When President Barack Obama signed the American Resource and Recovery Act (AARA) into law in February 2009, he unleashed the largest domestic spending program in American history. At a total estimated cost of $787 billion over 10 years, the spending commitment is larger even than famous New Deal projects (the Depression-era Works Progress Administration cost $108 billion in 2008 dollars). At almost 6% of the nation’s projected 2009 GDP, the program is a massive cloud of available resources.
Even if the cloud brings much-needed rain to state and local entities plagued by drought, it is not guaranteed to land on credit unions. “The ARRA flow is a deluge,” says John Molinaro, associate director of the Aspen Institute Community Strategies Group (“Navigating the Stimulus: Basic Geography of the ARRA,” Aspen Institute Community Strategies Group, May 2009). “Without structures to catch it, like a big rain on rocky terrain … it will just run off.”
One month after the AARA, the Filene Research Institute convened a group called “Future Focus” calling for credit union system volunteers to study how credit unions might attract and use money from the stimulus plan. With nearly 50 volunteers stepping forward, we divided them into four teams to work independently to identify the opportunities for credit unions.
What was the key finding from the Future Focus Group? Overwhelming support collected around the idea of creating a collaboration tool for credit unions to understand and navigate the stimulus package itself.
In addition, the Future Focus Group uncovered several case studies that are worth review in understanding stimulus spending and the opportunities for credit unions to assist members or be positioned as potential intermediaries for stimulus spending.
Our thanks to the volunteers who provided input into the project, as well as those who made substantial contributions:
Future Focus Sub-group Leads:- Linda Garboczi, AmeriCU, Rome, NY
- Jim Morrell, iQ Credit Union, Vancouver, WA
- Trish Shermot, CTCU Federal Credit Union, Reading, PA
- Tansley Stearns, Connex Credit Union, North Haven, CT
- Ben Rogers and Josey Siegenthaler, Filene Research Institute
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