Wheat noted that the Latino population in the U.S. has more than doubled in the last two decades, and that by 2005 Latinos will likely be the country s largest minority group. She highlighted a number of the Agency s initiatives, including the Small Credit Union Program to promote successful, financially healthy small credit unions and the low-income designation, which offers a number of benefits to credit unions. Credit unions are uniquely positioned to meet the needs of their communities by providing financial education and empowerment programs, Wheat said.
Credit unions are in a unique position to help their members understand and repair their credit.
Through your efforts, credit union members in the Latino community will be empowered in an environment where they feel comfortable, respected, and above all understood. Wheat also focused on the economic and educational gap developing between households that have access to computers and the Internet and those that do not. She advocated bridging that gap through the development of CUSOs, the use of technical assistance and other initiatives to bring technology to all credit unions.