The Western Union Our World, Our Family program is Western Union’s most focused global citizenship initiative to date, and is a commitment to empower families through education and economic opportunity programs that help them stay connected, overcome barriers, and realize their dreams.

The Western Union Our World, Our Family program is framed around four pillars designed to empower individuals and families:

Our World Gives engages consumers and Western Union Agents to allow community members, Western Union employees and Agents to pool their funds to support social issues they care about most. Western Union is also introducing a Community Investment Fund to benefit comparatively marginalized communities in the developing world.

Our World Learns applies Western Union’s intimate understanding of migrant populations to advance education. It provides tools to support language acquisition and basic financial literacy, and includes innovative family scholarships, which will be awarded simultaneously to at least two members of the same family regardless of geographic location for basic, trade school, or college education.

Our World Strives spurs self sufficiency. It includes a volunteer mentor corps of employees and Agents providing small business and personal finance guidance at community centers and Agent locations. A new Web site and Agent-based kiosks feature small business support and allow customers to track their remittances, money management and savings goals.

Our World Speaks engages global leaders in dialogue to encourage an inclusive approach to economic development and issues that impact migrant communities.

Current Components of the Program

Our World Gives
4 + 1 Cross-Border U.S. and Mexico Economic and Social Development Initiative
Western Union partners with government institutions in Mexico to fund projects leading to sustainable job creation for more than 4,000 participants to-date. For every $1 contributed by local hometown associations (HTAs), Western Union plus federal, state and local governments in Mexico contribute $1 each to these projects.

• Zacatecas: Funding announced for first eight projects, with more than 4,000 adults participating; additional project proposals to be considered in first quarter 2008
• Michoacan: Seven projects under review for funding, with final selection proposed for first quarter 2008
• Veracruz: Agreement with government officials and HTA staff to begin project solicitation in 2008
• Working with Mexican officials to secure participation from two additional states by the end of 2008

Our World Learns
Jobs for American Graduates (JAG)
Western Union developed an innovative financial literacy curriculum included in the educational initiatives of Jobs for America's Graduates, Inc., a national non-profit established to assist states in dropout prevention and school-to-career transition systems for at-risk youth. The financial literacy curriculum will be rolled out in 28 states serving approximately 40,000 students in the in-school and follow-up phases of the JAG program.

• More than 500,000 youth have received the benefits of JAG model services over the past 26 years, achieving a graduation rate of 94 percent (above U.S. national average of 68 percent)
• To launch branded financial literacy curriculum in schools Fall 2007

Our World Strives
Business Information Clearinghouse and Entrepreneurial Development Center (BIC/EDC)
Launched in August 2007 with Western Union as a founding sponsor, the BIC/EDC provides information and instruction to strengthen and grow existing Hispanic businesses, and assists with the successful start-up of new Hispanic businesses.

• Consists of online tools to help teach money, markets and marketing management
• Program will expand to support the small-business goals of Hispanic, Black and Asian entrepreneurs and will launch in five languages
• Expected to support more than 1.7 million small business inquiries and help launch 300 new immigrant and minority small businesses
• Awarded $3.3 million via a grant from the U.S. Department of Labor

Tax Refund Program
Western Union, partnering with community-based organizations, provides a cost-effective way for low-income and immigrant consumers to receive tax refunds and avoid high-interest Refund Anticipation Loans (RALs) and other bank product expenses. Currently a pilot program, we expect to aid approximately 1.8 million consumers through this partnership.

Our World Speaks
Western Union has a long history of leadership around issues that matter in the lives of our consumers and their families. We address the needs of migrants and their families "back home," engaging with diaspora groups and hometown associations around the 4+1 and other programs with benefits that span borders.

The global community looks to us for leadership, and we raise our voice to advance understanding in a wide range of venues, including summits hosted by the Business Civic Leadership Center, the United Nations, and the Interamerican Development Bank, among countless others.

As part of the Western Union Our World, Our Family program, we are extending that commitment by reaching out to other corporate leaders to identify and advocate for new global economic opportunity to benefit those in need. Western Union also is taking a leadership role in engaging top international charitable organizations, governments, and private sector groups to foster new dialogue around the profound societal implications of global migration. Our consumers are the heroes of our business, and we are proud to drive innovative new ways to support them on their journey to a better life.

Mercy Corps
Mercy Corps, a global humanitarian organization, is our first Western Union Our World, Our Family program partner. With the partnership, we will build on Mercy Corps’s intimate understanding and trust among migrant populations to empower families with education and critical financial literacy tools.

Since 1979, Mercy Corps has provided more than USD $1.3 billion in assistance to people in 94 nations. In recognition of their impact around the world, Mercy Corps has been recently nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Mercy Corps’s award-winning approach to fostering economic opportunity complements Western Union’s vision for Our World, Our Family.

The pilot program will focus on four markets spanning two major migration corridors – one between the United Arab Emirates and the Philippines, and the other between the United States and Guatemala.