like any other Sunday for Redwood Credit Union ($4.4B, Santa Rosa, CA). But business as usual was about to change.

At close to 10 p.m. a fire started in the town of Calistoga. Boosted by 40 miles per hour wind gusts, the fire moved more than12 miles in its first three hours and reached the city limits of Santa Rosa by 1 a.m. The credit union’s fire notification system kicked on that night, alerting Cynthia Negri, Redwood’s chief operating officer, to the fact the location of the next day’s all-staff meeting was on fire and the credit union’s corporate office was in the fire impact zone.

Known now as the Tubbs Fire, this was one of at least 14 fires that raged in Northern California that night. By the time it was fully contained on Oct. 31, the Tubbs Fire burned nearly 37,000 acres and incinerated more than 5,700 structures, including nearly 3,000 homes. According to an estimate from Santa Rosa’s mayor, the fire caused $1.2 billion in damage and destroyed 5% of the city’s housing stock. It’s the most destructive wildfire in California history.

In this Q&A, Negri talks about Redwoods response to the Tubbs Fire, the credit unions North Bay Fire Relief Fund, and how to ensure communities get the continued aid they need.

How are communities in your area now faring? How are people feeling?

Cynthia Negri: The communities are starting to rebuild, and I think people are hopeful. People are excited to move forward.

How much notice did you have when the fires started?

CN: The fires broke out in the middle of the night, so there was no advance notice. When our fire notification system started going off, we didn’t realize how devastating the fire would be. The executive team was calling one another. We were calling our senior staff. We had to contact our entire staff phone tree to tell them not to go to the event the following day.

The executive team was able to put into place our disaster recovery plan. And the next day we enacted our fire relief fund. You could see and smell the fire from almost everywhere in Santa Rosa. It jumped a freeway. It was a huge disaster.

What did your disaster recovery effort entail?

CN: The first thing we did was make sure our systems were secure because those needed to be functional for our members. Then we put together a disaster response team and housed them at one of our branches approximately 10 miles away.

How were you able to establish a fire fund the day after the fires started?

CN: We had some experience from the community fund we set up after the Valley Fire in 2015 in Lake County. It was a partnership of Senator Mark McGuire, The Press Democrat, and Redwood Credit Union. We reopened the North Bay Fire Relief Fund, which enabled us to take donations for the community. The fund took in $32 million, all of which we distributed into the community and to local non-profits in four months.

Redwood Relief By The Numbers

Redwood Credit Union collected more than $32 million when it reopened its North Bay Fire Relief Fund. All of that money supported a community in need.

• 70% of donations to the fund came from outside the four affected counties of Sonoma, Napa, Mendocino, and Lake.
• 6,593 residents who lost homes or experienced economic hardship due to the fires received financial support from the fund.
• 102 first responders who lost homes while fighting the fires or protecting the community received funds to support their immediate needs
• 2,253 K-12 and college students throughout the North Bay who lost their homes received gift cards from the fund to replace school clothes and supplies.
• $1,000,000 was donated to small businesses impacted by the fires.
• $942,541 was donated to support fire survivor health and well-being, including health and dental care, lost sporting equipment, and holiday programs.

How did the credit union collect funds?

CN: Senator Mark McGuire and The Press Democrat helped get the word out. We did something similar in 2015, and members called to ask if we would reopen the fund so they could donate. Then, because the size and scope of the fire was sobig, we had media attention and the fund itself was on the news.

How many people from Redwood were involved in the fund’s operation?

CN:It took a village. We had about 41,000 donors from the United States and 23 other countries. We dedicated quite a few people from Redwood from IT to operations to distribute the money as quickly as we could. These funds weren’t limited to our members. Anyone in the community who was impacted, whether through a loss of home or other economic hardship, was eligible to receive funds.

Did you have special programs just for members?

CN: We did. We discounted loan rates for folks impacted by the fires. We offered a 0% loan for people who needed to get back on their feet or who just needed to buy day-to-day essentials. Many people had to run from their homes and didn’t have time to take anything with them. No credit cards, no debit cards, nothing. Just the clothes they had on. There was so much immediate need.

Did you do anything specifically for Redwood employees?

CN: Twenty-three employees and two volunteers lost their homes. The credit union directly assisted them. We also helped approximately 150 of our employees who were evacuated find immediate housing and hotels. Even if they didn’t lose their home, many were displaced for two or three weeks.

We created temporary child care for employees because so many schools were shut down, and we offered free on-site counselling. We gave staff the ability to pool PTO hours to give to friends or partners at the credit union, and we offered lunch, snacks, and any other necessities folks could need.

How have your efforts to aid survivors changed over the year?

CN: We gave approximately $19 million to fire survivors. The rest of the $32 million we gave to local non-profits that operate ongoing support programs.

We’ve never set out to do construction loans, but in the aftermath we created a construction loan program for members who had a first mortgage with us. We are working one-on-one with each of those members to help them rebuild. We’re also working with members to resolve their insurance claims.

What has Redwood learned from the Tubbs Fire?

CN: The generosity we’ve seen from people is incredible. Communities, neighborhoods, and people have come together to help one another in this time of need. No one can know what it’s like unless you actually lose your house in a fire, but fire survivors say they were able to survive thanks to their friends, family, and community all coming together.

It’s people who make this happen. We had employees who lost homes come into work the next day; people who were evacuated came to work to help keep our systems up, knowing we had to be available to members. The resiliency of people is amazing.

This interview has been edited and condensed.

The post Fight Fire With Funds appeared first on CreditUnions.com.

Top-Level Takeaways

• Businesses in Arlington County, VA, can tap a government-guaranteed loan program for environmentally conscious upgrades.
• Arlington Community FCU funded the program’s first project, solar panels for a local restaurant. The credit union says the right incentives could increase the popularity of programs like this.

A culture of environmentalism and sustainability has taken hold at Arlington Community Federal Credit Union ($401.1M, Arlington, VA). Starting with conserving power and paper, the mid-size credit union, which serves two counties and two cities in the Washington, DC suburbs, is now dipping its toes into sustainable energy lending.

