Community

Building Community at home and around the world

Steven Stapp

2017 marked the 80th Anniversary of our credit union. It’s worth recognizing what that actually means: working together with us, our members have been improving their finances, supporting each other, and building successful financial lives for eight decades. As a not-for-profit financial cooperative, success for our members equals success for our credit union, and vice versa. Because of this, we are always striving to help each other become more financially capable and improve the financial well-being of our membership. Your success stories inspire us to keep improving.

Our community initiatives last year were far-ranging as always but two that stood out were our 2017 Portland Rose Festival Court Sponsorship and our Dream Come True program in partnership with Oregon State Athletics. The Rose Festival allowed some of the brightest young women students (Princesses) in Portland to job-shadow talented women executives and managers at Unitus. The once-in-a-lifetime experience included a visit to Doernbecher Children’s Hospital to make blankets for young patients, as well as financial fitness courses preparing them for the new financial challenges ahead. The Dream Come True Program gave young children with serious illnesses the chance to spend the day having fun with the Oregon State University Football team and coaches. The kids were honored on the field at halftime, and left with signed footballs and jerseys to commemorate the event. The program provided memories for them and their families to cherish forever. We are thrilled to expand this program to the OSU Men’s and Women’s Basketball teams in 2018.

Technology is becoming more and more intertwined into every aspect of our lives. Early last year we redesigned our website for mobile optimization, navigation and better search capabilities. We launched support for digital wallet platforms, including Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, Android Pay and Microsoft Wallet – allowing our members to make fast, secure retail purchases. Last year Financial Life Minutes debuted, a series of self-paced, interactive online videos educating members on essential financial needs like budgeting, credit, insurance and more. Our focus is to enable our members to make smart financial decisions that work.

In addition to those technological upgrades, we made more subtle tweaks to improve the member experience in 2017. We redesigned our internal phone system to reduce member wait times and transfers. Our vision is for members to be routed quickly to the person who can best help them with whatever they need. Members have also responded positively to our new loan application system which is more intuitive and convenient, making it easier for members to apply for loans.

Connecting with members throughout the year was always a great joy, and it was especially rewarding to see the ear-to-ear smiles lighting up the Plaza during our Human Foosball event last summer. Expanding our perspective, it was an honor to host young emerging leaders from Africa this August to discuss transparency, honesty and fairness in business throughout the world. It was a similar privilege to host a viewing of the total solar eclipse at our Salem branch with our credit union brethren from Central and South America. These were humbling reminders that there are always things we can learn from those who face different challenges than we do, and that we all benefit when we work well together to solve problems.

 

Thank you for your continued support of our credit union. Throughout 2018 we will renew our commitment to improving member service for our members. We don’t want to give too much away about our plans for 2018, but we invite all members to come join us for a few key events in the coming months:

 

Our new branch opens for business in Multnomah Village

Thursday February 1, 2018, 9:00 a.m.
7717 SW Capitol Hwy, Portland, OR 97219

Visit our new branch, meet the team, and discover a few local businesses in Multnomah Village!

Grand Opening Event for our Multnomah Village branch

Wednesday March 14, 4:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
7717 SW Capitol Hwy, Portland, OR 97219

Enjoy hors d’ouvres, refreshments, and activities for the whole family. We have partnered with local businesses to offer tons of prizes, cash giveaways and more!

Our Annual Meeting, open to all members

Tuesday March 20, 5:15 p.m. at Unitus Plaza
1300 SW 6th Avenue, 4th Floor, Portland, OR, 97201

Hear remarks from the CEO, the Board Chair, and the Audit Committee. Welcome the new 2018 board members and enjoy light refreshments.

 

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