HELENA, Mont. – There aren't many credit union or bank tradeassociations anywhere in the U.S. that have the missionary zeal forsocial causes and civic improvement as the Montana Credit UnionNetwork. And there aren't many that in a span of little more thantwo years have received so many community development accolades –as well as a myriad of grants – for projects ranging from helpingbattered wives get financial assistance to aiding low-incomeMontanans to purchase their first home. While the many MCUNprograms have already produced what many see as far-reachingresults in scores of small and larger cities across the state, partof the effort by the 12-member staff has an admitted element ofself-interest for the 69 CUs that make up the trade group. “We knowwhat we're doing in Montana is the right way to achieve the `peoplehelping people' mission but we also know that we've got to pursuethat goal when you consider a defense against bank attacks,”explains Tracie Kenyon, president/CEO of the network. The MCUN“Development Initiative” program, as it is known, was started whenKenyon, the former senior vice president of the Utah League ofCredit Unions, joined the Montana trade group in 2001. One of herfirst acts was to set up a “Development Department” as a corefunction of the trade association. She also established a nonprofitsubsidiary, the Montana Credit Unions for Community Development, toserve as a public “face” for the development initiatives and toprovide a clearer message to the community. In less than two yearsMCUN had corralled $243,300 in grants to fund their developmentinitiatives. Funding came from a variety of sources, including theU.S. Treasury, the National Credit Union Foundation, NCUA, and alocal Montana foundation. Not only is the trade associationreceiving grants, so are its credit unions. The number of NCUAtechnical assistance grants has mushroomed from four CUs in 2003receiving $7,500 to 18 credit unions receiving nearly $104,000. Thefunds go toward a mix of projects ranging from expanding a mortgagelending program at Wolf Point FCU to outreach on an IndianReservation at Bear Paw CU. And the Network received its own NCUAgrant – $15,000 for education scholarships to distribute to the 44low-income CUs in Montana. Also impressive is that while MontanaCUs represent less than 1% of all credit unions in the country,they boasted 8.6% of the $1.2 million in NCUA grants awarded in2004. “I believe this success was due to the Network's proactiveapproach,” commented another key MCUN staffer, Jeanne Saarinen,vice president of development services. “We helped CUs obtain theirNCUA low-income designation, provided telephone training on how toapply for the NCUA grants, and we always share success stories whena CU receives a grant.which provides encouragement,” addedSaarinen. Currently, 44 of the state's 71 CUs have the low-incomedesignation. MCUN's development initiatives include financialeducation, affordable alternatives to payday loans, IndividualDevelopment Accounts, and Earned Income Tax Credit electronic taxfiling assistance. A key component of each initiative is buildingpartnerships between credit unions and community organizations. Forexample, the Montana Legal Services Association contacted MCUNabout an Individual Development Account project for survivors ofdomestic violence. They were able to find a credit union partnerfor the project, Tri Valley Community FCU in East Helena. The CUwas able to obtain a $10,000 grant from the National Federation ofCommunity Development CUs to help support the project. “We're gladwe can help so many women get through some pretty rough times,”explained Tammy Peltomaa, manager of Tri Valley. Another initiativehas been a “Financial Fitness” collaborative in Missoula joininghomeWORD, a local nonprofit, together with area CUs to offerfinancial education. Working to replicate the “fitness” model incommunities will be another League staffer, Karen Dunn, director offinancial education. “The success of Financial Fitness has shown usthat strong local partnerships are essential.we absolutely couldnot have achieved this level of quality without the credit unionsupport,” said Jessie Lundberg , a homeWORD staffer. Yet anotherexample – a statewide free electronic tax filing serviceco-sponsored by the MCUN and the Montana Legal ServicesAssociation. The program allows tax filers qualifying for EarnedIncome Tax Credit to file online at http://www.icanefile.org/ forfree, helping them avoid rapid refund services. Credit unionshelped get the word out about this free service and two Montana CUseven made available a workstation for those qualifying tax filerswithout Internet access. Saarinen expects many more CUs willparticipate for the coming tax year. Anthony LaCreta, director ofNCUA's Office of Credit Union Development in Washington, saidMCUN's community development work represents a “model” for othertrade groups because of “its creative and innovative approach.” Hesaid the “synergy between the league and local organizationsthrough partnerships shows how things really happen” when there iscommitment by CU leaders to reach out to the underserved. Thisyear, MCUN has also been instrumental in the development of twostate-wide coalitions, the Montana Financial Education Coalitionand the Montana Alliance for Responsible Finance, which has beentargeting payday lending. Dunn, MCUN director of financialeducation, is a director of the Montana Financial Coalition andalso served as its annual meeting chairman this year. On paydaylending, Saarinen said nine CUs have already volunteered to aid theAlliance and as of yet no bankers have stepped up to the plate.Kenyon maintained the league's program are bringing solid resultsto many local communities and when the public recognizes thoseachievements then Montana CUs “become `teflon-coated' againstfuture attacks and prove to lawmakers the credit union differencethrough action.” [email protected]