In 2015, the state of Virginia passed legislation enabling Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (C-PACE) programs, which allow owners of commercial and industrial buildings to use private sector money to finance energy efficiency, renewable energy, and water efficiency improvements to their property. More than 30 states have passed legislation enabling C-PACE programs.

Arlington County established the first C-PACE program in Virginia in 2017, and ACFCU was eager to participate.

We’ve been working with C-PACE for several years, looking for a project, says Marty Weitzel, director of business lending at ACFCU.

The cooperative found the right borrower in 2021.

Rocklands Barbeque & Grilling Company owns three DC-area locations and a food truck it also has been an ACFCU member for several years. And because one of the restaurant’s locations installed solar panels several years ago, it knows its way around environmental loans. In July 2021, ACFCU became the first C-PACE program lender in Virginia when it agreed to finance two solar panels on Rockland’s Arlington location.

In this Q&A, Weitzel discusses Rocklands, the C-PACE program, and his hopes for future sustainable initiatives.

What made Rocklands the right partner for this C-PACE loan?

Marty Weitzel: They’re a long-term member in good standing and a good business. Plus, they have solar panels on one of their restaurants, so they were familiar with projects like this and already had a strong relationship with an installation contractor. We knew they could pay it back, we just had to figure out the ins and outs of the C-PACE program.

How does the program work?

MW: C-PACE, and Arlington County by association, guarantees each loan 100%. It works similarly to an SBA loan, with the borrower here paying C-PACE a flat 2% fee on the loan amount. The loan term can extend up to 10 years, at a minimum of $50,000, with the lender setting a fixed interest rate for the life of the loan. Our general rule of thumb is the shorter the loan, the lower the fixed interest rate and vice versa.

The guarantee makes it easier for lenders like us to do these loans. If we didn’t have this program, we would likely take a lien on the borrower’s business assets. If that loan were to go bad, we’d repossess the solar panels and look to resell them, which is complicated. The program makes it easier for businesses to access capital and invites environmental lending opportunities.

Is this more complicated than a traditional business loan?

MW: It was a little more cumbersome. Although the county is providing a guarantee, it wants us as the lender to take a collateral filing as well. But rather than take a filing on the real estate, we filed a lien subordination with the county and had the bank that holds the primary mortgage on the property agree that if something were to go south, we’d get paid off first. In reality, Rocklands is in great shape and this is not something we’re worried about.

Are there other projects you’re looking to fund?

MW: I’ve been in contact with local brokers who are interested in the C-PACE program for their business clients, restaurants or otherwise. We anticipate one or two new program participants by the end of 2021. We’re proud to be the first to lend through this program in Virginia and hope to use it to find environmentally sustainable lending solutions for our business members.

If Virginia introduced more tax credits for sustainable energy initiatives, I believe we’d see more demand for these types of projects. It’s something we should be paying attention to. Sustainable energy initiatives are an important part of what community lenders should be doing. Hopefully this is the decade we address these things seriously.

We want to lead the market on environmentally sustainable lending efforts. Our goal for the business lending department at ACFCU is to become industry experts in real, true blue community lending.

Do you see an easier path toward funding these projects in the years ahead?

MW: We plan to participate in these programs in perpetuity. It’s the right thing to do; hopefully, it becomes the cheap and easy thing to do, too. In the past 18 months, governmental policy has driven a trend in lending toward community investment and infrastructure. We’re going to be in an environment for the next several years where the government injects trillions of dollars into the country by using financial institutions as the go-between.

The PPP program is a perfect example. Every participating bank or credit union was essentially a government contractor, facilitating Treasury dollars guaranteed by the SBA. It was profitable for us to do so, not that it needed to be because we are a not-for-profit and have a responsibility to our community and members to participate in programs that benefit them. If these types of programs continue and the incentives are increased, you’ll see demand from borrowers and lenders alike.

As it relates to the C-PACE program, how will ACFCU recruit further business?

MW: Scott Dickie at C-PACE is telling everybody who will listen that we were the first in Virginia to fund a loan through this program. We have a few representatives from the Arlington County government who source business for us, but Scott from C-PACE tells everyone to call Marty.

What did you learn from this experience that you’ll use in the future?

MW: These programs are not as difficult and cumbersome as they might seem. It’s hard to do a new thing for the first time; in fact, it took us about two months to do the Rocklands loan. Having done it, I’m confident we could do the next one in three or four weeks.

What’s your long-term hope for the sustainable efforts at ACFCU?

MW: We want to lead the market on environmentally sustainable lending efforts. Our goal for the business lending department at ACFCU is to become industry experts in real, true blue community lending.

We’re not corporate bankers. We’re mom and pop bankers. I want my department to be subject matter experts, advisors, and guides in community lending programs. We want to be involved in anything that’s going to improve the community where our members live and work. Becoming subject matter experts in programs like C-PACE makes it easier for our businesses and property owners to move in an environmentally friendly and sustainable direction.

This interview has been edited and condensed.

The post Arlington Community Sets The PACE For Sustainability appeared first on CreditUnions.com.

Unfortunately, it’s also a city that is aging and in need of an economic and structural facelift.

That’s why organizations, such as the non-profit La Crosse Promise, are stepping in to transform the city. For example, La Crosse Promise offers families who build, buy, or renovate a home valued at least $150,000 in one of four La Crosse neighborhoods with a college scholarship worth up to $50,000 for students attending a school in Wisconsin.

“The neighborhoods Powell, Poage, Hamilton, and Washburn are older areas with low housing availability and little pride of ownership among the residents,” says Dennis Herricks, vice president of real estate services at Altra Federal Credit Union ($1.3B, Onalaska, WI). “Most older homes have been converted into apartments, and the people who do own don’t provide as much care as they should.”

With the understanding that owning a home can be expensive, La Crosse Promise connects perspective borrowers to a loan consortium of 11 financial institutions, including Altra, for their financing needs.

According to Herricks, this consortium of local lenders formed roughly three years ago. Each institution pledged up to $1 million to create a pool of money to cover housing costs in a city where the average home or condo value in 2015 was $130,000. To remove the spirit of competition, the banks and credit unions in the consortium abide by rules established to best serve borrowers.

