MEMBER PROFILE

The Credit Path

Credit Path Illustration

As Alternatives Credit Union has grown and changed, our use of the Credit Path model of financial empowerment has changed as well. Originally developed by Bill Myers as a way of understanding our members' financial situations and incorporating that into our business planning, the Credit Path describes where people are situated at various points along a continuum between poverty and self-sufficiency. Our job, as a community development financial institution, is to help our members move along that continuum by empowering them to make decisions, and offering opportunities, that will move them towards financial self-sufficiency.<

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What does it mean to be a socially responsible business? The Credit Union has been exploring this idea since we began operations in 1979. We have sought to demonstrate social responsibility ourselves, and hope through education to inspire other businesses and organizations to examine social responsibility. Business organizations operate in a context that is much broader than just their immediate marketplace. Their activities have social, economic and political consequences whose impact may be felt on a local, national or even international scale. Even small, local businesses have a large social impact collectively. Stakeholders - customers, suppliers, employees, the local community; in fact everyone who comes into contact with a business - have the right to demand accountability. Dimensions of social responsibility encompass: