February 2021
Empowering people and communities to
achieve financial well-being by
championing the credit union philosophy
of 'people helping people'.
Financial Coach Alumni Newsletter
Greetings!

Hello and welcome to the first edition of the People Helping People Financial Coach Program – Alumni Newsletter!

First up, congratulations on graduating and completing the Program! We hope you are as proud as we are of your achievement and participation. The program has seen 70 graduates in the last two years, and we are happy to welcome another group of amazing representatives from the credit union family this May!

This program aligns with ICUF’s mission to help people and communities achieve financial well-being while championing the credit union philosophy of people helping people. We know Iowa credit unions provide a significant benefit to their community, and your role in providing financial coaching is an important piece of our collective impact.

So, you are a member of a small but incredibly important group, and it’s growing!

As a part of our continuing commitment to all of you, we are starting an Alumni program to support your ongoing professional development as credit union professionals! This year we will connect with you, virtually and in person, through get-togethers, webinars, and roundtable discussions as well through a quarterly newsletter from us.

In this and future issues, you’ll find some useful resources and articles, and we encourage you to get back to us with your stories and experiences we can share and promote your credit union!

We hope you’ll enjoy this first issue of the Alumni Newsletter and find something of interest and use to you in your role!

Happy reading!
Jaimie Miller
Executive Director 
Iowa Credit Union Foundation
Adam Carroll
Founder
National Financial Educators
Dates Set for 2021 Financial Coach Training Program
This year's training session will be held virtually via multiple sessions throughout the month of May. Do you have a colleague who would benefit from participating in the financial coach training program? Tell them to save the dates!

To help promote the program, we'd love to hear feedback from your training experience, or how the knowledge gained through the program has been applied at your credit union. Feel free to email us a few sentences!
Registration Open for NCUF Education Programming
Since 1982, the National Credit Union Foundation's (NCUF) Development Education (DE) program has inspired credit union professionals and advocates to leverage the unique business model of credit unions to best serve members and communities. While many trainings focus on the “what” and “how” of credit union service and operations, the DE program focuses on exploring the “why”. Over the course of training, DE participants engage in lessons focused on the credit union difference, credit union development and empathy.

Learn more and register for the program here.

Empathy Starts With Me
“Empathy is a hard skill to learn because mastery requires practice and practice means you’ll screw it up big time more than once. But that’s how practice works.”
– Brené Brown

"Empathy has become a topic for conversation now more than ever as credit unions strive to find ways to help their members get through this pandemic. And while the concept of empathy is simple, it’s not easy. Truly serving through empathy requires lots of practice and intentional effort to improve.
 
Just like strengthening any sort of muscle, building empathy can be draining both emotionally and mentally. There’s also not an “easy” button, or a “one way solves all” to practice empathy."
 
Click here to read the full article by National Credit Union Foundation Education Program Manager Kalli Shelton.
Coach Members to Think About Stimulus Check Spending
As credit union members are receiving COVID-19 stimulus checks from the government, credit unions have the unique opportunity to financially coach members. The National Credit Union Foundation (NCUF) and Filene Research Institute have shared resources for credit unions and their members to make steps toward turning short-term savings into sustainable financial security.

Recommended Financial Coaching Resources
resources
Looking for new ways to help members or approach financial coaching? We recommend investing a few minutes in these links:

Reading Corner

Watch Out
  • COVID-19: New Crisis, Same Story!: Check out this six-part video series highlighting the grassroots and community innovations that have been developed and piloted to address the challenges of racial economic inequality. The series discusses the historical basis for present-day inequality and elevates solutions that disrupt the reoccurring patterns of inequality in communities of color.
ICUF was established in 1995. Our mission is to empower people and communities to achieve financial well-being by championing the credit union philosophy of "people helping people."