Friday, February 26, 2010

DE Happenings & GAC activities

It was great seeing so many DEs attend the GAC. In fact, following the Wegner Dinner for the traditional annual photo, the stage was simply spilling over with DEs! On Wednesday afternoon, we held our DE Update Session...the following is a recap of that meeting.

GAC Activities

Annual Service Project
While inclement weather caused the service project to be cancelled, I want to thank Gigi Hyland, Gary Kohn, Jessica Vogel, Sue Douglas and Pat Roberts for all the work they did in organizing the project. These folks spent a great deal of time working with Operation Hope and the volunteers to pull off this program. We'll look forward to next GAC!

DE Networking & Recruitment
About 30 DEs plus guests interested in attending DE Training participated in the luncheon held at Clyde's. Thank you to Jennifer Kuhn, Valerie Breunig, Tom Greve, and Larry Blanchard for coordinating. It was a terrific time!

Michael Ray Bash
Thanks again to Michael (and Tony) for pulling out all the stops and inviting the DEs into their home. As always the food was amazing and the hospitality incomparable. In appreciation for hosting this event, in 2008 we started a DE Training scholarship in Michael’s name. Since then, we have awarded two scholarships per year from this fund. Please consider donating to this worthy endeavor by contacting me.
DEUKs

Thank you to Mike Beall and the Maryland & DC Credit Union Association for once again hosting the delegation of DEs from the United Kingdom. It is always such a pleasure to visit with Marlene Shiels and our UK counterparts...even Michael Hope.

DE Happenings

International DE Programs & Schedules

All international DE Programs will be conducting training in 2010:

• DEUK Edinburgh, Scotland August 26 - 31
• PhDE Cebu, Philippines October 16 - 22
• DUDE Australia October 25 - 30
• Asia Training will take place in July...other details to follow

Since becoming a CUDE last May, Melvin Edwards has been developing a DE program for the Caribbean. While there have been numerous challenges, while attending the GAC he secured the final amount of funding necessary to make the program a go. Melvin is tentatively scheduling the first ever Caribbean DE Program for May of this year. Congratulations Melvin!!

Remember that that the CUDE Program has reciprocal agreements with DEUK, PhDE, and DUDE. Please contact me if you are interested in attending any of these programs.
NCUF/WOCCU African DE Scholarship Initiative

The initiative developed in 2009 aims at providing leadership training for Africans working on development projects in the hopes that they will start an African DE program after building a base of 20 DEs. Two Kenyans attended the Spring 2009 program and two South Africans the Summer program. Two participants from Malawi will be attending the Spring 2010 program. We are honored to be working in tandem with WOCCU on this project and look forward to hosting more of our African friends.
International-CUDE Designation

We designated our first group of I–CUDEs at the World Credit Union Conference in Barcelona last May. The designation recognizes the international work DEs perform around the world. The next opportunity to gain the designation will take place in 2010 at the WOCCU World Conference in Las Vegas. Please visit http://www.ncuf.coop/home/news/subnews/InternationalDERelease.aspx to obtain eligibility information, and contact me if you are interested in discussing or pursuing the application process.

DE Sustainability Task Force
Late last year a sustainability task force was organized to work with NCUF in crafting and executing a long-term strategy that ensures financial sustainability for CUDE. Embedded in this challenge is the opportunity to take the CUDE Program to the next level, to double or triple the number of CUDE’s and thus help ensure the future success of the credit union movement. The task force is working with the NCUF Board to formalize two giving campaigns: an Alumni Membership Campaign and a direct credit union giving campaign. Towards this, the NCUF Board recently approved a DE designation for the Community Investment Fund (CIF).

My thanks to the Task Force members who include:

Larry Blanchard, Class of 1988
Val Breunig, Class of 2005
Danielle Brown, Class of 1997
Tom Greve, Class of 2008
Melia Heimbuck, Class of 2005
Claire Ippoliti, Class of 2007
Jennifer Kuhn, Class of 2008
Jeanne Saarinen, Class of 2004
Bob Schumacher, Class of 2001
Pat Sterner, Class of 1997
Debbie Wege, Class of 1993
Gary Oakland (NCUF board member)

Finally, my thanks to all of you who took time from GAC to attend the DE Update Session. Special thanks to Mike Beall and Larry Blanchard for their advice and leadership in activating a DE Advisory Board. I look forward to working with you, NCUF and the entire DE community to keep you better updated and engaged in our program and its mission to strengthen the credit union movement.