The Community Development Credit Union Institute, a school for training CDCU leaders that is sponsored by the National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions, is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year.
Developed in partnership with the Southern New Hampshire University and supported in part by CUNA, the school has graduated 104 staff and board members from CDCUs around the country since 1999, the National Federation said.
The school offers a three year program through which participants earn a certificate in CDCU management.
"The current economic environment has been especially challenging for credit unions serving low-and moderate-income people," noted Pamela Owens, federation director of education and training. "With credit union resources stretched to the limit, it will be the best trained credit unions that are able to take advantage of the growth opportunities around them. Any credit union that is actively serving, or is considering expanding its outreach to underserved segments of its membership, stands to benefit from the specialized curriculum that the Federation's CDCU Institute has developed throughout the past 10 years of operation."
Ron Ehrenreich, Treasurer and Manager of Cooperative Federal CU (Syracuse, NY), which has sent several staff through the three-year program, commented on the benefits he has seen. "Sending our staff to the Institute has turned out to be a very wise investment for our credit union," he explained. "The staff that completed the program has learned important skills to boost our community impact and help us achieve our mission of serving the underserved."
