BayPort Credit Union Wins CUNA Diamond Award for $500,000 Accelerating Change Together Grant Community Outreach Initiatives

CONTACT:

Christine Clemente 

Communications & Community Engagement Supervisor

cclemente@bayportcu.org or 757.873.4076

BayPort Credit Union announced it was awarded a Diamond Award by the Credit Union National Association (CUNA) Marketing and Business Development Council. BayPort won in the new Public Relations category for the promotion of their $500,000, multi-year transformational grant called Accelerating Change Together (ACT), which was launched in partnership with two other leading corporations based in Newport News, Virginia.

BayPort is proud to develop all the credit union's communications, public relations, media initiatives, and outreach in-house. In the inaugural year, the ACT Grant's focus was education and workforce development, answering the regional call to build a workforce pipeline for young people to enter the emerging career fields of renewable energy technologies. In 2023, BayPort was recognized with a CUNA Diamond Award in the Website category for the development and execution of the ACT Grant initiative. BayPort conceptualized, designed, and launched the ACT Grant website internally, as well as the grant application and judging process.

In late 2022, the $500,000 ACT Grant was awarded to the Virginia Beach Education Foundation to support the Virginia Beach City Public Schools' addition of a new two-year, half-day Advanced Technology Center Renewable Energy Technologies program. In late 2023, the Virginia Beach Education Foundation's winning idea came to life. BayPort has since celebrated the official opening of the new program, welcoming 45 students into its inaugural class, marking an exciting day for innovation and growth in Hampton Roads – with BayPort helping to lead that charge.

The most prestigious annual credit union industry competition, the CUNA Diamond Awards recognize and reward creative excellence and outstanding results. The new category recognizes the best one-time or ongoing PR/communications campaign or crisis management communications that effectively engaged others to raise awareness about the credit union.

More than 1,400 entries across 37 categories were submitted this year for a CUNA Diamond Award consideration. BayPort is one of only five Virginia credit unions to be recognized with a 2024 Diamond Award and one of only three credit unions in Hampton Roads.

About BayPort

In 1928, 12 shipyard workers from Newport News Shipbuilding formed an organization with a specific purpose as a low-interest source of loans and a trusted place to deposit money. Today, BayPort Credit Union is rated a Superior 5-Star Credit Union by Bauer Financial, managing $2.4 billion in assets and servicing 152,000 individuals and businesses with 28 branch locations across the Virginia Peninsula and Southside communities.