Top-Level Takeaways
- VISA named Connex Credit Union as the first recipient of its Commitment to Community award.
- The cooperative’s work includes financial literacy programs, community outreach, volunteerism, and inclusive product offerings that showcase a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Connex Credit Union ($957.5M, North Haven, CT) strives to provide affordable, responsive products and services to equalize the financial playing field in and around its home base in New Haven, CT. It’s hard work that is earning the cooperative national recognition. In February, VISA presented its inaugural Commitment to Community Award to Connex during the 2023 GAC.
The card brand said it created the award to recognize credit union clients that work for positive change within the industry, the workplace, and the community. Carl Casper, Connex’s executive vice president and chief retail officer, says it’s nice to be noticed, but Connex was just doing its thing.
“This recognition is important to us in that we didn’t establish our programs or products to garner accolades but rather to genuinely help the communities we serve,” says Casper, a former banker who joined the credit union 10 years ago as vice president of customer advocacy and assumed his current position in April 2017. “Connex has been a leader for years in this regard, and it’s nice to be recognized for our efforts.”
Commitment To Community
Connex’s multifaceted approach includes financial literacy programs, community outreach, volunteerism, and inclusive product offerings that showcase the credit union’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion — a commitment on display since its founding in 1940 to serve members of the Southern New England Telephone Company.
CU QUICK FACTS
Connex Credit Union
DATA AS OF 03.31.23
HQ: North Haven, CT
ASSETS: $957.5M
MEMBERS: 67,495
BRANCHES: 8
EMPLOYEES 147
NET WORTH: 9.1%
ROA: 0.85%
“The first loan was made to a member to help buy a refrigerator,” Casper says. “Since those humble beginnings, we’ve grown to nearly a billion-dollar institution while serving that same group: mostly working-class, middle-age, middle-income members.”
According to U.S. census and internal credit union data, the average age of a Connex member is 49. Approximately 81% of members live in areas that are predominantly white (non-Hispanic), 10% live in areas that are predominantly Hispanic, and 8% live in areas that are predominantly Black. The credit union also serves a community that is economically diverse, with enclaves of wealth and struggles mixed in and around middle-class neighborhoods.
“On one hand, you have Yale University and some areas of New Haven that have been gentrified over the years,” Casper says. “Then you have neighborhoods that have been ignored for far too long but are craving the help and rehabilitation we want to provide. It is not without its challenges.”
Those challenges include expensive housing that is in short supply, and high mortgage rates can make affordability an even bigger issue. There also are issues of food insecurity, financial literacy, and more.
Troubled Times
A new emphasis on diversity, equity, and inclusion within the credit union emerged after the widespread unrest following George Floyd’s death in 2020.
“Around the time of the social upheaval our board asked that we focus on building generational wealth among those disenfranchised by years of disparate treatment,” Casper says. “As we pondered what this would entail, our CEO, Frank Mancini, started to look at what the best-in-class community credit unions around the country were doing. I, and my team, were digging into it as well. When we walked away from those internal discussions, we had a few plans in mind.”
With the board’s new charge in hand, the credit union established several goals, including: apply for a Community Development Financial Institution designation and seek grants, design a set of lending programs to help people blocked by conventional underwriting restrictions purchase their own homes, create a department singularly focused on community development, establish ConnexCares as a true 501(c)(3) non-profit so the credit union can ramp up charitable contributions in a meaningful way, and reconfigure overdraft fees.
“My task was to operationalize all of those ideas with a team of people,” Casper says.
4 Pillars Of Service
Today, Connex has a community development department that focuses on four areas, which it calls pillars. Those pillars are community lending, networking, financial literacy, and volunteerism.
Led by associate vice president LeAndre Dupree and mortgage lending officer Katrina Goins, the department’s list of notable works is long. Among its accomplishments is the creation of the Connex Community Network, a growing network of 30 community stakeholders that includes housing programs, governmental agencies, human services providers, real estate agents, insurance providers, financial literacy specialists, and schools.
“They meet monthly and benefit from what we offer them and what they offer one another,” Casper says. “It’s a symbiotic relationship that adds so much value to all of the participants.”
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The credit union also is building out an inclusive product set, which now features a Bank On checking account certified by Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund to provide safe, affordable transactional banking.
Casper says Connex created a high-yield savings account to encourage people to set aside money in an emergency savings fund as well as a credit builder loan and a secured credit card to help bolster credit scores. That’s along with changing its overdraft fee policies.
“We also partnered to offer the Save to Win CD and Savings accounts to encourage people to save through these prize-linked accounts,” the Connex EVP says. “We call all this our Pathways product suite.”
Goins, meanwhile, works directly with members and real estate agents on financial education efforts and scouting out affordable homes in the area. She also directs the credit union’s grant-seeking efforts that have helped underwrite a pipeline of $4.5 million in approved loans, nearly 70% of them to people at or below 80% of the area median in household income.
“Our board has challenged us to make $30 million in loans in these categories over the next five years,” Casper says. “Our objective is to exceed that.”
The newly minted CDFI didn’t make the cut in its first request for Treasury funds but plans to try again. If successful, the additional funding could help its homebuying cause.
Connex Cares … And Gives
The member-owned cooperative now operates much of its volunteerism and all of its charitable giving under the umbrella of ConnexCares, which has three pillars of its own: financial literacy, children’s health, and food insecurity.
Connex partners with non-profit organizations like Habitat for Humanity, Solar Youth, and the Greater New Haven Diaper Bank to provide financial help where it’s most needed. Helping that along are efforts such as Coins for Change, which donates to local non-profits the small fees the credit union collects through its coin-counting machines located in four of its eight branches. That was good for more than $12,000 in community donations last year.
Additionally, Connex offers scholarships and manages grants, scholarships, and other charitable contributions.
Impact One Year At A Time
Connex has just published its first-ever Community and Member Impact Report to highlight significant achievements.
“This report attempts to consolidate all of the vital statistics that demonstrate our commitment to our members, community, and employees,” Casper says.
For example, in 2022, the credit union’s total member giveback via ATM refunds, dividends, fee refunds, and more exceeded $7,000,000; it established a charitable donation account with plans to fund more than $500,000 in charitable donations in the next five years; and, it helped 210 families achieve their dream of homeownership.
Connex Credit Union has an in-depth plan to help narrow the racial wealth gap and expand access to underbanked consumers. Learn more in “Inside Connex’s DEI Journey.
Transformative Power / No Fear Of Failure
Connex’s efforts exemplify the transformative power credit unions can have in creating positive change and building stronger communities. However, those same efforts can meet resistance and require do-overs. But that’s OK, Casper say.
“Don’t be afraid to fail,” he advises. “There are plenty of people that will poke holes in your thoughts, plans, or actions and articulate what they don’t like without being able to tell you what they do like. Move past them.”
He also urges credit union leaders to believe in what the movement does, and why, and to commit resources from the top down.
“It must be at the core of what you do,” he says.
Casper says Connex’s core principles will continue to guide the cooperative as it and its members navigate new and uncertain paths.
“There is no clear roadmap,” he says. “There’s only what’s right, and we have to be nimble and compassionate enough to keep moving in the right direction.”