Community Chronicles

Community Wealth Building

Cindy Nguyen, Community Investment Specialist at connectFirst sits down with Philip Lozano from Be Local YYC and Sydney Harder from the Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship to find out more about what community wealth building means to them.

Elders Knowledge Circle

The Elders Knowledge Circle plays an important role in preserving, protecting, revitalizing, and sharing wisdom from Indigenous Elders in Calgary and the surrounding area. We are honored to be part of the group's Circle of Supporters and will continually strive to contribute to and walk on the path of Truth and Reconciliation. As a credit union, we recognize the role we can play in Economic Reconciliation.

Centre for Sexuality

connectFirst was thrilled to sponsor the 2024 Centre for Sexuality’s annual Pride Brunch in support of Camp FYrefly!

Learn & Earn

The connectFirst Learn & Earn Scholarship offers twelve lucky Grade 12 students a chance to level up their financial literacy with the help of a dedicated mentor—and earn up to $2,520 in matched savings for post-secondary!

We recently had the pleasure of sitting down with one of our amazing scholarship winners, Daniel Choi, to hear about his experience with the program and his plans for the future.

NeighbourGood

Our NeighbourGood grant program is making a difference in the communities where we live, work, and play!

Check out these snapshots to see how our branches have supported their communities this year!

4-H Clubs

At connectFirst, we're proud to support 4-H clubs and shows across Alberta!

Stampede Breakfast

We had a flippin’ good time sponsoring Hull Services’ 35th annual Stampede Breakfast this week! It was a fantastic way to connect with our community during Stampede in this beautiful Blue Sky City!

YMCA Calgary

We had an absolute blast celebrating with our community partner, YMCA Calgary, at their year-end celebration for the YMAP program! One standout moment was a heartfelt speech by one of the youth about the mock interviews he did with connectFirst.

Social Entrepreneurs

We’re proud to sponsor the connectFirst Social Entrepreneurs program through The Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Mount Royal University! This program empowers the next generation of change-makers, including inspiring individuals like Jessica Lee, a fourth-year BCIS student and co-founder of CybHER, a dynamic women-in-tech networking group.

YMCA Camp Cheif Hector

We had an amazing weekend at YMCA Camp Chief Hector with YMAP youth! Participants had a blast trying out archery, rock climbing, and other team-building activities.

Adapted

Meet Emma Ghiultu, the brilliant mind behind Adapted! What began as a school project has evolved into a groundbreaking product. Her innovative fishing rods make the great outdoors more inclusive for individuals with limited upper-body mobility.

This incredible work earned her the $10,000 connectFirst Credit Union Social Impact Award at this year’s JMH LaunchPad Pitch Competition.

YMAP Workshops

The connectFirst team had a blast hosting YMAP workshops, in partnership with YMCA Calgary, for new-to-Canada youth and young adults. Through these workshops, we've helped participants gain skills in job preparation, financial literacy, and more.

Vaisakhi Nagar Kirtan

We had a blast at the Vaisakhi Nagar Kirtan! With over 150,000 attendees, the energy was electric. Our volunteers loved chatting with everyone who stopped by, and meeting this vibrant community!

Community Report

Supporting our community is about more than just showing up. It’s about listening to the people we’re supporting and doing work that actually helps them.

We caught up with our Community Investment Specialist, Cindy Nguyen, who led the work on our Community Report, to learn more about the process of creating the report and the steps we’re taking to put what we’ve learned into action.

Solar Sheep

Happy hashtag#EarthDay from Whispering Cedars Ranch—home of the solar sheep! 🌍🐑

The sheep at Whispering Cedars Ranch play a vital role in managing vegetation around solar panels through solar grazing (also known as agrivoltaics), which reduces the need for mechanical mowing and harmful chemical fertilizers.

Community Report

Happy National Volunteer Week! From serving meals to sorting donations to running volunteer fairs, connectFirst employees across Alberta have been busy proving that when it comes to community, we’re not just about numbers; we're about people too! And we don’t just contribute during Volunteer Week; in 2023 we mobilized 3,900 volunteer hours!

Looking Back

Looking back on 2023, we’re proud of the ways that we were able to give back to our community either financially or through our volunteer efforts. In 2024, we want to be even more intentional in how we give back to our communities— so we asked them.