MADISON, Wis. -
Dubbed the "30 under 30" group, the problem-solving team made up of CU professionals younger than the age of 30 is being undertaken with underwriting and support from PSCU Financial Services in St. Petersburg, Fla.
30 Under 30 falls under the umbrella of a broader Filene program called CU Tomorrow, which works with state leagues, universities and other organizations to make credit unions more appealing to young adults-both as financial institutions and as employers. The 30 under 30 group is comprised of full-time CU employees.
Ben Rogers, driver of CU Tomorrow, said that choosing the 30 members was a difficult process, which took about a month. The deadline for applications was the middle of October, and decision letters were sent out on Nov. 16.
The members were chosen mainly from how they answered two questions, one being a personal statement, and the other being asked if they had unlimited resources, what would they do to get young people involved in credit unions.
"We also looked at diversity-as to what departments of in the credit union they were from," Rogers said.
Because it was important to Filene to represent a range of credit unions, a variety of asset-sizes were chosen. "Sixteen or 17 are from the $100-million to $1-billion range, six or seven from larger than $1 billion, and six or seven from smaller than $100 million," Rogers said.
"March is the first time we'll sit together in one room," Rogers continued. "But a lot is being done remotely. The team has already started reading journals, getting ready. The whole idea is not to get together, have meetings and talk."
Team members are expected to arrive to the March meeting with plans such as marketing campaigns, CU products and recruiting strategies. They will present their plans, and the best ones will be chosen. After that team members will be divided into small groups to work on implementing the ideas chosen-with each small group being assigned one of the proposals. In addition, observers from PSCU Financial Services, Credit Union Direct Lending, the California league, Credit Union House and CUNA will also participate.
