Members to VACU: Let us vote!
VACU Board of Directors, Robert Jones Jr, Chair
UPDATE 3/21 - It's crucial that we turn out to Wednesday's annual member meeting at 4pm. We're holding an emergency online meeting for all VACU member-owners, half an hour before at 3:30p. Please read about it here and join us -- thank you!
UPDATE 3/14 - Our campaign has made national credit union industry press! See the story in CU Today, "CU Members Allege 'Sham' Election"
The Virginia Credit Union Board is trying to rig their election so that YOU lose your right to vote for four amazing community leaders who are running for the board.
Credit unions are financial cooperatives. They are owned equally by the members with a democratically elected board of directors - one member, one vote. The Virginia Credit Union (VACU) is a Community Development Finance Institution (CDFI) with a responsibility to invest federal dollars alongside private sector capital in the nation's most distressed communities.
Four outstanding Richmond community leaders and VACU member-owners filed paperwork by last year's deadline to run for the board in the March 23rd elections -- Frank Moseley, Kati Hornung, Richard Walker, and Tori Jones -- to bring a different direction, a different relationship with the Richmond community, and accountability for VACU's atrocious pandemic response to an out-of-touch board of directors that needs all three.
VACU's board has not only refused to allow their names on the ballot, it didn't bother to interview or respond to the candidates. Instead the board is planning to hold a Soviet-style election at our annual member meeting on March 23rd, with three board-chosen candidates running unopposed for three seats. You can read the full story here, and learn more about the candidates here.
Tell VACU this is not democratic ownership and we will fight for our voting rights at the credit union the same as anywhere else they are under attack.
Will you sign our letter to VACU's board and share this petition with the people you know? Thank you!
Sponsored by
Additional Sponsors
To:
VACU Board of Directors, Robert Jones Jr, Chair
From:
[Your Name]
We, the undersigned member-owners of VACU and our allies, call on Robert Jones Jr. and the board of directors of Virginia Credit Union (VACU) to immediately announce a return to elected directors at our democratically-owned financial cooperative.
We reclaim our right to vote!
Specifically, we call on the credit union board to halt the sham election planned for March 23rd and commit to holding a free and fair election this spring instead -- and every year henceforth.
A free and fair election:
- Is not rigged in a sham election so that only the board has a meaningful vote on who will serve on the board;
- allows the very qualified candidates who filed to run in September 2021 to appear on the ballot;
- is administered by a neutral 3rd party;
- permits voting by mail and online, without needing to be present at a meeting to cast a ballot or putting other burdens on members' right to vote;
- prohibits the credit union from expending member-owned dollars and resources to advocate for or against any candidates for board, or provide any assistance to some candidates that it does not provide to others.
We recognize that, since this is the first election that VACU has held in at least 5 years, it may require a delay to hire a 3rd party vendor, properly notice member-owners of the election, and send out ballots.
Therefore we further call on the board to delay the election and/or annual member meeting up to 60 days to ensure that the owners of the cooperative will be able to vote this year.
We will expect your prompt public announcement of the credit union's recommitment to democratic ownership and control of members' assets.
In solidarity,