Feb. 1, 2008 at 1:51pm

Ohio Zenith or bust!

Posted by Jamie Chase in What We're Up To
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First stop, CUNA’s GAC next month; followed immediately by a trip to the Ohio Credit Union System. Our friends Josh Reams and Becky Hart invited us to speak at their fabulous Zenith 08 Convention. The inside scoop on Ohio’s CU trade association: The big boss, Paul Mercer, runs an organization committed to the roots of the movement. It would be hard not to with Bill Herring, son of Louise McCarren Herring, on your board of directors. Bill joked about this when he spoke to the Island Wood inaugural class of Credit Union Development Educators. Bill’s mom is considered one of the pioneers of the credit union movement in the United States and is responsible for establishing more than 500 credit unions throughout the nation.

Speaking of roots I just can’t wait to get back to see my mom, eat at Bob Evans and maybe squeeze in a visit to my alma mater, Dover Phila Credit Union. You thought I was going to say OSU, didn’t you?  (Yes, Go Bucks, too!)

Adding to the excitement, Kurt and I will be joined by my dear friend Carol Schillios. Her Here Je credit union microfinance project and art-co-op in Mali, West Africa inspired my friends and I to start our own art co-op in Tacoma, WA. We’ve had our doors open for two months and I’m currently helping Carol plan a trip in June for other credit union leaders to visit Here Je. If you are interested, email me. The last time I coordinated this for Carol, a few of my congressional aide friends joined us and we kept an online journal hosted by The World Trade Center of our home city. When we returned, the group delivered a presentation on cooperatives and credit unions at the University of Washington, Tacoma with Congressman Adam Smith.

 This Ohio trip represents the Zenith of my cooperative roots and my hopes to contribute to credit unions’ ability to reduce global poverty and empower the people who matter most to us in our own hometowns.

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