State leagues magnify mainstay value during crisis
America’s credit unions are doing an amazing job helping their staff, members, and communities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Whether it’s safety in operations, loan relief, small business loans, financial support to local organizations, or a myriad of other ways, credit unions are truly financial first responders protecting millions of Americans’ financial well-being.
One of the major ways credit unions are supported is through the tireless collective and individual work of credit union leagues/associations across the country. For example, you may have seen the comprehensive collection of resources, tools, and information on the CUNA/AACUL COVID-19 Response Center, which highlights the extensive resource pages on league websites as well as video and digital ads, graphics, templates, and other information shared by leagues to help credit unions communicate “we’re here for you.” Or maybe you saw your league president or other league staff on the news, heard them on the radio, or in the local paper talking about the great work credit unions are doing. Perhaps you benefited from a virtual meeting facilitated by your league with credit union leaders in your area to share best practices, used social media graphics developed by your league, had your compliance questions answered, used an important email update, or leveraged the impactful work of your state credit union foundation to help your community.
Leagues are also coordinating webinars and calls with local, state and federal regulators, agencies, and lawmakers. These provide credit unions the opportunity to ask questions and provide feedback to policymakers about what is happening on the front lines when it comes to financial services. This is a critical time for collaboration and leagues, credit unions, and CUNA are working diligently together and with other partner organizations on regulatory relief and advocacy efforts to address the challenges of this health and financial crisis.
These examples and countless others are all very visible ways of how leagues are working to support your credit union. However, much of what they do is behind the scenes and is mission critical. For instance, leagues routinely work with state regulators and the National Credit Union Administration on behalf of credit unions. Since the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) was announced, leagues have been working with many officials to assist credit unions by getting clarification, guidance, and authorization related to PPP as well as creative approaches to help credit unions serve their members.
This type of powerful action by leagues is happening nationwide and exemplifies the cooperative nature of our industry. It’s what we do together that sets us apart and I’m extremely proud to say the leadership and work of credit union leagues across the country have shown we are truly stronger together, particularly when members need us most.
