Award-winning effort boosts members’ life skills

Credit unions that know their members better, serve their members better.

Member interactions are natural for Birmingham (Ala.) City Credit Union CEO Carrie Player, who has spent the past six years building personal relationships with members of the $10 million asset institution.

They’ve gotten to know her as well.

“I speak to members. They know me by name. Half of them have my cell phone number,” she says. “I know something about a majority of my members. I know what’s going on in their lives, and what their needs and wants are.”

Player wouldn’t trade that one-on-one interaction for the world.

This relationship-focused mindset resulted in a 2023 Dora Maxwell Social Responsibility Community Service Award for the single-sponsor community development financial institution. Birmingham City showed its commitment to social responsibility throughout the year, hosting 26 financial education courses for its more than 2,400 members.

The credit union personalized the course topics to fit members’ needs due to the relationships Player, Assistant Manager Kristin Finch, and Head Cheerleader Trudi Mullins built within the community. The City of Birmingham is a second-chance employer, prompting the credit union to seek better ways to serve members who’ve experienced legal trouble or who lack work experience.

“Through our loan demand, we see people coming in and needing to borrow $300 to feed their kids, pay rent before getting evicted, or navigate homelessness,” Player says. “There’s only so much we can help that way. Our goal is to help them in the long term, so we held classes to address their needs and show them more resources in the community.”

Birmingham City brought in community partners to teach courses on topics including housing, food resources, basic life skills, financial counseling, parenting, and Medicaid.

Word of mouth spread the knowledge across the community, Player says.

Many members told their co-workers and family members about the classes, she adds, noting that credit unions are natural financial education providers. “We’re here to help people. There are times we can’t help people the way they want, but if we can help them some other way we’re doing our job.”

Birmingham City will continue its work inside and outside of the classroom.

“We want to continue to help people learn how to deal with life’s issues,” Player says. “Whatever way we can help members achieve their life goals, stand on their own feet, and rise above whatever’s going on, that’s what we have to do.”