Additionally, the lenders agree to keep the mortgages originated through the consortium on their books rather than sell them to the secondary market.

Other perks include waiving mortgage insurance. Altra is comfortable underwriting a loan with a loan-to-value (LTV) as high as 90 to 95% without charging mortgage insurance. Loans sold on the secondary market, however, require mortgage insurance whenLTV exceeds 80%.

“Not charging mortgage insurance represents a significant savings to a borrower,” Herricks says. “That could be worth up to $100 a month depending on their credit score.”

The credit union is willing to take on the extra risk inherent in a high LTV mortgage because making higher education more affordable and rebuilding dilapidated areas is good for the community.

“The builder and financial institution don’t make as much money as they would on a home outside of this area, but we’re willing to help the city improve these neighborhoods,” Herricks says.

Despite not needing to meet secondary market standards, Herricks says the credit union underwrites mortgages that come through La Crosse Promise the same as a traditional mortgage. In fact, the only real difference between the two are that those that come through the program are tied to a long-term economic benefit.

“Borrowers know what they are doing,” Herricks says. “They know the benefit, and they’re committed to it.”

The finanical institutions in the consortium don’t market its participation in La Crosse Promise. Instead, local realtors or builders steer borrowers toward the program and, from there, borrowers may choose their own lender. Altra has closed two loans from the program the first for $161,000 and the second for $158,000. According to Herricks, both loans went to two-child families, and each child is eligible to receive up to $25,000 in continuing education expense if they attend a Wisconsin-based school.

As for lessons learned, Herricks stresses patience when working with a program like this. It took many years for La Crosse to develop into the city it has become, and it will take many more for it to develop into the city its residents want it to be.

But thanks to the credit unions and community banks in the loan consortium, borrowers are slowly rebuilding downtown.

“There’s no quick fix,” Herricks says. “It takes effort. It takes time. It takes work. And it takes dedication to a cause.”

The post Rebuilding Community One Mortgage At A Time appeared first on CreditUnions.com.

Top-Level Takeaways

• Since 2015, SECU Foundation has connected college students with leaders in rural communities.
• In 2018, the foundation partnered with a nonprofit to extend local government opportunities to recent graduates.

In 2015, SECU Foundation created an internship program that connects rising sophomore and junior students at 15 North Carolina state universities with local leaders to obtain real-world work experience while giving back to communities. The SECU Public Fellows Intern Program also helps curb the brain drain that occurs when college graduates move from rural areas to larger metropolises.

“The concept was to curb that drain,” says Jama Campbell, senior vice president and executive director of SECU Foundation, the philanthropic arm of State Employees’ Credit Union ($49.9B, Raleigh, NC). “Let’s start to get college kids interested in working for nonprofits or government entities in their hometowns or other small, rural communities in North Carolina.”

The program continues to grow as the foundation works closely with its university partners, including the University of North Carolina (UNC) and the Kenan Flagler Business School. In fact, it was through that connection that the foundation learned of a similar program targeting college graduates.

In 2018, four recent college graduates founded Lead For America, a national nonprofit that recruits, trains, and places young leaders in home state government and community impact positions. Lead For America offers paid, full-time fellowships located all over the country, from the East Coast to Hawaii. Lead For America also has six local affiliate programs, including Lead for North Carolina. Like the parent program, affiliates place promising graduates in two-year paid fellowships in local governments.

“North Carolina has a large number of government leaders retiring in the next few years,” Campbell says. “We knew we had to be part of this effort to find that next generation of leaders.”

Bridging The Opportunity Gap

According to Scott Southern, senior program officer for SECU Foundation, there is no pipeline for local governments in North Carolina to recruit recent graduates.

Unlike the IBM’s, the Lenovo’s, or even Walmart, governments aren’t sending recruiters for on-site interviews, he says. In order to fill vacancies, there needs to be a way to generate interest and showcase the opportunity.

Offering fellowships is one way to bridge that gap in a way that benefits both graduate and community.

Lead for North Carolina recruits and selects applicants to participate in fellowship opportunities, matching applicants to local governments based on personality as well one of four areas of fellowship focus: infrastructure and disaster recovery, human resources, development, and grant writing.

“We joke, it’s a bit like a dating game with how fellows are connected to the opportunity,” Campbell says.

To ensure they are equipped to provide immediate and lasting value, fellows take a five-week summer training course in technical skills, character and leadership traits, and equity-focused solutions. They also receive ongoing training through the two years of the fellowship.

For example, disaster recovery is an area of immense need in North Carolina, as the pandemic as well as a number of destabilizing hurricanes have hit the region in the past 18 months. In cases like this, trained grant writers help localities access publicly available funds.

“A number of these fellows have been able to bring federal funds into communities that didn’t always have the tools to get them,” the senior program officer, says.

Ultimately, governments benefit from two years of young, energetic graduates boosting productivity without draining resources. And for fellows, they get real government experience that allows them to decide if the work aligns with their long-term plans whether that means staying on when their fellowship ends, enrolling in a graduate program in public administration or public policy, or something else.

Rural? Yes. Lack Of Opportunity? No.

The partnership between SECU Foundation and Lead for North Carolina is primarily a financial one. Although the foundation was there from LFNC’s inception, its input has been relatively minor. That’s by design.

“We don’t want to overly restrict our partners,” Campbell says. “We want them to have the freedom and creativity to work their magic.”

With one exception.

Every year, the North Carolina Department of Commerce ranks the state’s 100 counties based on economic wellbeing. The state designates the most economically distressed counties as Tier 1; the least distressed receive a Tier 3 ranking. In 2021, the state designated 40 counties as Tier 1, 40 as Tier 2, and 20 as Tier 3.

SECU Foundation’s financial support of Lead for North Carolina is earmarked to benefit those Tier 1 counties, the localities most in need of the investment.

“Our funding specifically targets counties or communities that are in lower economic brackets,” Southern says.

For the program’s inaugural cohort of fellows, SECU Foundation provided a $500,000 grant to fund up to 20 $25,000 fellowships. So far, the foundation has been pleased with the results.

