PORTLAND, Ore.-OnPoint Community CU, founded to serve teachers, will reward one "innovative educators" with a year of paid mortgage as part of its "OnPoint Prize for Excellence in Education" contest.
The winner's school will also receive $5,000 worth of supplies, and three runners-up each will receive $2,500 cash for themselves and $2,500 worth of supplies for their schools.
The contest is aimed at rewarding teachers who have taken progressive steps in the classroom and found innovative ways to help students learn, according to Kelly Schrader, vice president of marketing for the $2.7 billion credit union, originally chartered as Portland Teachers CU.
"When we became a community charter in 2006, one of the things we wanted to do was maintain our heritage and the commitment to the educational community we were founded on," Schrader told Credit Union Journal.
That has meant collecting tens of thousands of dollars in school supplies for local districts each of the last two years and offering a special 100% mortgage with no down payment called Homeroom Loan, among other things.
The contest will have two main components. In the first, a panel comprised of OnPoint directors, local educators and public figures will chose 10 finalists from nominees sent in from the public. Neither the nominator nor the nominees need to be a member of the credit union.
OnPoint's long-time advertising partner, Weber Marketing Group, which helped develop the new brand in 2005, developed the concept and website for the promotion.
