>When young adults enter the credit union conversation, the focus is typically on how to attract and retain them as members.

>Question: What’s one of the biggest benefits to attending a CUNA event?

Answer: Being able to network and share ideas with fellow credit union executives and volunteers.

We hear this time and time again through event evaluations and conversations with attendees.

The Community Credit Union and Growth Conference was no different. CCUC09 attendees enjoyed many collaborative opportunities thanks to “Lunch and Learn” sessions, a reception sponsored by CUNA Mutual, and the many networking breaks.

But what if you weren’t there?

One group was gracious enough to let me sit in and share their candid conversation with you. Watch John Sackett, Board Treasurer of Royal Credit Union and member of the Community Credit Union Committee, as he shares his opinion with other attendees during a networking break.

>Warren Morrow of Coopera Consulting believes credit unions have a tremendous opportunity to grow membership and create a sustainable future for the Movement.

That opportunity lies within attracting and serving a population contributing nearly a trillion dollars annually to the economy… Hispanics.

Here are a few items I want to share from Warren’s presentation “Reaching Out to the Largest, Fastest-Growing, Youngest, and Most Under-Served population” at CCUC09.

Why Hispanics?

During his presentation, Warren identified six key areas that demonstrate why Hispanics can have a positive impact on credit unions.

1. Growing population in U.S. – Hispanics are expected to comprise one third of the U.S. population by the year 2050.
2. Significant workforce participation – Currently, one out of every two adults entering the workforce is Hispanic according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics.
3. Highly entrepreneurial - The number of Hispanic-owned businesses is expected to grow to 4.3 million between 2006 and 2012 with total revenues rising to more than $539 billion.
4. Young population - Currently, one in five children below the age of 18 are Hispanic AND second generation Latinos are expected to outnumber their parents as early as 2020.
5. Consumer power is booming – Hispanic buying power is projected to exceed $1.2 trillion by 2012.
6. Largely unbanked - The FDIC projects that Latinos will represent more than half of U.S. retail banking growth in the next 10 years.

These points demonstrate that Hispanic’s are an ideal demographic for credit unions to establish a relationship with NOW (largely unbanked, represent a significant presence in the workforce and as consumers) and in the FUTURE ( a young and growing population that will need access to financial services).

How?

Warren covered many areas important to a successful partnership with the Hispanic community.

The one that resonated the most for me was having the right organizational mentality. Why? Probably because organizational buy-in is also an important consideration when discussing how credit unions can better serve and attract young adults.

Here’s my take… Credit union employees–from the top down–may believe that since they don’t know much about the demographic in question, any related initiative does not involve them. However, a truly successful initiative involves the buy-in from as many organizational resources as possible… this allows for every opportunity to be maximized and makes it an organizational effort as opposed to a team or individual effort.

I wish I could share more about this presentation, but time is running short…. and I don’t want to give EVERYTHING away … but now you can see the major points.

To give you additional perspective about the session, here’s Warren Morrow:

>Have a look at the Quick Quip replay for additional commentary from CCUC09… there are more than a few interesting bites of information.

What’s the deal with Quick Quips? These were (and are) brief bits of information originally posted in real-time throughout CUNA’s Community Credit Union and Growth Conference. They provided the ability to add commentary during the event while in-depth coverage appeared in the regular blog posts.

You can check out the Quick Quip Replay by scrolling through the box below:

>

CUNA’s Community Credit Union & Growth Conference may have ended last week, but there’s still more to come here on the blog!

The event was jam-packed with info and insight… and some posts didn’t make it online during the live event. So, be on the lookout for additional commentary and videos from the event.

Of course, you can also re-live the live blog experience. Check out the Quick Quips “replay” as well as the original live posts during CCUC09.

Enjoy!!

>There are only a few things I like better than eating lunch. One of them is sharing information and ideas with credit union folks about better serving/attracting young adults WHILE eating lunch.

And that’s exactly what happened this afternoon.

There were three “Lunch and Learn” sessions today, each with their own individual topic. Each addressed serving specific demographics–Hispanics, emerging markets, and young adults. And I was fortunate enough to facilitate the young adult session.

The 20 or so attendees were excellent. They shared ideas, frustrations, best practices, and a few laughs as we dove into almost all aspects surrounding credit unions and serving those just starting out in life. Our discussion lasted almost the entire hour and thirty-minutes and (luckily) ended before the after-lunch energy lull kicked in.

During the session I jotted down some notes and thought I’d share them with you… see below!

>Robert Burns wrote in his 1785 poem “To A Mouse”:

“The best laid schemes of mice and men
Go often askew,“

I wonder if Burns realized that this line would still ring true in 2009?

I planned to arrive in Las Vegas early on Wednesday, October 21 to kick-off the live blog with a post covering the preconference workshop, “Building a Balanced Score Card for Organizational Performance.” Leave it to travel mishaps to put a kink in those plans.

But that doesn’t stop THIS blog! Live blogging requires you to roll with the punches, no matter what plans you’ve laid out.

So, how do you cover something when you’re not there to take notes? Why, you go straight to the source, of course!

Here’s pre-conference session leader George Towle, of the Rochdale Group, to give you a quick rundown on what transpired:

>I caught up with Lois Kitsch, national program manager for the National Credit Union Foundation’s REAL Solutions program. She was kind enough to chat about her session, Growing Members One Deposit at a Time.

>The actual audio here on-site is much better than this short clip lets on… but wanted to share what the experience is like, and how well the technology is working.

We’re currently in a round of Q&A… attendees asking lots of great questions about CRA, corporate stabilization, the future of courtesy pay programs, among other topics.

>Where would we be without social media?