New Blog: Expanding Mainstream Credit Unions’ Lower-Income Membership

Posted by on April 29, 2005

Woodstock Institute Blog Working to Expand Mainstream Credit Unions? Lower-Income Membership

Contact: Marva Williams, Senior Vice President

Community organizations and credit unions seeking to partner for financial literacy training, low-cost savings accounts, or payday loan alternatives now have an online web log (blog) dedicated to mutual problem solving.

?Blogs have emerged an important source of information in the community development field,? says Marva Williams, Woodstock Senior Vice President. ?Forming these partnerships between community organizations and mainstream credit unions is challenging but the blog format promises to bring together community organizations, credit unions, and community development practitioners.?

With support from the Annie E. Casey Foundation and the Ford Foundation, Woodstock offers technical assistance to sites across the country looking for credit union partnerships. Woodstock and the technical assistance sites currently communicate by site visit or conference call. The Building Community Assets blog will help facilitate discussion, critical review, and information exchange in a much more timely and strategic manner.

?The blog will also open up discussion to potential community partners and credit unions looking to expand in underserved communities,? says Williams.

Check out Building Community Assets, at http://www.woodstockinst.org/blog

Woodstock Institute, founded in 1973, is a nationally-recognized resource on credit and capital needs of low-income and minority communities. The Institute engages in applied research, policy development, and technical assistance to promote community economic development.