Serving the Underserved: Building Alternative Financial Services
in Low-Income Communities
When: April 15, 2015 | 9:00 am – 5:00 pm
Where: Westerfield Conference Center | 1800 S. Acadian Thruway
Baton Rouge, LA
Cost: $45 per person
The National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions, sponsored by Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Baton Rouge and the Louisiana Credit Union League, invite you to join us for Serving the Underserved, a roundtable devoted to building the financial security of low-income communities in Louisiana.
Program At-A-Glance
9:00 am – Breakfast/Meet and Greet
10:00 am – 10:15 am – Welcoming remarks
10:15 am – 11:00 am – Building Blocks Overview: Developing External Resources (LID and cdfi Certification), an overview of the regulatory powers that can strengthen a credit union’s capacity to serve low-income consumers and underserved communities.
What is secondary capital and how can it be used to propel rapid growth and profitability by serving low to moderate income markets (LMI)
Field of Membership expansion opportunities
Overview of cdfi certification requirements and the benefits it brings to credit unions
The role of local partnerships
11:00 am – 12:00 pm – The Market Opportunity/ Developing your CDFI Mindset and Strategy: Understanding the LMI market and the growth opportunities it represents for Louisiana credit unions.
Identify needs in your community and learn how your credit union can respond
Profile of the Payday Loan borrower and addressing the needs of immigrant and emerging markets
Community development products profile
Determining your baseline: What services do you already have in place to meet the community’s needs in a way that is both responsible to the consumer and sustainable to your institution
How do you integrate your LMI strategy into your overall business strategy so that your institution’s core competencies are best leveraged
How to embrace the CDFI identity and develop a long term community development strategy
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm – Working Lunch
1:00 pm – 2:00 pm – Putting the Pieces Together: Guided discussion with CEOs of credit unions that have successfully leveraged external resources and partnerships to increase their capacity to meet the needs of LMI consumers.
How successful credit unions develop and deploy payday alternative loan programs, small business loan programs, used vehicle loan programs and immigration loan programs
2:00 pm – 2:45 pm – Microfinance & Small Business Lending: The lack of access to responsible lenders that can help protect and build assets in low income communities is one of the biggest barriers facing financially underserved markets.
Understand how payday loan alternatives, small dollar loans, micro credit for the financing of legalization or naturalization fees for immigrants and micro loans for home-based businesses can become engines for institutional growth while providing new opportunities for low-wealth consumers.
2:45 pm – 3:00 pm – Break
3:00 pm – 3:30 pm – The ABCs of Community Partnerships: As a CDFI your credit union will be sought after by community based organizations interested in partnering with an institution committed to serving LMI consumers.
How do you structure the partnership to make sure it is not only effective, but also sustainable? Community involvement is a decisive factor in the CDFI grant allocation process.
Leverage your LMI loan products and services with partner resources to meet community needs
3:30 pm – 4:30 pm – Partnerships at Work in Louisiana
4:30 pm – 5:00 pm – Thinking Ahead: A look at state CDFI Coalitions: Through years of advocacy work by a multi-sector CDFI coalition representing credit unions, banks and loan funds, new york state became the first state that has successfully replicated a CDFI Fund-like program; this year the program will have its first budget appropriation.
What does it take to build such a coalition? Can it be done in Louisiana?
5:00 pm – Meeting Adjourned
For questions about this roundtable, please contact Jules Hebert at JHebert@cdcu.coop. Seats are limited.