“On the government side, we wanted to see them put some skin in the game and want these fellows to succeed,” Campbell says. “We’ve seen a bond between these fellows and their new co-workers. It’s been more than an internship, it’s been a game-changer. They have a real appreciation for the communities they grew up in and what’s needed in the years ahead.”

That’s why SECU Foundation has doubled its commitment to LFNC, pledging $1 million over the next three years. Rather than locking fellows into a two-year commitment, fellows now have a one-year commitment with an option to extend for a second year. Campbell admits it can be difficult to numerically measure the program’s impact. So, the foundation looks for stories of transformative community impact of which there are many and the competitiveness of the application process to gauge whether the program is providing value to applicants and governments.

So far, so good.

In addition to its financial support, SECU Foundation provides networking opportunities for fellows to meet one another and offers access to its local advisory boards and branch leadership to make further inroads on building local relationships. Not having to administer the program itself frees the foundation to apply resources in other ways, namely to showing off what North Carolina’s non-metro areas have to offer.

“Maybe local government is not right for them, but there are opportunities in nonprofits and other organizations in rural North Carolina,” Southern says. “We want the fellows to understand that rural doesn’t mean void of opportunity.”

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Top-Level Takeaways

• Stolen Bank Identification Numbers allow hackers to systemically generate full card credentials to conduct fraudulent transactions.

• In early 2021, Air Force FCU experienced a BIN attack that required quick work to manage.

When a consumer swipes, taps, or inserts a credit or debit card, the point of sale system scans the Bank Identification Number (BIN) typically the first four to six digits in the number that identifies the issuing institution recognizes the associated account, and submits a request to withdraw funds from the account to complete the transaction.

For fraudsters conducting BIN attacks, those digits are the key to unlocking hundreds or even thousands of dollars in fraudulent card transactions. After a fraudster obtains a BIN which they typically purchase in bulk from dark web sources that collect the numbers during card breaches they use software to systematically generate and test the missing numbers of an account.

“They don’t have the card or the full number,” says Cathy Miller, senior vice president and chief risk officer at Air Force Federal Credit Union ($558.1M, San Antonio, TX). “They just have a computer program.”

But those programs are powerful. Fraudsters test permutations of the card number at online retailers until they uncover the right one. They then do the same with the expiration date and CVV code until they have a non-present but working card.

From there, fraudsters move quickly, as Air Force FCU discovered earlier this year when it was hit with a BIN attack.

The BIN Attack

In late April 2021, transactions totaling close to six figures from the same retailer hit the credit union in nearly one fell swoop. Transaction data from Air Force FCU’s core provider indicated all the charges were card-not-present purchases, which tipped Miller off to the fraud.

The cooperative had to act quickly.

Because the retailer, which Miller declines to name, is a large, legitimate business, the credit union couldn’t simply cut off those transactions. However, during its due diligence, Air Force FCU learned the attack came from only one of the several networks through which it processes transactions, and it could shut off transactions from specific card networks.

“We made the decision to stop all transactions from that network for two days,” Miller says. “It stopped the fraud in its tracks and gave us enough time to figure out our next move.”

The credit union’s chief technology officer along with several risk employees began to thoroughly review Air Force FCU’s daily credit card transaction reports. A pattern soon emerged. Miller says her exceptions report often state card destroyed, card lost, card stolen, or wrong pin. Not this time.

“We saw was a huge pattern of card not found,” Miller says. “Plus, these were all from the same vendor and the impacted card numbers ran in a sequential order. It just wasn’t normal.”

“The fraudsters, however, had accurate card information so transactions were going through, putting the credit union on the hook for losses. And the hackers were sophisticated,” Miller says. “They used different names, different dollar amounts, and even different addresses not always in the United States.”

“People were really buying stuff,” Miller says. “It was going as far away as Colombia.”

The Response

Air Force FCU implemented immediate changes to its card numbering logic no longer would the same several digits appear for each card. By altering the pattern, the credit union hoped to make hacking more complicated. Additionally, the credit union reissued every card that was affected by the attack, but it did not reissue cards en masse.

“It’s a long process to reissue like that,” Miller says. “And it wasn’t going to stop the bleeding.”

The fact the dollar amounts tended to be small posed a challenge to identifying fraudulent charges. And because it was a well-known retailer, members weren’t always aware they were victims. Air Force FCU posted a message on its home banking platform asking members to review their statements carefully for suspicious activity. It did not name the retailer because the attack ultimately wasn’t the retailer’s fault. In fact, the retailer was helpful.

“When we contacted them, they were eager to help us stop the fraud,” Miller says.

Internally, three employees in the risk department started reviewing daily core and card processor reports looking for context clues for potential fraud. Of primary focus are those card not found transactions, especially sequential card numbers used in close succession.

The crook spends his whole day looking for ways in. We’re going to be behind the curve in trying to catch up, but we’ll do everything we can.

Looking forward, Air Force FCU hopes its risk review process will curb future fraudulent activity and is evolving its cybersecurity efforts, which include a new information security committee. Miller knows the battle is far from over, but that doesn’t mean it’s not worth the fight.

“The crook spends his whole day looking for ways in,” Miller says. “We’re going to be behind the curve in trying to catch up, but we’ll do everything we can.”

The post BIN There, Done That: Air Force FCU Topples An Attack appeared first on CreditUnions.com.

Top-Level Takeaways

• USALLIANCE spent nine months building a custom mobile-only application through which new users can open a fee-free checking account that comes with a debit card.
• The cooperative neobank provides a checking account and debit card to those who may be excluded from mainstream financial products.

Two years ago, USALLIANCE Financial ($2.0B, Rye, NY) CEO Kris VanBeek sent an early morning email that would change how the credit union and possibly the industry serves financially vulnerable members.

“What is Chime?” he asked the credit union’s chief technology officer Kevin Randall.

Part of that question was easy to answer. Part of that question was not.

On its face, Chime is a San Francisco-based fintech that provides fee-free mobile banking services and issues debit cards. It was founded in 2013 and was valued at $1.5 billion in early 2019. By the end of 2019, it boasted 3.3 million account holders nationally.

Why Chime resonates with millions of people required deeper reflection from Randall and his technology team.

