Community First, since 1959, has been Doing Good!
FOUR SONOMA CO. HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS SPLIT $10,000
COMMUNITY FIRST CREDIT UNION’s “GIRL EFFECT” SCHOLARSHIPS

Four recently graduated high school seniors will equally split $10,000 of scholarship money offered by Community First Credit Union.

The four Sonoma County young women are inaugural winners of “The Girl Effect” Scholarship, given to entrepreneurial young women with vision, ideas, and the determination to make a difference for their communities.

The four young women are:

  • Annabell Robles, Roseland University Prep, headed to UC San Diego
  • Elsa Winters, Sonoma Valley High, headed to UC Santa Barbara
  • Emerson Klick, Healdsburg High, headed to University of Southern California
  • Ritujal Bhowmik, Maria Carrillo High, headed to UC Berkeley

“Sadly, of the 500 largest companies in the U.S., only 8.2% have a woman at the helm. As a company where women comprise 80% of our workforce, and 78% of our management, we wanted to do our part in helping to grow and empower the next generation of women leaders,” explained David Williams, Chief HR + Marketing Officer at Community First Credit Union.

The germ of the idea for a local scholarship came from Chloe Cullen, herself a Regents’ & Chancellor’s Scholar at UC Berkeley. As a senior at Sonoma Academy in 2020, Cullen won the “Stars of Tomorrow” Talent contest, which Community First sponsored as an outlet for local artistic youth during the year of COVID. “At a check presentation, I learned that Chloe had been busking to raise funds for girls to attend a boarding school in Africa. She called her fundraiser ‘The Girl Effect –– Educate a Girl and She Changes a Village.’ We talked about doing a Sonoma County version of that scholarship,” Williams added.

A group of high-powered local women leaders were recruited as judges:

  • Elizabeth Gore, Co-Founder/President of Hello Alice, former Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Dell Technologies
  • Letitia Hanke, CEO of ARS Roofing, and Founder of the LIME foundation, which engages youth in construction, technology, health care, and music
  • Elizabeth Ruetsch, General Manager of Quantum Engineering Solutions, and former Director of Worldwide Sales at Agilent/Keysight
  • Lindsey Ehrlicher-Styles, President of Sonoma County Professional Women, and Owner of Healdsburg’s Engle & Volkers Real Estate
  • Kerry Rego, Owner of Kerry Rego Consulting, social media consultant, technology trainer, college lecturer, author, speaker
  • Dianna Novy, Co-Founder and Winemaker of Siduri Wines and Nova Family Winery, solo Founder of Flaunt Wine Company
  • Monika Besancon, Chief Lending Officer at Community First Credit Union, now in her fourth decade of mortgage banking
  • Chloe Cullen, Regents’ & Chancellor’s Scholar at UC Berkeley, Artist Management Intern at Ineffable Music and Engagement Intern at Girls Leadership Institute in Oakland

Community First has hopes to expand this scholarship opportunity for young women beyond Sonoma County and into the other counties it serves –– Lake, Marin, Mendocino, and Napa –– in future years.
 
To learn why these young women were chosen as the winners visit: the-girl-effect.com
27th Annual Educator Calendars on the Way!
Another school year is here, and so is our signature, oversized 27th Annual Educator Calendar. 

Last year, with many school districts in our communities converting to virtual teaching, we reduced the number of school calendars printed by two-thirds. This year we’re back to our original print-run for nearly every teacher in our five-county footprint.

In the next two weeks, Community First’ers will distribute 6,400 calendars (designed in-house at CFCU) throughout Lake, Marin, Mendocino, Napa, and Sonoma counties. 

For over a quarter of a century, Community First staff has looked forward to revisiting their old stomping grounds and their children’s current school while championing LOCAL teachers and educators (who started our credit union back in 1959). 
A New School Year, a New Backpack, and a New Start Never Felt Better!
Community First has partnered with 93.7 the Bull for a Back-to-School Backpack Drive!
 
Join 93.7 the Bull on August 4th at Mountain Mike’s pizza on Santa Rosa Avenue in Santa Rosa for Backpack to School, where your favorite Bull DJs will be collecting your donations of new backpacks for underprivileged youth in your community.
 
Every kid deserves that feeling of a new cool backpack on their first day of school. And back to school 2021 is going to be bigger than ever. That’s why we’re calling on our Members to help get our local students ready for a great new school year.
 
Bring your donation of a new backpack to Backpack to School on August 4th and enjoy some good music. See you there!
Financial Literacy In-Class and Online! 
Community First was featured in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat for our substantial and sustained role in teaching in-class financial literacy to LOCAL high school students. It’s what we do.

When teachers invite us, we send our financial literacy employee pros either in person or via Zoom to teach financial literacy. For example, earlier this year, lead trainer, Rebecca Nystrom, presented to the Healdsburg High School junior class in four back-to-back 70-minute sessions, and another that included the senior class at Anderson Valley High School in Boonville. CFCU’s Chief Marketing Officer, David Williams, presented to the entire 7th and 8th grades classes at Piner-Olivet Charter in Santa Rosa over two successive weeks.

The syllabus for the class includes the ease of saving loose change, smart spending and budgeting, an introduction to credit scores and why they are so important, and what it all means for college, jobs, and life. 

We believe another way for our LOCAL youth to learn about money is through our YouthSaver account. The YouthSaver account helps instill the good habit of saving. 

The big banks reward you with a 0.01% (annual percentage yield) in a savings account. That means when you save $500, you earn 5¢ a year. Stoked? Not really. 

With the CFCU YouthSaver®, children between the age of five and 18 years, can earn as much as 7.07% (APY) which is $35.35 a year! Stoked? You bet. 

Learn more about our online financial literacy program for all ages (adults too!), Banzai, and about our YouthSaver account today! 
0% VISA Promotion ends August 15! 
Just like summer, our 0% (*APR) VISA promotion is wrapping up, but you still have two more weeks to take advantage of it. 

Pay 0% for 12 months on VISA purchases and balance transfers made through August 15, 2021. This offer is for new and existing VISA credit cardholders. 

We offer three convenient options with our LOCAL Visa® cards, Traditional, Rewards, and Shared Secured. 

Find out which card is the best for you and apply by visiting our website or stop by your favorite branch. 

*0% APR on purchases and balance transfers made between May 15, 2021, and Aug. 15, 2021, expire at the end of the Aug. 2022 cycle. Cash advances do not qualify for promotional rates. Default rates do apply. See your VISA account disclosure for details regarding default rates. Balance transfers do not qualify for Reward Points on the VISA Signature card.
2.20% on the 101
Another summer money-saving promotion for CFCU Members and LOCALS is our market-best loan rates for NEW or USED auto loans. 

Right now, CFCU auto rates start as low as 2.20% (APR)! This rate is even available for used vehicles with no more than 100,000 miles! You won’t find that at any bank! 

It’s a dad, mom, kids, and dog-approved rate!

*All loan rates expressed as Annual Percentage Rate (APR). Actual APR is determined by individual credit rating and ability to pay.
Boys & Girls Club School Supply Drive
We’re still collecting school supplies for our LOCAL Boys & Girls Club of Sonoma-Marin at our College, Fulton, Guerneville, Healdsburg, Novato, and Sebastopol branches!
707-546-6000
PO Box 6004,
Santa Rosa, CA 95406