Artist of the Month

January
Jody Feaveryear

February

Kenneth McLaurin and Elbonee "SingTrece" Stevenson

March
Daniel Segal

A special thank you to our last quarter Artists of the Month:
Betsy K. Gram
Monica J. Knight
Alternatives staff

If you are an artist interested in being our Artist of the Month, contact marketing@alternatives.org.

Business of the Month

January
La Jolie Beauty Bar 

February
Becca Harber

March
Floof Collage Party

If you interested in participating in our Business of the Month, please register at alternatives.org. 

January

 9  Business CENTS: Coffee Talk
 9  Business After Hours
11  40th Anniversary Celebration (lobby)
12  Technology Tuesday (lobby)

16  Free Tax Preparation Program Jan 16- April 13)
28  Money Wise (every Monday for seven weeks)
29  Technology Tuesday (lobby)

31  Money Smart for Business
 

February

 7  Money Smart for Business
12  Technology Tuesday (lobby)
13  Business CENTS: Coffee Talk
26  Technology Tuesday (lobby)

March 

12  Technology Tuesday (lobby)
13  Business CENTS: Coffee Talk
18  Money Wise (every Monday for seven weeks)
26  Technology Tuesday (lobby)

Details and how to participate are online at alternatives.org.

Holiday closings
New Year's Day, January 1
Martin Luther King Day, January 21
President's Day, February 18 

By: Eric Levine, CEO

• January 15 and 29
• February 12 and 26
• March 12 and 26

• There are no per item limits, with a daily deposit limit of $5,000
• You will receive three notifications after each deposit; one mobile message, then two emails:

1. Mobile message “deposit successful” shows the process was carried out correctly.
2. Email sent to the address linked to your account shows the credit union received the deposit. Don’t spend the money yet!
3. Final email sent to the same account tells you if the deposit was approved, adjusted, or cannot be accepted.

By: Ryan McCune, VP Sales and Marketing, Renovus Solar
 

Good partners are hard to find. Three years ago, when Renovus Solar and Alternatives joined forces to open up the market for solar in Central NY, neither organization was sure where that partnership would lead. Now, with 2018 coming to a close one thing has become abundantly clear; we have something special.

The partnership between Renovus and Alternatives is built on a few core values. By focusing on these values, together we have grown a one-of-a-kind partnership with broad-reaching impacts.

First, renewable energy is a smart business.
When Renovus constructed the first community solar farm in NYS back in 2015, it needed creative and community-centric lenders to step up and make this dream a reality. Alternatives answered the call, and since then our collective impact has been astounding. In 2016, we started small, with just 33 loans issued totaling just north of half a million dollars.

In 2017, we saw the interest in community solar explode, and our partnership with Alternatives grew with it. In 2017 alone, solar loan volume nearly tripled, with 86 loans issued to a tune of almost 1.5 million dollars.

So far in 2018, we haven't seen any signs of a slowdown. As of December 2018, Renovus and Alternatives have continued to grow together with more than 118 loans issued to the tune of nearly 2.5 million dollars.

Together, we have helped hundreds of homes go solar. We've increased the solar-loan portfolio by 380% in just two years, and most importantly, we've kept the money local; where it can do the most good.

Second, people have the right to control their energy.
The second principle of our current success is fundamental; the value of ownership. Community access to solar has increased exponentially in the past few years, largely on the back of subscription style community solar projects. These projects, while environmentally valuable, take money out of the communities they serve while offering customers very little control over their energy. They only allow homeowners the ability to offset energy costs partially and are often owned and funded by hedge-fund backed investment groups who siphon money out of the communities they serve. Renovus solar projects allow customers to buy panels at an offsite solar farm. Those panels produce energy credits that can offset that customer's electrical bill, exactly like on-site projects.

By hitching our collective wagons to an ownership model, we have created a locally-focused, secure and flexible solar infrastructure that gives consumers a powerful ally in the fight against climate change. It gives them the ability to offset as much, or as little of their energy consumption with solar as they'd like. Most importantly, it provides those consumers something they haven't had before; Choice.

Third, saving money with solar power should be simple.
Solar isn't all that complicated, but the incentives, grants and tax credits available to consumers can cast a cloud over projects, confusing customers. Renovus and Alternatives set out to take confusion off the table, and make solar simple. Together, with Alternatives leadership and Renovus' expertise, we have created a one-of-a-kind solar loan package that provides customers with security not found anywhere else in the financing landscape. Our dual-loan package helps lessen the financial burden of waiting for tax credits and provides Alternatives with reliable, secured income throughout the first year of the loan. Additionally, pairing this loan product with the consumer-friendly rates offered by Alternatives, we've been able to take the guesswork out of solar.

Renovus and Alternatives have proven that smart, local relationships between likely minded businesses can be a boon to all, but now we want to expand our footprint past individual transactions and towards community-scale impact.

