The $5 million, 954-member Sunkist Employees Federal Credit Union in Sherman Oaks, Calif., recently became the first CU to sign with CU*NorthWest under the Small Credit Union Initiative, a program designed to serve the smallest of credit unions, the CUSO said.

The program, created within the cuasterisk.com network of partners, is designed to provide credit union data processing and management tools to credit unions that could otherwise not afford them.

“It starts with a desire on the part of the credit union to change their future and in this case a peer partner with the spirit to collaborate. Then we contribute a truly disruptive price and put virtually every tool we have within reach of the credit union,” said Greg Smith, CEO of CU*NorthWest in Liberty Lake, Wash.

CU*NorthWest markets and supports the CU*BASE core processing system from CU*Answers of Grand Rapids, Mich., as part of the cuasterisk.com network.