Credit unions began as a revolutionary idea of people helpingpeople by pooling together resources and encouragingself-help.

Today, credit unions are the leaders of the cooperative industryin assets, income, wages, employees and other significantcategories.

Next year is Year of the Co-ops, and credit unions now have thechance to use this as an advantage by linking with othercooperatives and getting great press coverage. Doing this can growour membership and loans (consumer and business). And best of all,it can distinguish us in a big way.

Credit unions have managed to take a significant chunk ofpotential business away from banks through our superior service,better rates and lower fees. The post-World War II and '70s and'80s eras gave credit unions a constant stream of new members fedup with banks.

All parties must come to an end. The explosive growth thatcredit unions once enjoyed is nonexistent today. In whispered tonesbehind closed doors, some wonder whether the credit unionphenomenon is losing its luster.

In an increasingly fast-moving, digitized world, some fear thatpeople have begun to shun credit unions. Many credit unions havefelt the pressure of added regulations and a population thatincreasingly does not understand what credit unions are. The answerhas frequently been to become more like a community bank.

This is a viable option but will eventually lead to ourobsolescence.

With the upcoming International Year of Co-ops, there is nobetter time than now for credit union executives to do some soulsearching and review their current paths.

The cooperative principles stand to unite us, while heaps ofregulations and messaging clutter threaten to drive us apart. TheYear of Co-ops stands to remind the public of our mission and ourrelevance.

In 2012, I implore credit union professionals to see the benefitin building meaningful bridges with area cooperatives and providingsupport for workers in the cooperative sector.

My credit union has been adding cooperatives to our field ofmembership since 2001 and has recently joined with othercooperatives to form the Valley Cooperative Business Association,which is dedicated to expanding and advancing our region'scooperative economy. This activity distinguishes us not only frombanks but also, sadly, from many other credit unions. 

SeanCapaloff-Jones is manager of member outreach at U-Mass FiveCollege FCU in Hadley, Mass.

The Crash Networkis a grassroots organization of more than 100 young credit unionprofessionals. Its activities include meetings, mentorships onlinecollaboration and development projects.