A new joint venture between the Local Government Federal Credit Union and UNC's School of Government will help cities, towns and counties develop financing tools and training local government officials to develop finance programs.

The credit union is giving the School of Government $1 million for a program called Expanding Development Finance in North Carolina, which will give economically-distressed communities access to sophisticated finance products and services.

The $1 million is expected to fund the project for five years, after which it is expected to become self-sustaining.
 
The second initiative is the credit union's Fellows Executive Development Program, which will teach mid-level managers in local government the skills needed to build and manage development finance programs.

A $625,000 grant will develop the program and subsidize course registration fees for three groups of fellows.

Just as plastic rendered paper checks nearly obsolete, gadgets may soon do the same to credit and debit card

If you're looking for work in finance, don't expect fast movement on the hiring front.

It takes an average of five weeks to hire for most management positions, four weeks for a staff level job, according to a survey of chief financial officers by Robert Half Finance and Accounting, a recruitment service.

The survey was based on interviews with 1,400 CFOs at compaines with 20 or more employees.

During your job interview be sure to ask aboutthe company's time frame for hiring and when you might expect to hear from a hiring manager.

Interim finance director Keith Herrmann told the city council that Durham's $171 million investment portfolio is safe, despite the ongoing turmoil in financial markets.

"We have no exposure to the stocks of AIG or Lehmann or Washington Mutual, these stocks that have been making headlines these last few days," Hermann said during the council's work session Thursday.