CDCUs Well-Represented At Meeting

NEW YORK - Community development credit unions made their presence felt here as part of the Eastern Regional Conference on Reaching Unbanked People, organized by the U.S. Treasury Department's Financial Literacy and Education Commission.

Credit unions were joined by federal and state regulators, banks, non-profit asset-builders, and philanthropies for the full-day conference that included presentations by U.S. Treasurer Anna Escobedo Cabral, U.S. Treasury Department Deputy Assistant Secretary for Financial Education, Dan Iannicola, NCUA Chairman JoAnn Johnson, and New York City Department of Consumer Affairs Commissioner Jonathan Mintz.

"The role that CDCUs play in the community economic development of low-income communities often goes unrecognized by the larger community development finance field," said Clifford N. Rosenthal, executive director of the National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions. "The reality is that CDCUs are some of the largest providers of affordable loans and microfinancing in the country and are often at the forefront in developing and testing specialized products and services for the populations they serve."

Among the CDCU representatives making presentations were:

* Pablo DeFilippi, Federation associate director for membership development, and Deyanira Del Rio, chairman of the Lower East Side People's FCU, New York City, who presented at a breakout session on Reaching Immigrant Markets.

* Justine Zinkin, CEO of Neighborhood Trust FCU, New York, who spoke during a panel on Strategies for Reaching Youth.

* Luis Pastor, CEO of Latino Community CU in Durham, N.C., who led a breakout session on Building Community Financial Institutions.