Utica College is a first-class institution, and its continuing initiatives are putting the college, and Utica, on the national map. Since our credit union roots are also based in education—we started as Utica Teachers Federal Credit Union in 1938—much of our community outreach efforts include educating our Members and community on how to improve their lives financially. We also give special love to organizations that use education for the same goal.

We support programs and facilities there that align with our mission, and with our Members’ interests, including:

• UC Athletics partnership – Our financial support provides benefits to the whole department, most importantly the student-athletes. With these funds, they have purchased new sound equipment for their sports dome, put new lighting in the gymnasium, upgraded fields and scoreboards, purchased new video equipment so home games for all sports teams can be streamed in HD, purchased new software for sports information to quickly assemble non-video highlight packages on student-athletes directly following a game, put a new parking area at the dome (so students can now drive and park at the dome instead of walk), and purchased senior blankets for graduating student-athletes (of whom there are 128 this year).
• Trading Room naming – First Source helped pay for the Utica College Trading Room (see our photos above). The trading room is a state-of-the-art learning center featuring curved-glass floor-to-ceiling exterior walls, dual-screen computer workstations with specialized financial and investment software, video walls, and smart boards for professors to display real-time stock data, videos, and other financial information. Surrounding the perimeter is a 65-foot long, real-time stock ticker that runs up-to-minute stock data in full color. Located on the first floor of Hubbard Hall, the First Source FCU Trading Room will host business, economics, and investment classes.
• First Source staff participate in UC’s annual fundraising golf tournament, proceeds from which go to the UC campus, and athletics program.
• UC Young Scholars Program – We are currently sponsoring the Young Scholars Grow Big Dreams Celebration Dinner, and are working to increase our involvement with the organization in the future, through job shadowing and financial literacy assistance. See our earlier blog post for more details on this wonderful program.
• First Source management hold 2 board seats at UC. Mike Parsons is a trustee on the UC board, and Kristy Nole is a board member of the UC Athletic Association.

All of our partnerships with Utica College have been rewarding and beneficial to our community and the college’s students. We look forward to sharing stories about more of their great work, and our continuing involvement, in the future!