“Best Practices Forum” to be Held at San Francisco Fed

(October 10, 2007 – San Francisco, CA) The National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions (Federation), has announced that its Sixth Annual Financial Literacy Day: Best Practices Forum, will take place for the first time on the West Coast on October 29, 2007 at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.  The event is being organized with support from the California and Nevada Credit Union League; Federation Community Development Partner, Patelco CU (San Francisco, CA); and two CDCUs: Community Trust CU (Modesto, CA) and Mission Area FCU (San Francisco, CA).

“This forum is an excellent opportunity for credit unions and other organizations to become familiar with the Federation and the important financial literacy work being done in underserved communities,” said Rita Fillingane, the CaliforniaCredit Union League’s director of research information and community development credit union liaison. “The League is proud to be a sponsor of this important West Coast inaugural event and encourages all credit unions to attend to learn how they can further improve their financial literacy efforts.  This is of utmost importance, especially when so many Americans are struggling with their finances and ballooning debt.”

Confirmed speakers include José Cisneros, Treasurer, City of San Francisco; Kathy Martinez, Executive Director, World Institute on Disability; Jenefer Duane, CEO & Executive Director, Elder Financial Protection Network; and Dianne Tallo, a youth member of Mission Area FCU's Youth Credit Union Program (YCUP); among others.

Breakout sessions during the event will help practitioners gain a focused view on ways to serve youth, immigrants and unbanked consumers, and the elderly and disabled; groups of particular interest for alleviating poverty in San Francisco.

“Today, American families have the highest debt and the lowest asset accumulation rate in our history,” said Sandell McLaughlin Community Development Director at Community Trust CU and Board Member of the Federation.  “In the short-term, that scenario means a day-to-day scramble just to keep up.  In the long-term, it’s financial ruin,” she added.

“This forum is designed to help change that trend by showcasing financial education models that are successful, and identifying what makes them successful,” explained McLaughlin, who also serves as Chairman of the Federation’s Education and Training Committee.  “Financial education classes often do not have the expected impact on their target audiences.  This is why this forum will focus on identifying what is actually working and how to best replicate successful models,” she said.

Forum organizers are working together on this project to help credit unions and other providers learn about the work being done to successfully raise the financial skills of some of the most vulnerable populations in society.  The California and Nevada Credit Union Leagues joined in organizing and sponsoring this event as a way to promote and recognize the financial education efforts of credit unions in California and Nevada. 

The Federation has long made financial literacy central to its mission. To date, the Federation’s Each One, Teach Many financial literacy program has trained over 800 trainers, who have gone on to train more than 18,000 end users including 3,000 people living with disabilities.

The five previous Financial Literacy Days were held in New York City, where the Federation is headquartered.

For more information about the event,  click here.  To register, contact Dan Apfel at dapfel@cdcu.coop or (800) 437-8711, x 22.

© 2007 National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions.