CUs Receive Dora, Louise Awards

Ann Hayes Peterson

Last year, 181 credit union entries competed in the national 2003 Dora Maxwell Social Responsibility Recognition award program and the Louise Herring Philosophy in Action award program. But what's the thinking behind an award-winning community project or unique member service? Two first-place winners explain.

Denver Community Federal Credit Union
Dora Maxwell Social Responsibility Recognition award winner

Denver Community Federal worked with several community groups to provide paid internships to disabled adults and welfare-to-work recipients. In addition, the credit union hired a sight-impaired person in its call center, an effort requiring special software and programming to allow him to hear what was on the computer screen. Many of those interns have stayed on as credit union employees.

How is this project unique?
The motivating factor for the project was a commitment to the community to improve the financial education of those who might not be employable or who are dependent on support. The credit union’s devotion and energy is demonstrated in the continuing training, coaching, and monetary resources necessary to carry on the employment and development for those dependent on support.

Describe the results the project achieved.
Four current employees are from the programs mentioned. They’re committed to serving our members and to being valuable, contributing members of society. They’re also integral to the staff at the credit union. Five other individuals have started with Denver Community Federal and since have moved on to other financial institutions to develop their careers.

How does the project demonstrate credit union values of mutual self-help, cooperation, economic empowerment, and volunteerism?
The very basis of this project was cooperation with other entities: the mayor's office of employment, the Community College of Denver, and the Department of Vocational Rehabilitation. The goal was to develop and nurture people, and help them improve their lives through self-support. While most of the activity involved in these projects used the credit union’s resources and time, it certainly takes a combined effort and support from all levels, going above the norm to work with individuals who have been presented with challenges.

Gold Coast Federal Credit Union West Palm Beach, Fla.
Louise Herring Philosophy in Action award winner
Gold Coast Federal Credit Union, West Palm Beach, Fla., realized some members were being refused checking accounts because they appeared on a report from ChexSystems, a deposit account verification service financial institutions use as a fraud-prevention tool. Credit union policy states that anyone on this report couldn’t receive a checking account. But that seemed only to send more people to check-cashing stores, according to Bryan Lewis, vice president of marketing. The credit union developed a new product—Fresh Start Checking Account—to serve these members.

How does this project go beyond what’s normally expected of a credit union?

It does so in two ways:

1. We’re willing to take the time to help members. In today's world, business decisions have become black and white with zero tolerance. If you appear on the ChexSystems report, you don't get an account. If you aren't on the report, you get an account. We recognized that just because people are on file at a check reporting agency doesn’t mean they’re bad. Our member service representatives take the time to explain the Fresh Start Checking Account and stress the importance of balancing their accounts every month.
2. Graduating to the free checking also is a step beyond. Most institutions would be more than glad to keep generating fee income. We want our members to graduate to the free account.

How did the project demonstrate your commitment to educating members about credit union philosophy?
We tell people we’re a credit union and that we’re different. We’re people helping people. We all have rough periods in our lives and someone shouldn't be denied financial services because of a rough spot.

When we talk to prospective select employee groups (SEGs), we tout the Fresh Start Checking Account. We tell them because we want to help people, it was a part of our philosophy to create this account. We look at member needs and we react to members’ circumstances. An unexpected benefit of the account is that it has helped a number of our SEGs in their efforts to get 100% participation in direct deposit [a requirement of the account].

How does the project demonstrate extraordinary and exemplary efforts to serve the credit union's members on a consistent basis?
Everyone should have access to basic financial services. Any business must adapt to its customer's needs. The credit union must do that, too. It’s too easy to fit people into a model where the answer is yes or no without thought. To a certain extent, this made us realize we had gotten away from our mission. We weren’t being of service to all of our members, nor were we a viable alternative to potential members.

In recent years, we had been bitten badly and consistently with various check fraud schemes. The policies and procedures we put into place protected us too well. We realized this when we looked over the reports on rejected checking accounts. Is this type of account extraordinary? Unfortunately, yes, in today's market. Should it be extraordinary for credit unions? No. More credit unions should do things like this to exemplify our philosophy of "people helping people."

For more about these award-winning programs, see the March issue of Credit Union Magazine.