Credit unions offer checking accounts, savings accounts, IRAs, HSAs, CDs, auto loans, mortgages, HELOCs, credit cards, personal loans, and lines of credit through branches, call centers, ATMs, and digital channels. That’s a complicated mix of products and delivery channels.

“It’s hard to have a consistent, high-quality user experience for all those products across all those channels,” Randall says. “The member experience is where Chime succeeded. It picked one product: checking. It picked one channel: mobile. And it got them perfect.”

That focus resonated with Randall.

In 2015, USALLIANCE’s board of directors asked the credit union to concentrate more on the needs of the unbanked and underbanked, specifically related to financial health. That same year, the credit union assumed the assets, shares, and most loans from the $12.2 million Bronx-based Bethex FCU. According to U.S. Census data, 85% of Bronx residents are either Hispanic or Black; the median household income of $41,400 is less than two-thirds that of New York state’s $72,000; and 26.4% ofresidents live below the poverty line, more than double state and national rates.

As Randall learned more about Chime and its nationwide popularity, something occurred to him.

“As we started to conceptualize what we could do, we realized our efforts to serve the unbanked and compete with Chime were not mutually exclusive,” Randall says. “They can be the same thing.”

Unfortunately, the credit union’s actions to date were not working to serve that purpose.

“We realized we were turning away potential members because they didn’t qualify for a USALLIANCE checking account,” says Kristi Kenworthy, the credit union’s former assistant vice president. “We were basically referring them to alternative banking options, including neobanks. Why couldn’t we have our own solution?”

The Credit Union Neobank

USALLIANCE set out to build a solution that would make a difference for its Bronx-based members, but it also wanted to make a difference beyond its own field of membership and reach into the lives of the more than 60 million unbanked and underbanked Americans.

“We wanted to make a bet on upward mobility,” Randall says. “We wanted to provide a service to individuals who were either excluded from the banking system or excluded themselves.”

The credit union spent nine months building a custom back end, naming its solution Dora after credit union pioneer Dora Maxwell. For the front end, USALLIANCE partnered with BankingOn.

“Chime set the standard for user experience,” Randall says. “It made us up our game.”

Consequently, Dora has a slick design and easy-to-use functionality. It also has native, best-in-class Spanish-language capabilities.

“Advertising, website, app, onboarding, emails, disclosures, text messages we had to get the Spanish right,” Randall says. “And we did.”

Dora, the mobile-only application through which new users can open a fee-free checking account, which cannot be overdrawn, that comes with a debit card, went live in August 2020.

Users register for the app, USALLIANCE runs the necessary KYC processes, and in real-time an account and card are created.

“It’s fast,” says Kenworthy, who has been the managing director of Dora since January 2021. “We think it rivals the experience you see with Amazon, Uber, or any of the other apps people might be accustomed to using today.”

Within the app, users can easily set up direct deposit, set pin controls, freeze and unfreeze their card, and even fund their account through remote deposit capture. Digital issuances and virtual cards are coming next. There is no minimum balance and no monthly fees. The account is insured by the NCUA up to $250,000, and users have access to a network of surcharge-free 30,000 ATMs. These benefits helped Dora receive a national certification for financial empowerment in February 2021 through Bank On Boston.

“We built a response to Chime,” Randall says. “But to do it in the spirit of the cooperative movement, creating a product accessible to everyone, regardless of history or language or past trust issues, is exciting.”

For the first year, USALLIANCE did little to market Dora. The app was available on the app store, where it gained users organically. Those users helped the credit union prioritize updates and organize its developmental roadmap for example, adding an international payment option to keep users from sending money through Western Union or MoneyGram.

Today, USALLIANCE is marketing Dora with industrywide aspirations.

“We had a feeling we were onto something,” Randall says. When we asked ourselves, “Is this product bigger than us? We felt pretty comfortable with the idea that it was.”

The Future Of The Industry?

The liquidation of Bethex FCU, which was an active community cooperative, is a sad story for the credit union industry. It’s also one data point in a larger trend of industry consolidation. Between fourth quarter 2015, when Bethex FCU was liquidated, and today, the industry has lost approximately 1,000 credit unions.

There are a variety of reasons for this consolidation, but what’s clear is that it’s often prohibitively expensive and challenging to operate a credit union especially one with a narrow field of membership or without economies of scale. That reality got USALLIANCE thinking.

“Is there a way to offer Dora to other credit unions?” Randall asks. “Could it help them serve members in their own way? Could it help retain some of the rich diversity in the movement?”

The credit union isn’t sure. But it’s not ruling out the possibility.

“There’s something intriguing about having a credit union plug into this digital solution and no longer need to expand physically in a way that isn’t sustainable for its business model,” Randall says. “In the long-term, we’d love to say Dora is the credit union industry’s neobank solution.”

Although USALLIANCE owns the technology, the credit union sees an opportunity to partner or even split ownership in a CUSO with other credit unions to build out a network of hundreds or possibly thousands of cooperatives. To that end, the industry’s willingness to cooperate will prove valuable; as will the fact that through Dora credit unions won’t compete against one another they’ll compete against Chime, which now has 12 million customers, and other major banks to serve the 67 million Americans who are un- and underbanked.

“It’s not about recutting slices of the same pie,” Randall says. “The pie is getting bigger.”

USALLIANCE is excited about the future and Dora’s potential. Getting the technology right was the first part. That credit unions are already on the existing payment rails and already have lending authority will make adding deeper functionality to Dora easier. And adding credit unions to Dora’s network might help the industry curb future consolidation as well as set a stronger standard for service.

“If we don’t change as an industry along with consumer expectations, demographics, tastes, and preferences for new products and digital delivery, we’re no longer going to have a seat at the table,” Randall says. “The idea that we can band together as an industry with our own fintech to bring more members into the credit union fold is a radical and exciting concept.”

The post Can Dora Help Credit Unions Find A Foothold For The Future? appeared first on CreditUnions.com.

The largest of the group, the Holiday Farm fire, raged in Lane and Linn counties between September 7 and October 26, affecting 173,000 acres, destroying 770 structures, and resulting in six injuries and one fatality. It ranks as the 10th-largest fire in the state’s history, behind two other 2020 fires Lionshead and Beachie Creek that burned concurrently to the northeast.

