Ukrainian American credit unions hold 25th anniversary conference (07/30/06)

Ukrainian American credit unions hold 25th anniversary conference

by Walter Tun

WASHINGTON - During the last few decades the Ukrainian American community has created a powerful financial voice: the Ukrainian American credit union movement. Ukrainian credit unions were chartered in the United States beginning in the 1950s and now hold over $2 billion dollars in assets. Membership exceeds 100,000 Ukrainian Americans who support their community while benefiting financially from credit union services. From an economic point of view, the community's credit unions present a strong united voice and are the financial backbone of the diaspora.

Beginning on June 26, the presidents, directors and CEOs from 17 credit unions held their 25th anniversary technical conference and annual meeting in Washington. The Ukrainian National Credit Union Association (UNCUA) and its chairman, Bohdan Watral, organized this year's conference to exchange ideas and plans for the Ukrainian American credit union movement. UNCUA President and conference organizer Orysia Burdiak added a visit to the credit union-owned Credit Union House and to the Ukrainian Embassy.

At the three-day conference, Chairman Watral presented an overview of the Ukrainian American credit union movement, and introduced speakers from the U.S. government and Congress, as well as representatives from nationwide credit union associations.

Former Florida Congressman and President of the Credit Union National Association (CUNA) Dan Mica enthusiastically greeted attendees. Mr. Mica extended encouragement and the cooperation of his association, and offered the use of the strategically located Credit Union House as a base for use in addressing Ukrainian-related credit union issues while in Washington.

New York State Credit Union League President William Mellin addressed participants and offered support from the New York League. Later, at the Embassy of Ukraine, attendees welcomed Ambassador Oleh Shamshur and New York Congressman James Walsh. Both Ambassador Shamshur and Rep. Walsh reiterated their support for the Ukrainian credit union movement.

Presenters for this year's conference included JoAnn Johnson, chairman of the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), the U.S. government agency responsible for the oversight of our country's federally chartered credit unions. The NCUA oversees 9,500 credit unions with over 82 million members and $520 billion in assets. NCUA Board Member Gigi Hyland spoke to attendees and praised their work in developing Ukrainian American credit unions. NCUA officers Matthew Biliouris and Judy Graham presented upcoming issues and challenges that face U.S. credit unions.

The conference also included presentations from several credit union support organizations, including the Credit Union National Association (CUNA), Members United Corporate Federal Credit Union and the World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU).

CUNA Mutual President Jeff Post welcomed participants and spoke on the issue of credit union insurance. CUNA's senior economist, Bill Hampel, presented an optimistic view of credit unions in today's economic environment and highlighted the fact that our nation's credit unions consistently provide more advantageous financial services for their members than do banks.

After the conference, the Illinois delegation, consisting of Selfreliance Ukrainian American Federal Credit Union's Board Chairman Michael R. Kos, CEO and President Watral, Directors Oleh Karawan and Roman Yatskovskyy, along with Walter Tun and Volodymyr Pavelczak met with Illinois Sens. Barack Obama and Dick Durbin, as well as Reps. Danny Davis and Melissa Bean. The senators and representatives expressed their steadfast support of America's credit unions and the credit union movement in Ukraine.

As this country's only Ukrainian American community-owned financial institutions, credit unions are indeed thought of as a strong community force. Their association, the UNCUA, provides a focus for the collective voice of these most-influential community institutions.

What does the ongoing growth of our credit unions mean for the Ukrainian American community? Nothing less than a powerful unifying force that can span differences between religious, civic, youth and cultural community organizations. Ukrainian community-owned cooperatives represent the core of an even stronger, more united Ukrainian American community - a community enriched by this focused financial strength, with a capable voice promoting cooperation and democracy both here and abroad.

As was noted at the credit union conference in Washington, Ukrainian community organizations can only benefit from increased cooperation and utilization of the community's credit unions. What Ukrainian American would not be proud to say that his/her community has its very own financial base, with over $2 billion in assets? Credit unions issued a call to all Ukrainian American organizations to actively participate in enhancing the community's strength through membership in community-owned credit unions.

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