Starting in 2019, Renovus will be partnering with Alternatives Impact; the Alternatives 501(c)3 focused on helping our community improve their lives. Its financial literacy, tax prep, job training, and community outreach programs help people live smart, sustainable lives. Renovus believes in the power of people, so investing in Impact is a natural extension of our one-of-a-kind partnership with Alternatives. Moving forward, for every person referred by Alternatives who goes solar, Renovus will make a donation to Alternatives Impact to fund the amazing work they do in our community.

2019 is an important year. Alternatives is turning a page to its bright future. By expanding our partnership, Renovus hopes to make 2019 a banner year for solar. With our new referral program, the effects of solar's expansion will go even further, impacting every corner of our community through the work of Alternatives Impact and its partners.

We're proud to have found such an incredible partner and excited about what the future holds. 
 

08 Reflections of an Intern 

My name is Tyler Lucas, and I’m a junior at Ithaca College, studying writing. This past semester, I’ve been completing a copywriting internship at Alternatives Federal Credit Union, which involves contributing to social media posts, editing and writing portions of grant applications, and generating material for various newsletters.

When I started interning at Alternatives, I viewed it as an opportunity to dabble in a type of writing that I was not experienced in. I pictured myself having to mentally suspend parts of my previous writing education in order to avoid instinctive use of literary devices that would be inappropriate here. I found instead that my previous experience served me well. My assumptions about the duties of my internship were misinformed by my idea of what a bank does, and a further assumption that Alternatives was similar to a bank. I expected to write dispassionately about logistical material with the objective of streamlining the credit union’s communication process. Instead I found that this is an organization that’s fundamentally motivated in empathy, and that my rhetoric would need to rise to the occasion of the goodwill behind the work that’s done here. The time that I had pictured myself spending on double checking data and statistics was actually spent reading about the tangible impact on the greater Ithaca area that’s made by the professionals here every day. I looked over testimony from clients who would otherwise not have had the opportunity to maximize the resources available to them in their pursuit of a more stable, fruitful lifestyle.

Alternatives is a lighthouse of financial security for marginalized people that have experienced exclusion from typical financial institutions. Furthermore, it represents a bright future for the community at large, rather than just individuals. Even people who don’t bank at Alternatives indirectly reap the benefits it offers to the area, in that Alternatives is constantly fortifying professional networks between locally owned businesses, offering a variety of free services and workshops, and educating the local youth on developing a financially responsible lifestyle. Anyone with a savings account at Alternatives is a member-owner of the cooperative, and members and nonmembers are eligible for free tax return assistance depending on their income. Alternatives constantly offers educational opportunities to high school and middle school students in the area to help them regulate spending habits, and get a head start on savings and long term financial planning.

I found myself grateful for the opportunity to contribute, even in a small way, to the mission at Alternatives. I had never been in a situation where my writing might actually help someone. Moreover, looking over statistics and demographic information about the Tompkins County region was an invaluable reality check. For as much time as I’d spent in Ithaca, I didn’t have a particularly accurate sense of the economic disparity in this part of New York State, and the work I’ve done for Alternatives has opened my eyes to the ways that marginalized groups are underserved by the financial industry. This is an example of an instance where I realized that my training in argument, rhetoric, and personal essay forms was going to be useful here, in describing this disparity, and how the different services that Alternatives offers sets the credit union apart by allowing them to effectively serve their clients without leaving the rest of the community behind.

There has not been a single instance in my time here where I felt that I was working toward the benefit of a self interested individual or group. There has been no “busy work” at all. Rather, I have always been a small part of a well concentrated effort to promote equality and wellbeing for anyone seeking a better life for themselves and the people they care about.

My time at Alternatives has been invaluable to my development as a writer, in that the creative coursework that I do has benefitted from this more technical writing that’s been introduced into my workload. I now write with a wider range of tones and registers at my disposal, having done more writing with an objective purpose that’s strengthened my rhetorical flourishes. I’ve also had an introduction to managing time and working efficiently in an office environment, and developed a clearer understanding of the opportunities grant writing provides, and how fulfilling it can be. On a day to day basis, I now feel a greater connection with this area that I’m spending my college years in.

While my role in Alternatives mission is relatively small, it has offered me the opportunity to hear firsthand what life is like for the average local resident. As I type in my cubicle, a diverse variety of people often file in and out of the space that I share. They have families, they own businesses, and they all strive to improve these facets of their life with honest, meaningful work that makes this city a better place to live. Not only do I write for a credit union that is many ways a centerpiece of the local economy, I also get the opportunity to observe its inner workings. The longer I spend at Alternatives, the more I’m amazed at how the people who work here are able to consistently and genuinely relate to their clients. This is not a place where clients arrive hat in hand to ask cold, calculating people in three piece suits for help. This is a welcoming space where the clients are greeted by professionals that are as diverse, hardworking and compassionate as they are. My time here has been as enjoyable as it was educational, which is a direct result the people I have had the pleasure to work with.