In response to the activity, OCCU Foundation (OCCUF) launched a Fire Relief Fund on September 8. The 501(c)(3) foundation of Lane County-based Oregon Community Credit Union (OCCU) ($2.6B, Eugene, OR) created the fund specifically to support those affected by Oregon’s wildfires. In addition to starting the restricted fund, OCCUF matched the first $100,000 donated.

Here, Laura Brown, OCCU Foundation Administrator, discusses her foundation’s quick response, its experience in establishing the fund, soliciting donations, the future of the fund, and more.

Laura Brown, Administrator, OCCU Foundation

OCCU Foundation responded a day after the fires started in 2020. What was the situation on the ground?

Laura Brown: We could have given $100,000 to another agency donating funds, but we have a different perspective we do and respond to things differently from other organizations and here was a chance to do that.

Many organizations were responding to basic, immediate needs money for gas, for groceries. We felt we could fund projects and services that come after those immediate needs are restored. Even when the initial hecticness of that time passes, there are still needs.

What were your initial expectations?

LB: With a lot of collaboration between departments, we beat our goal of raising $100,000. We’ve raised more than $150,000 and people are still contributing today.

The way we saw it, many organizations were responding to those basic, immediate needs money for gas, for groceries. We felt we could step in to serve those mid-term needs, funding projects and services that come after those immediate needs are restored.

Without that pre-existing architecture, where did you start? What did you do?

LB: I manage the OCCU Foundation, but I’m also on the credit union’s communications team, so I started by working with marketing to create a landing page for the website. I also worked with our digital services department to figure out what vendors we could partner with to quickly spin up a donation portal.

Although we launched a landing page and introduced the fund, we weren’t able to accept donations right away. There was procedural work with our accounting team to make sure we could seamlessly accept donations, whether cash or through a general ledger transfer, and track it all.

How did it feel to accept that first member donation?

LB: It was really exciting. We had not only local members but also members who no longer live in Oregon in some cases, as far away as Europe donating to the cause. It’s hard to know for sure how many of our members donated, but I know our members appreciated what we were doing and that we offered the match. Even businesses we had never worked with before donated to us because of that $100,000 match.

Everything went smoothly, we received good feedback, and it served our need well.

How did you publicize the option to donate?

LB: Because COVID was and is still a reality, there are a number of people who want to give back but don’t necessarily feel comfortable volunteering. Donating funds to a cause is one way to do that.

Our brand and marketing team is phenomenal. Rather than just placing marketing material in a newsletter, they shared a letter from our CEO that spoke specifically about the Fire Relief Fund and what we were doing with it. We provided the opportunity to donate through the email.

Who manages the fund internally?

LB: I am the only staff person for OCCU Foundation, and our Board of Directors make decisions for where funds go. Currently, all applications come to me via email, I review them and assess for impact, risk and fund alignment then send them to the Board for a formal review and vote to fund or not fund. Ultimately, the board approves all of our grant making.

CU QUICK FACTS

Oregon Community Credit Union
Data as of 06.30.21

HQ: Eugene, OR
ASSETS: $2.6B
MEMBERS: 203,559
BRANCHES: 11
12-MO SHARE GROWTH: 19.2%
12-MO LOAN GROWTH: 26.6%
ROA: 2.02%

How do institutions request funding from the Fire Relief Fund?

LB: We have a page on our website that lists our previous grantees and what we gave them a grant for. We’re looking for nonprofits, faith-based organizations, and public entities working in areas of relief or recovery.

Applicants download the application and then submit it as a PDF form. That’s the quickest way for us to receive applications.

What is your average grant size?

LB: We didn’t set a limit, and we did have some high asks. But ultimately, our fund is modest. Our average is around $8,000.

What information do applicants need to provide?

LB: We didn’t want the application to become a barrier. We ask 10 questions. Where are you serving people? How many people will you serve? How are you uniquely positioned to respond to the fires?

I come from the world of nonprofits and felt it was important to not have a super robust grant application. If these organizations are responding to fires, they need funding quickly. They don’t need to wait three or six months before we determine they should receive funding. It’s a quick application for a quick turnaround. As long as we understand what they’re doing, we don’t need all the fluff.

Do you have a sweet spot for the types of nonprofits or entities to whom you’re granting funds?

LB: It’s a pretty wide mix. We’ve given grants for basic needs but also environmental support. We tried to serve needs in different ways.

There are organizations who are helping individuals clean up their properties; there are organizations that were burned themselves that need to rebuild. In our own community, a local community center was burned, so was a local library. Our grants helped them meet the need now as well as take steps toward rebuilding in the future.

More than half of the OCCU Foundation’s Fire Relief Fund went to projects funding things other than basic immediate needs.

It’s been a year since you introduced this fund. Are you still funding requests? What comes next?

LB: We’ve granted to 17 organizations so far, with the largest donation totaling $20,000 and the smallest $1,500. We’ve given away quite a bit of our tally, but we still have funds to give away. Applications are slowing but we’ll continue to make grants until those dollars run out. At that point, we might launch another fund should the need arise.

The OCCU Foundation was created to serve the credit union’s giving pillars of education and health, while also being responsible to emergent community needs like fires or COVID-19. When it’s relevant to have another relief fund, I think we will, especially since we think we’ve had a great opportunity to make grants other organizations weren’t able to. For example, in the wake of the fires, many new 501(c)(3) organizations were founded. But some foundations can’t make grants to organizations founded within a certain period of time. We can and do.

What best practices or lessons learned from setting up this fund would you like to share?

LB: We’re working on finding a different way to process both the application and donation. We want to move away from a PDF application form because it didn’t work for everyone and ended up being somewhat technically inhibiting.

I also think we missed an opportunity with our donor relationships. Due to certain stipulations with our processor, we didn’t have permission to reach back out to the donors who contributed to the fund online. We moved fast and did the best we could, but I see those as two areas we could improve next time.

This interview has been edited and condensed.

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Top-Level Takeaways

• In December 2020, Dustin Holland was hired as Listerhill’s digital strategist, reporting to the CEO.

