Shirley Jenkins, a long-time Municipal Credit Union (MCU) Board Member and noted New York City business and civic leader, has always possessed a strong duty to serve her surrounding community.
This year Jenkins has been the recipient of two prestigious honors to add to her long list of awards.
First, she has been selected by the New York State Credit Union League (NYSCUL) to serve as a 2006 Hall of Fame inductee. She has also been chosen to the Directors Advisory Panel of the Credit Union Executive Society (CUES).
Jenkins has been a Municipal Credit Union member for over 30 years. Other previous honors include her election to the Municipal Credit Union’s Board of Directors in 1983, in the process becoming the first female President in MCU history. Presently, she serves as Secretary of the Board. Also noteworthy is her work with youth financial education.
As a business woman, Jenkins has owned the Solid Gold Travel Agency in Bayside for 15 years and serves on the Bermuda, Bahamas and Disney Travel Agent advisory boards.
Born in Brooklyn, raised in Harlem, and currently residing in Glen Oaks, Jenkins has been involved in the sphere of politics since her teenage years. During high school, she was selected to the New York Times Youth Forum, a program run by Eleanor Roosevelt and Dorothy Gordon, where students were able to interview and interact with world leaders at the United Nations. The program aired live on a weekly radio show.
“I think my experience at the program is why I became so involved in politics,” says Jenkins in regards to her life’s work.
Jenkins attributes her ongoing successes to motivation she received from both her parents and her family. She was inspired by her parents’ dedication to hard work. Her mother worked as both a registered nurse and an air-raid warden during the Second World War. Her father worked in a Cleaners factory for many years.
Most importantly, her children provided her with a true source of determination to her work, “when I married and had children, my concern was what type of community I wanted to raise my children and what kind of legacy needed to be left for them.”
Although Jenkins has reached great lengths in her career, her proudest success is the involvement she has had over the years in assisting as a foster parent. Aside from her own 5 children, Jenkins raised 6 foster daughters.
“It was not easy, because I got them when they were all teenagers. They had to be motivated, but not only by me. I had to get my kids to embrace them as if they were their natural sisters.”
The NYSCUL Hall of Fame honors those credit unionists who have devoted their lives to the philosophy and success of the credit union movement, while also having had a significant impact on credit unions at the local, state, or national level.
The CUES Directors Advisory Panel was formed to serve as the voice of credit union volunteers. The recommendations from this prestigious committee enhance and improve the offerings developed by the Credit Union Executives Society.
Jenkins is distinguished as being one of just seven individuals selected nationwide to this panel.
Founded in 1916, the Municipal Credit Union serves City, State and Federal employees, as well as health care professionals. It is one of America’s oldest and largest credit unions and today it has over 310,000 members and assets exceeding $1.2 billion.
The Municipal Credit Union is located at 22 Cortlandt Street in Manhattan. For more information, call MCU Marketing at 212-238-3312 or visit www.nymcu.org.
