“Credit unions are perfectly positioned for doing the hardthings,” said Laura Woods, vice president of marketing andcommunity presence for 1st Financial Federal CreditUnion, based in St. Louis. Woods was one of the featured speakerson the first day of Disruption '17 by CU Water Cooler.
|The credit union conference, hosted this year in downtownMadison, Wis., has drawn nearly 200 credit union and cooperativeprofessionals from around the country for what many consider a moreedgy credit union conference experience and hosted by Matt Davis,founder at gameFI, Inc. and Tim McAlpine, president and creativedirector of Currency Marketing.
|Woods discussed “The Differentiator of Doing Hard Things,” apresentation about the lengths to which her credit union is goingto provide financial assistance to underserved and high-risk neighborhoods in St.Louis.
|“We have a population of people who do not trust the bankingindustry after decades of unfair and discriminatory lendingpractices,” said Woods.
|Her credit union started savings and lending programs focused on several populationgroups, including the youth and elementary school-aged children inunderserved areas of St. Louis. One particular effort set upsavings allocations for youth to give them the tools to start asavings program. According to Woods, since 2014 those participatingin the program have saved nearly $30,000.
|“Yes, young people are risky and at-risk neighborhoods arerisky,” said Woods. She added that while the programs are gainingtraction and building a foundation for a better community, thecredit union does lose some money on programs such as this.
|“Losses, for sure – and we're always making it better for themember and we are saying 'Yes!' and that's so incredibly powerful,”said Woods.
|She described, what is considered to be a radical and a somewhatcontroversial program for kindergarten students in the St. Louispublic school system. As Woods explained it, the credit union beganopening up a savings account for “every single kindergartener andthat money is only to be used for a college education.”
|She said that there's been more than $400,000 deposited intosavings accounts under this program. “By doing this, we arebreaking down generations of (financial) intimidation, regulatoryred tape and barriers because we're trying to set up financialstability for people working through the education system.”
|Woods added that this program hasn't been without it's pains.“It's a complete compliance nightmare, but we believed in theprogram to move it forward,” said Woods.
|Woods and her credit union appear to believe that the CUindustry should be leaders for the underserved. “Leadership inevery capacity – it's really f'ing hard,” she said. “But we can dohard things.”
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Michael Ogden
Editor-in-Chief at CU Times. To connect, email at [email protected]. As Editor-in-Chief of CU Times since 2016, Michael Ogden has led the editorial team in all aspects of content strategy and execution, including the creation of the publication’s exclusive and proprietary research database of the credit union industry’s economic landscape. Under Michael’s leadership, CU Times has successfully shifted to an all-digital editorial product with new focuses on the payments, fraud, lending and regulatory beats. Most recently, he introduced a data-focused editorial product for subscribers that breaks down credit union issues into hard data, allowing for a deeper and more factual narrative for readers. In 2024, he launched the "Shared Accounts With CU Times" podcast, which offers a fresh, inside-the-newsroom perspective through interviews with leaders from the credit union industry and the regulatory world. He dives into pressing credit union issues, while revealing the personalities working behind-the-scenes to push the credit union world forward. His background includes years as a radio and TV anchor/reporter and a public relations and digital/social media manager, where he covered the food and music industries, as well as cooperatives and credit unions. Over the years, he has launched numerous exclusive video and podcast series, including a successful series of interactive backstage interviews with musicians at music festivals, showcasing his social media and live streaming production skills.