• Acting as a hub for all digital development, Holland brings together talent from several key departments to make digital change happen.

Digital services are not a one-size-fits-all component of a credit union’s operations. For some industry players, organizing digital offerings and teams can be complicated by geography and member preference as is the case at Listerhill Credit Union($1.1B, Sheffield, AL).

Some of our branches and our members are located in rural areas, says Dustin Holland, Listerhill’s digital strategist. So, we have to maybe consider our digital set ups differently. I do think it can be a barrier sometimes overlooked in places where we do business.

Though Listerhill does business in Huntsville, AL, and Nashville, its bread-and-butter members don’t live in those nearby urban centers. And for those members, it’s not uncommon for them to lack high-speed internet or cell service that many today now take for granted. Despite those differences in digital adoption, Listerhill has positioned itself to offer solutions for everyone.

To be competitive, we still have to offer the same level of services as Chase. That’s expected, Holland says. But at the same time, we have to make sure we’re a comfortable place to do business for all those people we spent years inviting into the branch.

CU QUICK FACTS

Listerhill Credit Union
<span”>Data as of 06.30.21

HQ: Sheffield, AL
ASSETS: $1.1B
MEMBERS: 97,896
BRANCHES: 16
12-MO SHARE GROWTH: 11.7%
12-MO LOAN GROWTH: 10.1%
ROA: 0.66%

The 4 Pillars Of Digital

Until December 2020, the digital approach at Listerhill contained three pillars: member experience, process, and IT, with each pillar having its own leader and team underneath. It was at that point when the big Alabama credit union hired Holland to his current role, a position from which he acts as a hub for digital development projects across the organization and reports to the CEO, Brad Green.

Depending on the project, I’ll work to determine who is involved and where we can hitch our wagon, Holland says. My goal is to bridge departments and stakeholders together.

At the moment, Holland is a team of one, though through his work he’s helped the credit union identify areas to invest in additional staff. For example, Listerhill has hired an employee to manage its loan operating system as well as several data analysts for its IT team. But for now, when an idea for a digital project is initiated, it starts with Holland as the point who then quickly involves the appropriate departments.

Once we realize we’re moving forward on a given project, the first question is always: Well, who does this involve? Holland says.

Often, that first call goes to legal and compliance to ensure the credit union can cross all the Ts and dot all the Is in the development process.

From there, the credit union will involve its process department to map out the project’s development schedule.

They help us see who this project is going to affect and what are our next steps, Holland says. That way we’re not running around without a plan.

And while that plan can differ based on the project, typically Listerhill will involve its member experience team to ensure what’s being built or introduced is up to a high experiential standard, its IT team to specifically leverage new or existing data dashboards and insights, and its Lift team essentially an internal support center for the credit union who provide beta testing and feedback.

Those are the main building blocks, Holland says. But we’ll add blocks depending on the house we want to build.

For instance, of late the credit union has been working with its growing commercial department to create a custom report to provide the team cleaner and more efficient data insights. The process team kickstarted the project by mapping every business account type the credit union offers, helping the department understand the value of each and whether a given type should be included on the custom report.

Holland and IT are working on the software side of the project. And member experience is working in the project’s back end, speaking with retail and sales staff to understand what commercial members want and how that can best be tracked or benchmarked in the report itself.

It’s a large-scale discovery and deconstruction process until we build it back with better functionality, software, and efficiencies, Holland says.

Managing Digital Changes

For any given project, Holland can count on at least 15 different collaborators within Listerhill’s member experience and process teams. The IT team is much larger, however, and Holland relies on a handful of employees from that department for digital workdata analysts and the core processor admin, without whom much of the digital work would not be possible.

Everything has to plug into the core, he says.

And while each of these stakeholders has a part to play in digital development, it’s the process team that oversees the tail end of the development cycle: change management.

The team of three is led by Abigail Gaddy, the vice president of process management, and includes Heath Butler, change management specialist, and Jeremy Terry, process improvement specialist. The three work together to map out the developmental process for new projects and existing product updates, but they also work closely with different departments to prepare them for organizational change, especially digital ones.

It’s in this realm where Butler’s work looms large. He leverages the ADKAR model, helping Listerhill’s employees both accept change and lead them toward advocacy, as well. ADKAR stands for:

• Awareness of the need for change.
• Desire to support the change.
• Knowledge of how to change.
• Ability to demonstrate skills and behaviors.
• Reinforcement to make the change stick.

Weeks in advance of any change, Butler and his team begin communication with impacted stakeholders, including visits to each of Listerhill’s branch locations to have sit-down meetings with staff. As change occurs, it’s not just members who can feel left behind, but employees as well.

Holland believes this team finds success by communicating in terms of efficiencies.

They take the time to map it out, show the employees how much money or time goes into the current operation, and what can be saved through a change, Holland says. It’s important to take the time to do that because change can be scary.

Being able to diagram why certain changes are happening is part of the reason why change management lives within the process team. And because they are so effective in their search for efficiencies, ideas come from this team, too.

Once we realize there’s an issue or an opportunity for improvement, we kick into gear. We find out who is involved. We ask how we can get this done in a way that will be better for everyone. And then we get it accomplished. It’s really that simple.

Listerhill’s Columbia, TN, branch is close to Lawrenceburg, TN, a town with a strong Amish presence. Each Wednesday, Amish families take the bus to Listerhill’s Columbia location to do their banking. However, because they don’t have government-issued IDs, debit cards, and the like, serving these members can be a wholly different experience for the credit union.

But should they suffer because they are different clientele? Absolutely not, Holland says.

The process team reviewed how this population of members were doing their banking, again deconstructing the pieces of the process to make it more efficient. Does an Amish member need all the same input fields in a given transaction? All the same pages in the new account opening process? Is there a plug-in the credit union could create to generate an Amish-focused loan or account opening form entirely?

While Holland notes that this may be an extreme example, it does highlight the potential that digital services have to improve the member experience, increase efficiencies, and make Listerhill a better place to bank for all its members not just those in Nashville and Huntsville and in and around its Muscle Shoals-area headquarters, but those further from the cities.

