At Park Community Credit Union, community isn’t a tagline, it’s our purpose. It’s the “why” behind every partnership we nurture, every financial lesson we share, and every hour our team spends volunteering side by side with the people we serve.
That commitment was recognized at the 2025 Vision Conference hosted by Kentucky’s Credit Unions, on August 14, when Park was honored with three prestigious awards for our leadership in financial education, social responsibility, and outreach:
- Desjardins Adult Financial Education Award
- Dora Maxwell Social Responsibility Community Service Award
- Excellence in Outreach Award
While we’re incredibly grateful for the recognition, what matters most is what these awards represent: real lives changed, real communities empowered, and a team that shows up, consistently and compassionately.
Empowering Financial Futures: Desjardins Adult Financial Education Award
Our financial education programming isn’t built around lectures, it’s built around people. From jobseekers to first-time account holders and young families, we meet people where they are: physically, emotionally, and financially.
One special program is in collaboration with Goodwill Industries of Kentucky, where Park delivers financial education to participants in the Power of Work and RISE programs, serving individuals preparing to enter or re-enter the workforce. These sessions take place within the West Louisville Opportunity Campus, a 125,000-square-foot hub of second chances in one of Louisville’s most historically excluded neighborhoods.
Each session is hands-on and human-centered, with topics like:
- Budgeting on a fixed income
- Saving and setting financial goals
- Understanding and rebuilding credit
- Breaking debt cycles and payday lending traps
This year, we’ve delivered over 1000 hours of financial education. And we’re not stopping there. We’ve also provided financial education to:
- Simmons College of Kentucky
- Big Brothers Big Sisters of Kentuckiana
- Bullitt County and Louisville Free Public Libraries
- Louisville Central Community Centers
- And dozens of other nonprofits, schools, and workforce programs
We also hosted our first Financial Empowerment Summit, drawing attendees for a day of learning, coaching, and $1,000 bill pay giveaways to jumpstart financial progress.
Because when people understand money, they can take control of their future.
Service as a Way of Life: Dora Maxwell Social Responsibility Community Service Award
In 2025, we launched a bold internal initiative: a 100% employee volunteer program rooted in autonomy, flexibility, and shared purpose. Every employee receives eight hours of paid volunteer time, four through a curated calendar of nonprofit partners, and four for causes they personally care about.
Our employees have already logged nearly 3000 hours of service across 35+ nonprofit partners, from food banks and shelters to youth programs and housing initiatives.
But this movement didn’t start with a policy, it started with heart.
Now, every new hire begins their Park journey with a community service project, joining leadership in the field to see our mission in action. For us, concern for community isn’t a campaign, it’s our culture.
This is what the credit union difference looks like when it’s alive in every employee.
Deep Roots, Not Just Branches: Excellence in Outreach Award
We didn’t choose to open a branch at the Goodwill Opportunity Campus to expand our footprint, we chose it to expand possibility. In a neighborhood too often overlooked, we planted roots to build permanence, trust, and hope.
At this location alone, Park:
- Leads education sessions for Goodwill’s Power of Work and RISE participants
- Provides credit reviews and affordable accounts on the spot
- Partners with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Kentuckiana to host financial education for parents of mentees
- Hosted a Financial Empowerment Summit for the community
We also proudly support Goodwill’s Cars to Work program, providing auto loans to individuals rebuilding their financial lives. Participants receive credit coaching and can have 100% of their interest reimbursed for on-time payments.
Since 2015, we’ve financed over $4 million in loans to help 500+ Kentuckians access safe, reliable transportation, often their key to employment, stability, and self-sufficiency.
This isn’t just outreach, it’s transformation. One person. One paycheck. One vehicle at a time.
More Than Awards. A Movement.
These three awards honor different areas of our work, but they’re rooted in the same purpose: Empowering communities. Fueling dreams. Cultivating belonging.
Whether we’re in a classroom, a food pantry, a branch, or a community celebration, Park is there with open hands and open hearts. Because we believe financial access is a form of equity, and that change happens when you show up, consistently, humbly, and with purpose.
We’re grateful to Kentucky’s Credit Unions for these honors. But we’re even more grateful to our community partners, members, and team, who remind us every day that the real reward is impact.
Interested in partnering with us or learning more about our work?
