Essential & Emergency Services and Partners Co-operative CU on the move

IN APRIL 2020, the credit union embarked on a new milestone that includes a name change from the Correctional Services Co-operative Credit Union to the Essential & Emergency Services and Partners Co-operative Credit Union. The credit union has also extended its services to a wider sector of Jamaicans.

“This is a dream come true for the Essential & Emergency Services and Partners Co-operative Credit Union as we are now able to broaden our reach and support our health practitioners, pharmacologists and first responders,” General Manager Sonia Taylor said.

“This is where I have always wanted to be,” Taylor shared. Her journey to the credit union did not happen overnight as her interaction with the institution started at a very young age. “My father was a member of COK Sodality Credit

Union and every year he would receive a loan to pay my tuition. I was the second of six children and we knew that the credit union would always come through for us.

“The credit union’s founders are to be lauded for their vision of what this credit union has been able to do,” Taylor said.

The Essential & Emergency Services and Partners Co-operative

Credit Union started in the 1950s when members of the Jamaica’s Prison Service Department suffered financial hardships due to low wages being paid by the government of that time. This embarrassing, undesirable situation continued for a long time, until a warden by the name of Orville Hutchinson, who had knowledge about credit unions, thought it would be a great solution to end the financial woes of the officers.

The credit union has been serving employees of Jamaica’s correctional services ever since.

“Our members stand at the heart of this movement, and as a result, we offer scholarships to their children every year,” Taylor revealed. The credit union also prides itself on offering summer jobs for the members’ children, exposing them to the world of work.

IMPACTING OUR COMMUNITIES AND MEMBERS

The Essential & Emergency Services and Partners Co-operative Credit Union’s corporate social responsibility has extended its assistance to the Salvation Army Basic School by donating $100,000 each year. “We have the opportunity to care for those that are outside of the four walls of our institution,” Taylor said. “We visit our shut-ins who were once members and take gifts, whether in cash or kind.”

Ralston Stephenson, a member of the credit union, praised the credit union for the assistance it has given in times of need. “I can remember in the year 2000 my savings were depleted because I was not earning enough salary. In that same year, I had applied to the National Housing Trust for a home. However, I needed the funds for my deposit and was unable to come up with the money, but the credit union helped me.”

“We strive to find new ways to be relevant to our members; we are a community. We want to make a difference in the lives of our members for them to see a future,” Taylor said.

‘This is a dream come true for the Essential & Emergency Services and Partners Co-operative Credit Union as we are now able to broaden our reach and support our health practitioners, pharmacologists and first responders.’