CUNA President/CEO Jim Nussle was joined by Rep. Abby Finkenauer (D-Iowa) Thursday to tour the construction site of Dupaco Community CU’s operations center in the Historic Millwork District of Dubuque, Iowa. Dupaco is currently renovating the “Voices” building in Dubuque to serve as its operations center and as reinvestment into the community around it.

“It was an honor to tour the site with Rep. Finkenauer and get a firsthand look at what a credit union’s investment in its community looks like,” Nussle said. “Dupaco has a record of more than seven decades of service to the Dubuque community, and I was inspired hearing about their vision to continues and expand on that commitment to this community.”

Finkenauer, elected to Iowa’s 1^st Congressional District in November 2018, served as a page to Nussle when she was in high school and he was serving in Congress.

Built in 1924, the “Voices” building was a five-story, vacant manufacturing building when Dupaco announced its intentions to build in early 2019. In addition to housing the credit union’s operations, the building’s first and second floors could feature a mix of retail, entertainment and community space.

"Dupaco’s choice to revive a historic building in our city’s downtown harnesses our community’s momentum to create a unique marketable differentiator. This equates to people choosing a place to live, work, play and raise families. Long term, it means attracting people, investment and jobs," said David Klavitter, chief marketing officer at Dupaco. "It’s imperative for policymakers to see and understand how credit unions fulfill their mission to improve their members’ economic condition. At the same time, credit unions also can double-down to show how they can turbocharge their public benefit by pursing projects like ours—which clears slum and blight, stimulates economic development and makes properties productive again."

Dupaco was founded in 1948 by ten employees from the Dubuque Packing Company. Dubuque’s Millwork District once housed the largest makers of windows, doors and cabinetry in the U.S.

While in Dubuque, Nussle also visited offices of Dubuque-based DuTrac Community CU and Alliant CU