since 1935 | #justbeyourself

Volume 6 | Issue 9 | September 2023
Our Mission: Providing financial solutions for every stage of life.

Dear Valued Member,

Community First works hard to understand our members’ diverse priorities, as well as the broader challenges faced by the communities we serve. We believe that offering people-focused services centered around your needs, not ours, is the best way to help our members — current and future — live their best lives.

The many enhancements we have made over the past year in response to our member satisfaction surveys demonstrate our credit union’s commitment to listening to your feedback and addressing your priorities. At the same time, our vision for helping people extends beyond our members to the community at large, and we are constantly looking for opportunities to contribute to the quality of life throughout the region.

Literacy matching gift campaign

A prime example of our community involvement is our partnership with the Library Foundation of Jacksonville to promote adult literacy. Many adults in Duval County struggle with reading and writing, which significantly undermines their employment prospects and makes them susceptible to poor health and living in poverty. By one estimate, 21 percent of the county’s adults are functionally illiterate. That’s a startling statistic, but it also represents a major opportunity. By working together, we can improve people’s lives through adult literacy programs.

To help make that happen, the Community First Cares Foundation is teaming up with the Library Foundation for the second year in a row on the library’s fall fundraising drive to support adult literacy. Our foundation will match up to $10,000 in all new and increased gifts to the Jacksonville Public Library between now and the end of the year. The funding will help the library provide programs in foundational literacy, digital literacy, cultural literacy, and health and finance literacy — all of which support the library’s efforts to improve the community’s reading, writing and literacy outcomes.

The September launch of the matching-gift campaign coincides with National Literacy Month, and I hope you will consider joining Community First in supporting this cause, which has tremendous potential to improve the quality of life for many individuals and families across our city. To make a contribution, visit www.lfjax.org and click the "Donate" button.

Listening to your needs

Being in touch with people’s needs and responding in ways that make a meaningful difference is also Community First’s approach to improving and expanding banking services in the region. It’s the reason we place so much importance on our member satisfaction surveys, which we use to continually enhance our service.

The feedback you provide is reviewed by key personnel in every department that interacts with members and provides member support. In many cases, we reach out to members directly to better understand and learn from their experiences. We then analyze this information for opportunities to improve our processes and products. This human-centered approach to listening, learning and improving is built on our core values and supports our member focus.

The process has led to improved employee education and development programs, which in turn have boosted retention and addressed members’ desire for better-informed and experienced employees. I’m pleased to report that our efforts have succeeded in increasing employee retention from just below 72 percent in June and July of 2022 to an average of over 83 percent in the same two months this year, and we’re continuing to provide training to employees that helps them deliver prompt, informed service.

Your feedback also prompted us to improve the Community First digital experience with new credit card features on our website and in our mobile banking app, and we recently released a new dispute resolution platform that supports more timely and efficient resolution of card-related claims.

Another frequent suggestion we see in our surveys is a desire for additional branches and ATM locations. Again, I’m pleased to report that we have made this a priority in our five-year plan, which includes adding 10 new locations in Duval as well as adjacent counties with growing populations.

For all of the modern digital tools that help make our lives easier, Community First recognizes that banking continues to be primarily a people business. We want to be part of the neighborhoods we serve, both as a physical presence and as an organization that listens to your opinions and responds to your needs.

Whether we’re greeting you with a smile and informed answers to your banking questions or supporting causes that help lift-up communities and improve quality of life, Community First strives to be a caring contributor to the neighborhoods we serve. ■