NEW ORLEANS – In the 10 years since Hurricane Katrina, the City of New Orleans has experienced remarkable growth and resilience—and so has the credit union movement.
During a time of devastation and loss, Louisiana credit union professionals stayed determined while facing personal challenges, damage to facilities and loss of key staff. Credit union employees and members were forced from their homes and communities following Hurricane Katrina, yet members never had to wait to hear from their local branches.
The Louisiana Credit Union League (LCUL) connected 21 credit unions to shared branching within 48 hours after Hurricane Katrina. While Louisianians were unsure about the status of their homes and neighborhoods, they knew they could rely on their credit union branch to access their financial resources.
With collaboration and support from credit unions across the country, credit union employees worked to reinstate member services as quickly and efficiently as possible, while consistently communicating with members and providing branch updates. Shared branching allowed members access to savings, loans, extensions and loan payments, serving as an immensely valuable resource.
In the week following Hurricane Katrina, shared branching enabled approximately 400,000 displaced credit union members to access their accounts. Credit union service centers in Baton Rouge and Shreveport distributed more than $769,000 in cash to credit union members.
Additionally, credit unions nationwide devoted their own time and resources, providing facilities and assistance to affected Louisiana credit unions.
“While the days following Hurricane Katrina were filled with challenges and uncertainty for Louisiana credit unions and their members, credit union employees returned to work and ensured that branches were re-opened quickly to serve members,” said LCUL President and CEO Anne Cochran. “These employees implemented our philosophy of ‘people helping people’ when members needed it the most and were instrumental in the recovery and progress made in Louisiana’s credit union movement since 2005.”
In 2007, LCUL and the National Credit Union Foundation (NCUF) partnered to create the first statewide disaster relief reserve fund for credit unions across the United States. The Louisiana Credit Union Foundation (LCUF) provides financial assistance for statewide disaster relief efforts and provides educational opportunities for credit union employees and volunteers. LCUF reaches out to credit unions and offers immediate grants after a hurricane impacts an area of the state.
Ten years later, the Louisiana credit union movement is expanding. Many of the 199 credit unions in Louisiana have multiple branches serving more than 1.2 million members, and credit unions remain a prominent industry in the state of Louisiana.
