MADISON, Wis.-Having pioneered the International Remittances Network (IRnet), WOCCU reported it has documented the Hispanic outreach strategies through its Credit Union Remittances Outreach Program (CUROP) with a 32-page report, Reaching the Hispanic Market through Remittances. The report includes best practices.
With funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development, WOCCU designed the one-year CUROP program to develop and implement a community outreach plan for membership extension and expansion to remittance-sending, underserved populations. Iowa became the program's focus thanks to its burgeoning Hispanic population, drawn in part by the state's large agricultural economy.
Together with the Iowa Credit Union League (ICUL) and Coopera Consulting, an ICUL subsidiary, WOCCU selected three Iowa credit unions to participate in the pilot initiative: The Family Credit Union (FCU), Davenport; Greater Iowa Credit Union (GICU), Ames; and Village Credit Union (VCU), Des Moines. The institutions developed remittance-based community outreach activities through CUROP to attract Hispanic members.
Initial results showed that two of the three CUROP credit unions experienced higher volumes of remittance transactions during the program's first 12 months than a sample average of 21 other credit unions offering remittances through IRnet.
