This Week's Guest:


Air Date: May 11, 2017
Financial

Rita L. Haynes, CEO Emeritus, Faith Community United Credit Union

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Vernon Oakes and Ms. Haynes discussed her life work and experiences as a leader in the cooperative movement, and how Faith Community United Credit Union changed lives and addressed so many community problems during her tenure.Rita Haynes dedicated her nearly 60-year career to serving the financial needs of disadvantaged communities in Cleveland, Ohio. Her innovations transformed the credit union industry with the development of products to combat predatory lending and harnessed financial resources to support community development. Rita is recognized for serving over fifty years as director, manager, treasurer and CEO of Faith Community United Credit Union, Cleveland, Ohio. Through vision, collaboration andsheer grit, Rita led the transformation of a small credit union operating out of a church basement, into a 6000-member financial institution with $12 million in assets, all the while never losing sight of the financial needs of the credit union’s low income members and their communities. A pioneer in faith based credit unions, she brought together credit unions and local government resources to create a revolving-loan fund to provide small business loans to minority contractors in Cuyahoga County, led the credit union effort to attain Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) certification from the US Department of Treasury,and successfully worked to have Faith Community United CU become a Small Business Administration lender.

Our host, Vernon Oakes, is a consummate advocate for cooperatives. He is a Past President of the National Association of Housing Cooperatives, and he’s served on several boards and committees to advance the interests of cooperatives. Recently, he served on the Limited Equity Cooperative Task Force, established by Anita Bonds, At-Large Member of the Council of the District of Columbia. Vernon is an MBA graduate of Stanford University, who has used his business acumen to benefit the community, by promoting the added value of the cooperative business model. 

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