BETTENDORF, IOWA - Ascentra Credit Union was recently honored with a total of five Diamond Awards, which nationally recognizes outstanding marketing and business development achievements in the credit union industry.

The awards were presented by the Credit Union National Association (CUNA) Marketing and Business Development Council at the council's annual conference, held March 25-28 in Las Vegas this year. Awards are given in multiple categories ranging from advertising to community events and beyond.

"We have seen our marketing efforts connect not only with the people of our region, but with all of our staff in a way we never experienced before," Ascentra President & CEO Dale Owen said.  "Everyone has really embraced our campaigns, the unique ways we give back to the community, and our overall fun, fresh approach.  We have an amazing team here at Ascentra and I am very proud of all of our efforts. "

Ascentra Credit Union earned two prestigious Category's Best awards that include credit unions of all asset sizes.   Ascentra received top honors in the following categories:

·        Mobile: Design of website for mobile devices and incorporation of the Ascentra MyMobile App with mobile deposit.

·        Segmented Marketing: Ascentra's Latino Outreach Program and marketing efforts.

The credit union was the winner in their asset size class in the following categories:

·        Community/PR-Ongoing Event: Pay It Forward program with WQAD News 8, awarding $300 for individuals going above and beyond in their community.

·        Point of Sale Display and Retail Merchandising: MyMobile App campaign to introduce all the features associated with the Ascentra mobile app and text banking.

·        Membership Packets, Brochures or Booklets: Fresh Start Kit to assist members when switching automatic payments over to an Ascentra account.

"Credit unions that receive these awards should be extremely proud of their accomplishments and know that their work represents the very best examples of creativity, innovation, relevance, and execution. The Diamond Awards are not easily earned and the CUNA Marketing & Business Development Council is proud to honor those who are deserving of this recognition," said Michelle Hunter, Chair of the CUNA Marketing & Business Development Council, and SVP of Marketing & Development at Credit Union of Southern California.

Ascentra VP of Marketing & Public Relations, Jennifer Naeve joined Ascentra in 2012 and brought with her an exciting new approach to connecting the organization's brand to meet the demands of our member-owners and future members.

"We are humbled to receive these awards for a second year in a row," Naeve said.  "It would not be possible without the commitment from our entire staff and board of directors and their dedication to serving our members.  It is of service to our members that we communicate our products and services in memorable ways.  We are here to help people achieve their financial goals and to grow our organization in a socially and financially responsible manner. Everything we do is with our members and community in mind."

For more information on the Diamond Awards or to view the entire list of winners, go to www.cunamarketingcouncil.org.

About us:                           

Founded in 1950, Ascentra Credit Union, is Iowa's premier credit union with more than $340 million in assets and 10 branches serving the communities of Bettendorf, Clinton, Davenport, Le Claire, Muscatine, Iowa and Moline, Ill. Learn more about Ascentra Credit Union at ascentra.org. Follow Ascentra on Facebook and on Twitter @ascentra.

The day the Americans With Disabilities Act passed in 1990, U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin delivered a speech from the Senate floor in a way most of his colleagues didn't understand.

Harkin, the bill's sponsor, used sign language for the benefit of his brother who was deaf and had taught Harkin this lesson: "People should be judged on the basis of their abilities and not on the basis of their disabilities."

With the country marking the Act's 25th anniversary, Brandi Rarus, a former Miss Deaf America, remembers how important it was for people with disabilities to make it known they would no longer allow others to set limits on what they could achieve.

"Those of us with disabilities face many barriers," says Rarus, co-author with Gail Harris of the book "Finding Zoe: A Deaf Woman's Story of Identity, Love and Adoption." (www.brandirarus.com)

"Some of those are unavoidable. I can't listen to the radio as I drive to work in the morning. Often, because of communication barriers, I have to work twice as hard as a hearing person. Instead of taking me five minutes to make a doctor's appointment, it takes me 10."

But some barriers are avoidable, Rarus says. And that's why the Americans With Disabilities Act has played such an important role in people's lives for the last 25 years.

The ADA prohibits discrimination against qualified individuals with disabilities when it comes to employment issues. The Act also requires employers to make reasonable accommodations for a disability unless it causes an "undue hardship."

Harris, a professional storyteller and Rarus' co-author, says that although Rarus is deaf, her life struggles are similar to everyone's.

"We can all relate to finding our place in the world and fitting in, about self-acceptance, about being judged and judging others, and how we must look past all that to fulfill our dreams," says Harris. (www.gailharrisauthor.com)

The U.S. Department of Labor says many concerns about the ADA never materialized. According to the department:

•  Complying isn't expensive. The majority of workers with disabilities do not need accommodations, and for those who do, the cost is usually minimal. In fact, 57 percent of accommodations cost nothing, according to the Job Accommodation Network, a service from the Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy.

•  Lawsuits have not flooded the courts. The majority of ADA employment-related disputes are resolved through informal negotiation or mediation. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which enforces the ADA's employment provisions, investigates the merits of each case and offers alternatives to litigation. The number of ADA employment-related cases represents a tiny percentage of the millions of employers in the U.S.

•  The ADA is rarely misused. If an individual files a complaint under the ADA and does not have a condition that meets its definition of disability, the complaint is dismissed. While claims by people with false or minor conditions may get media attention, the reality is these complaints are usually dismissed.
Rarus, who became deaf at age 6 when she contracted spinal meningitis, was making strides toward success even before the passage of the ADA.