Once we realize there’s an issue or an opportunity for improvement, we kick into gear, Holland says. We find out who is involved. We ask how we can get this done in a way that will be better for everyone. And then we get it accomplished. It’s really that simple.

The post How Listerhill’s Digital Team Keeps Its Eyes On The Process appeared first on CreditUnions.com.

Top-Level Takeaways

• State Employees Credit Union’s Foundation runs a scholarship program designed to help unemployed or underemployed populations access higher paying jobs with real career potential
• A full 56 out of the states 58 community colleges participate in the program.

With 58 community colleges throughout the state, North Carolina boasts one of the largest community college systems in the country. For decades, SECU Foundation has provided two-year scholarships to students enrolling in that vast network, but on the heels of the Great Recession, the organization seized on another opportunity serving the large population of North Carolinians looking to reskill or retool to become more competitive in a challenging work environment.

In 2013, SECU Foundation an arm of State Employees Credit Union ($49.9B, Raleigh, NC) established to address community issues that are beyond the normal scope of the credit union launched its Continuing Education Scholarship Program. Community colleges could access up to 10 $750 scholarships per year to help students pay the costs of class. Five years into the program, the foundation realized a growing number of its scholarships were going untapped.

“We went to our friends in the community college system to understand why these weren’t being used as widely as they once were and what we could do to make it better,” says Jama Campbell, senior vice president and executive director of SECU Foundation.

For six months, the foundation worked with the central system office as well as individual schools to devise a plan to reinvigorate the program. In 2018, it introduced the SECU Bridge to Career program designed to help remove financial barriers for students earning state-regulated or industry-recognized credentials that lead to sustainable wage careers within their communities.

In this QA, Campbell discusses the need for the SECU Bridge to Career program, how it works, and how she grades its success.

Why did you turn the Continuing Education Scholarship program into the Bridge to Career program?

Jama Campbell: In our conversations with the community college system and the individual schools, we determined there needed to be a pathway for wage-sustaining work. That’s the heart of it: These individuals needed the skills to attain higher-paying jobs that have the potential for professional growth. Hence the name.

We are providing careers for people in our communities, and were doing that by doubling our investment providing up to $1 million in funding for this program.

How does the program work?

JC: The program provides each of the 58 community colleges in our state system up to 30 scholarships per year at $500 for certain educational pathways. In addition, we provide the school $3,000 to pay a navigator. So that’s up to $18,000 per school, per year.

A navigator is someone in the community college system who helps with resume writing, interviewing skills, and finding jobs. That’s an important part of this. Its not just about the scholarship, its about having a local person who can help you navigate the job search process.

What are pathways? Why are they a consideration?

JC: The needs in every community are different, and the colleges want programs to help their graduates find new and emerging jobs in their local area. The big ones are healthcare, electrical engineering, truck driving, and public safety, but there could be a new manufacturing plant opening with jobs for people with certain skills or certification. The college could set up a pathway that makes its graduates more competitive for that specific employer.

Because it can be location-based, each year we reach out to all of our 58 community colleges for a list of pathways usually three or fewer or other focuses and how they would use the funding to make them a reality. This program is much more focused on the needs of an individual community than what we offered before.

So, each of those colleges have different needs?

JC: Each of these schools are very different. Some colleges have more resources than others, which can have significant affects. That’s why we’ve tried to gear this program to fit the smaller, more rural community colleges as well as the larger colleges in urban areas. The key is allowing each college to develop their own pathways for students; providing that $3,000 can be an incentive to do this work.

Did you have relationships with all 58 colleges when you started the new program?

JC: The 2018-2019 school year was our pilot year. Instead of onboarding all 58 schools at once, we started with 19 that could help us work out some of the details. We wanted to make sure we weren’t overburdening the schools; we wanted this to be easy and what they wanted.

It took a year for that first cohort of schools to figure out how it all worked and gather some best practices, but they’ve since been able to mentor the schools we’ve added. Each year we’ve added schools, and right now 56 out of the 58 colleges are participating.

Who decides how to allocate the scholarship dollars?

JC: Because its such a large program, the foundation doesn’t choose the recipients. We rely on local decision-making to make it work.

At the start of each year, the community college system sends an RFP to all 58 colleges asking them to participate in the program. The college returns that to the community college systems main office after outlining its plan for the year ahead. When the main office approves a college, we send the funds with the expectation it will report back to us at the end of the year what it accomplished with that money. We are a team of five who do foundation work at the credit union, so we wouldn’t have the bandwidth to do all that ourselves.

Do the colleges tend to use all the available funds?

JC: In any scholarship program there are some dollars that go unused. But these schools know what they’re doing and what works best for them, especially once they’ve been in the program for more than one year. They do a great job using those funds and reskilling individuals in their communities.

Use was one of the main reasons we retooled this program in the first place, but we believe the current iteration is meeting the needs of our community, especially with what is happening in our economy. There are many companies in our state or looking to move to our state, and we want our workforce to be prepared to take advantage of those opportunities when they come.

The beauty of this program is that it gives people, regardless of where they live in the state, a real opportunity to find a career.

How will this program evolve?

JC: Were going to continue to monitor it each year to see how the funds are being used or if there are any tweaks or enhancements we can make. Right now, it is meeting the need. The beauty of this program is that it gives people, regardless of where they live in the state, a real opportunity to find a career.

In the programs first year, Forsyth Technical Community College used every one of its 30 scholarships. It had a pathway focused on electrical line workers, and it was graduating people who came out earning $80,000 or more. That’s a tough job, but its also a job that speaks to many people and allows them to stay in the community of their choice not everyone wants to move to Raleigh or Charlotte.

How do you grade your success?

JC: It can be hard, especially for foundations. We can measure things, but I don’t know that we can really measure the human impact. Our $1 checking account fee is what funds all this work, and we try to make sure we are good fiduciaries of our members dollars.

We want to make sure every investment we make as a foundation is going to multiply. We look at how those schools are using the funds, who is receiving a scholarship, and we want to know what kind of impact its making in their life. The human stories are what is amazing finding people who were unemployed or underemployed and helping them find impactful career opportunities. Its amazing to see how this can impact families and communities. It is an investment for generations to come.

This interview has been edited and condensed.

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