The Fort Worth Chapter of Credit Unions will be hosting our 3rd Reality Fair on Tuesday, May 22nd at:

Ed Wilkie Middle School – Eagle Mountain Saginaw ISD

6129 Texas Shiner Dr, Fort Worth, Texas 76179

We are in need of volunteers to make this event a success. If you can join us for the entire day, terrific. If you are only available to work in the morning or afternoon, we would still love to have you.

All volunteers must fill out the volunteer sheet and send it back to Natalie Parish by fax at 817-252-3909 or e-mail to natalie.parish@eecu.org no later than May 14th.

If you are able to join us: Please park in the lots or along the street. School starts at 8:40 a.m., all volunteers should check into the front office no later than 8:15 a.m. and then report to the gym for assignments.

These students are ahead of the game as they have received financial training in the classroom and recently completed a job search to identify the best careers for them individually. The day of the fair, they are “sent out into the real world” to put their paycheck to work, finding a place to live, buying their first car and all the other necessities of life with the goal of ending the fair with both a spending and a saving plan.

On April 24th, Josh Allison, CUDE, Founder & Chief Ideator of Think Café will be with us for a day full of informative and enlightening sessions. All of the sessions will be held at the Radisson Hotel Fossil Creek.

Sessions are $35 each or $100 for the full day. If you are interested in any or all of them, RSVP to Walter Furnace.

9:00am – 12:00pm

Mining for Membership Gold:Member Growth Strategies Hidden Inside of Recruitment, Retention and Relationship Management

Join Josh as he shares successful marketing strategies of all shapes and sizes. During this session, participants will examine best practices in new member recruitment, existing member retention and community creation. Prepare to think big, and think different about the obstacles we face and the solutions available to overcome them.

1:30pm-4:30pm

Think Café – Cooperative Conversations

Idea sharing is one of the most important assets we have as credit union collaborators. Through an open dialogue approach, participants will become their own best resource, as they work as a group to collectively find solutions for the challenges we all face.

Dinner: 6:00 p.m.

Philosophy: A Sustainable Strategy for Profitability, Differentiation and Outreach

For decades, credit unions played a vital role in assisting consumers of modest means in gaining access to credit and other financial services. But at the same time our SEG relationships have changed, banks have now pursued these same consumers and have given them the services they once didn’t. Our captive consumer audience is no longer only ours to serve. In this session, you will learn how credit unions are digging down to their historical roots to differentiate and define themselves within the financial services industry.

The Chapter is again offering the Raymond Shands Memorial Scholarship to Southwest CUNA Management School for employees of member and affiliated credit unions. The scholarship is in honor of Raymond Shands, a long time member of the chapter board and a 1974 graduate of SWCMS.

The application and instructions can be downloaded here:

• Scholarship Application

For more information, conact: Terrie Johnson, of Texas Trust CU and Chair of our scholarship committee.

The latest edition of the Chapter Communicator is now available. Check out our accomplishments and pictures from last year and look ahead to our events coming up in 2012. Thanks again to Pressman Printing for their support of the chapter!

Work is in full swing on the Fort Worth Chapter’s calendar of events for this year. We’ve got some new things in the works, as well as some of the best from prior years.

We’ll be keeping our golf tournament in its new, cooler place in October (10th). After the popularity of our first event at Rahr & Sons, we’ll be back there in October for a Chili Cookoff on International Credit Union day. We’ll be bowling to benefit CMN in August as well. We’ll close the year back at the Petroleum Club on December 3rd

As always, we try to keep our members and partners informed here, on the Facebook, and at our calendar page at Upcoming.org

It is that time of year where we start ramping up to host our holiday parties at Sam Rosen Elementary in Fort Worth and Webb Elementary in Arlington.

Volunteering for these events is guaranteed to be one of the highlights of your holiday season.

Here’s the schedule for 2011:

Dec 6 (morning) Party Prep at Sam Rosen

Dec 7 (all day) Party at Sam Rosen

Dec 13 (morning) Party Prep at Webb

Dec 14 (all day) Party at Webb

Sandra Szymanski is the volunteer coordinator for Sam Rosen

Vince Heimann is organizing workers for Webb.

Jackie Wisneski is the coat drive coordinator.

Even though the parties last all day, you are welcome to work only part of the day if that is what you can do. In addition to volunteers, we make a donation of winter coats to each school and try to buy a few items for goodie bags for each child. Your donation of coats and/or cash would be greatly appreciated!