Winning the Miss Deaf America crown in 1988 led to numerous opportunities. She signed the National Anthem at a Chicago Cubs game. She spoke at corporate conferences and traveled the country speaking out for deaf children and building awareness of what it means to be deaf. She was understudy for Marlee Matlin in the play "Children of a Lesser God."

Her latest project is "Finding Zoe." The book Rarus and Harris joined forces to write tells the story of Rarus' early years as she learned to live with being deaf, but the focal point becomes her effort to adopt Zoe, a deaf infant caught in the foster care system.

Harris, upon collaborating with Rarus on her story, was on a mission to help bring it forth, as everyone is deserving of basic human rights. "People don't realize what the deaf have gone through," she says.

Working with Rarus and the anniversary of the ADA have reminded her of the challenges all people face, whether black or white, deaf or hearing, gay or straight.

"It's how we deal with them that counts," Harris says. "Brandi's courage and tenacity can get us thinking about our own vulnerabilities and how they can make us strong."

About Brandi Rarus and Gail Harris

Brandi Rarus (www.brandirarus.com), who lost her hearing at age 6, has traveled the country speaking out for deaf children and building awareness of what it means to be deaf. She was Miss Deaf America in 1988. She and her husband live in Austin, Texas, with their three sons and adopted daughter.

Gail Harris (www.gailharrisauthor.com) is an award-winning writer and teacher of the intuitive process who also adopted a child. In addition to co-writing "Finding Zoe," she is the author of "Your Heart Knows the Answer." She lives with her husband and son in Framingham, Mass

Troubled or otherwise failed governments continue to yield international headlines for the violence that fills the resulting power struggle in some nations.

Meanwhile, political, military and academic leaders struggle to find ways to implement democracy amid the chaos.

"What many laypeople may intuit but fail to fully grasp is that democracy is the best-known path to peace - both in specific regions and the world in general," says Julie Fisher, a former program officer at the Kettering Foundation and former scholar in residence at Yale University. "George Bush was right about democracy, but wrong about how to achieve it."

Democracy is linked to improved economic performance, increased socioeconomic equality, political stability and good governance - and democracies rarely go to war with each other, she says.

"Today, we're still having the debate as to the best way to create democracy in failed states in the Middle East - should we risk American lives and vast amounts of treasure to save these regions, or should we take the hands-off approach?" she asks. "Exporting democracy militarily hasn't worked since the United States forcefully imposed it on Japan after World War II. Few Americans have the appetite to gamble with another massive military experiment overseas."

While exporting democracy has had a low success rate, indigenous nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)  that are willing to import democracy offer a promising alternative, she says.

"NGOs that  import democracy use ideas and practices that will actually work in their own countries," says Fisher, author of "Importing Democracy: The Role of NGOs in South Africa, Tajikistan and Argentina," (www.importingdemocracy.org). "They combine these ideas with the recovery and promotion of traditional democratic practices." In Tajikistan, for example, democratization NGOs work with local Majlis organizations, while encouraging them to include women.

Indigenous democratization NGOs, in collaboration with other nonprofit organizations,  are a marker of democratic possibilities. Their democratic agenda, outlined prophetically  by notable scholar Robert Dahl, includes:

•  Law-based civil liberties: Fisher quotes Gary Haugen and Victor Boutros: "Without pressure from other powerful actors in society, elites have little or no incentive to build legal systems that serve the poor."In her research, she has found that human-rights advocacy is possible even in autocratic political systems.  Although local-level reforms are easier than national ones, democratization NGOs have successfully lobbied to have  international human rights laws embedded in national legal codes.

•  Loyal opposition: Toleration of political diversity is a necessary condition for developing this practice. Democratization NGOs build a loyal opposition by strengthening the capacities of other organizations to become policy advocates.  This is particularly challenging in democracies-to-be because loyal opposition is uncharted territory. Even as a concept, let alone its functioning, loyal opposition requires political maturation on all sides. Although South Africa lacks a large opposition party,  South African democratization NGOs were leaders in a broad coalition which successfully sued the government over its failure to prevent mother-child transmission of HIV through antiretroviral drugs.

•  Political participation: How do you know whether anyone likes or supports anything? Participation is probably the clearest indicator. Of course, before citizens can show an interest in their own democracy, having the ability to actually participate under safe conditions is necessary. Democratization NGOs based in local South African communities seem to be particularly adept at getting citizens to interact with local governments.  Argentine democratization NGOs have pioneered the use of public deliberation to engage citizens in solving local problems.

"In addition, national efforts to nurture a democratic political culture indicate that an international effort to democratize a region is a worthwhile investment," she says. "But international donors have to do their homework and build on what democratization NGOs are already doing."

About Julie Fisher

Julie Fisher (www.importingdemocracy.org), a specialist on indigenous nongovernmental organizations, is a retired program officer at the Kettering Foundation, a think tank on democracy. Previously, she was a Scholar in Residence at the Program on Non-Profit Organizations at Yale University and a lecturer in the Biology Department for a course on World Population. She also taught comparative politics and "The Politics of Third World Development" at Connecticut College. As a specialist on nongovernmental organizations and micro-enterprise development, she has been a consultant to CIVICUS, Technoserve, CARE, Trickle Up, Lutheran World Relief and Save the Children. Fisher received her B.A. in International Relations at Pomona College, in Claremont, California and her M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, DC.