All volunteers must be approved in advance by the district. The procedure for volunteering at Arlington ISD has changed substantially this year. Please review the instructions carefully. In addition to completing the online information, please send a copy of your driver’s license or state ID to Vince, his fax number is 817-273-5913.

The Fort Worth ISD volunteer form must include a copy of your I.D. on the form and fax to Sandra at 817-847-0328.

The deadline to submit the background form is November 10th. If you are recruiting volunteers from your credit union, you may also want to plan in advance for substitute volunteers by having them fill out the form as well.

If you need directions to the schools, click on their names above.

Lastly, check back and check the comments to this post for any subsequent information from the committee.

Credit unions from the Fort Worth Chapter had a lot of hardware to haul home from last week’s TCUL Marketing Council conference in San Antonio! Credit union marketers compete against asset peers in numerous categories. Here is a complete listing of winners from the chapter:

Annual Reports 1st Place to Tarrant County CU, Unity One CU, American Airlines FCU and Merit Award to Fort Worth City CU

Brochures 1st Place & Merit Award to American Airlines

Complete Campaigns 1st place to Fort Worth Community CU

Direct Mail 1st place to Unity One

Logos 1st place to American Airlines

Newsletters 1st place to American Airlines

Outdoor Advertising 1st place to Fort Worth City

PR/Community Involvement 1st place to Tarrant County

Retail Merchandising/Branding 1st place to Tarrant County and Texas Trust CU

Social Media 1st Place to Fort Worth Community

Website/Electronic 1st place to Unity One and Fort Worth Community. Merit Award to Family 1st of Texas FCU

Youth/Senior Marketing 1st place to Unity One

Best in Show AND People’s Choice Awards went to Fort Worth Community for their social media campaign.

Congratulations to all of the marketers and marketing departments for your outstanding accomplishments!

Dear Fort Worth Chapter:

I am pleased to announce that the Fort Worth Chapter of Credit Unions will receive the Chapter of the Year recognition for 2010! Congratulations on this well-deserved recognition.

While there were a number of chapters that submitted entries this year, the Fort Worth Chapter once again excelled in virtually every category from advocacy to community outreach.

We all know that today’s environment is very challenging for credit unions, and this makes the time and effort you spend on behalf of your chapter that much more impressive. Your work to provide value and education to local credit unions is truly remarkable.

As in years past, the Chapter of the Year will be recognized at the TCUL Leadership Conference in San Antonio, September 8-10. I will provide more details as they become available.

Once again, congratulations and thank you for all you do.

Regards,

Jim Phelps

AVP-Advocacy & Chapters

Texas Credit Union League

Our annual vendor exposition will be at the Crowne Plaza Fort Worth South on Tuesday, June 28th.

Preferred Partners and other vendors interested in taking part should contact Natalie Parish. You can get a copy of the registration form here.

As we have for the last several years, we will be using the expo to gather donations for the USA Home Team and the 86th Combat Support Hospital in Tallil, Iraq. Our donation from the expo is among the largest received each year and is truly appreciated by the men and women serving overseas. We also welcome cash donations to support shipping expenses as well as whatever you can donate from their wish list.

Today’s youth are tomorrow’s borrowers, savers and investors; however, many lack a basic understanding of money management. And without the necessary knowledge and tools to make smarter choices, they may never achieve financial stability in the future. The Texas Credit Union Foundation (TCUF) strives to be a valuable resource for Texas credit unions seeking to deploy financial education into their local schools and communities. On June 24, TCUF will offer a full day “train the trainer” workshop in Fort Worth, in which participants will learn how to effectively present the National Endowment for Financial Education High School Financial Planning Program (NEFE HSFPP).

These “Train the Trainer” sessions are open to credit union staff, teachers, and community partners who are interested in teaching or distributing the NEFE curriculum, a curriculum that is approved by the Texas Education Agency for use in Texas classrooms. NEFE “Train the Trainer” sessions are sponsored by TCUF as a service to Texas credit unions and the communities they serve. Participants will receive an instructor’s manual, student workbook, and practical hands on content training. Additional student workbooks and supplementary materials for future classroom presentations are free of charge as well.

“TCUF is committed to being an essential partner for our member credit unions, and one way we are able to demonstrate that commitment is by providing credit unions with these free ‘train the trainer’ sessions so that they can be more successful in their financial education outreach efforts,” says Courtney Nickles, executive director of the Texas Credit Union Foundation. “Together we can help Texas youth make sound money management decisions.”

While the “train the trainer” session is free, pre-registration is required as space is limited. To learn more about the NEFE curriculum and to download the registration form, please visit www.tcuf.coop. If you have any questions, please contact TCUF, at (800) 953-8283.