[April 16, 2012]

Orlando Rally to Save the American Dream

A public rally will be held on Tuesday, April 17^th at 6 p.m. at the Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center in Orlando-Kissimmee, Fla. to save the American Dream. Approximately 1,500 people are expected to attend the rally including area business leaders, community banking and credit union leaders, taxpayers and civic leaders among others.

Many Americans and small business owners are feeling left out of the nation's recovery. The very tenets of the American Dream - the opportunity to own a home, get an education, have a good job or start a business - are at risk this very moment because of a fundamental disconnect between our public policy and the conditions needed to achieve the American Dream.

It is a simple equation: over 65% of net new jobs are created by entrepreneurs and small businesses. Community-based institutions provide almost 60% of loans to these small businesses. Therefore, small businesses, and the community banks and credit unions that fund them, drive our nation's economic growth and stability.

Our more than 14,000 community-based financial institutions provide a financial foundation for the creation of new businesses, new jobs, new opportunities and, most importantly, a strong economy. The road to economic recovery begins and ends with Main Street America through support of small businesses and community financial institutions. Policy makers need to support small business job growth, not stifle it with burdensome regulations.

Tuesday's rally will feature a keynote address from Louis Hernandez, Jr., an author, award-winning entrepreneur, policy advisor and highly respected business executive who serves as Chairman and CEO of Open Solutions, Inc., a leading provider of enterprise-wide enabling technologies for financial institutions. Mr. Hernandez's most recent book, Saving the American Dream: Main Street's Last Stand, is a provocative and thoughtful account of how our nation's ideals of equality and the pursuit of happiness emerged as a beacon of hope for the entire wold; and how politicians, Wall Street and our own sense of entitlement have gradually eroded this Dream to the point of endangering America's preeminence.

"The key to a robust job market in Orlando and local communities across the country is growth in the small business sector. When small businesses are able to innovate and grow with the support of community-based financial institutions, jobs are abundant and consumer confidence is high, leading to economic growth and stability," said Hernandez.

Additional speakers at the Orlando rally include:

• Dennis Dollar, former chairman of the National Credit Union Administration, former two-term member of the Mississippi House of Representatives, and principal partner in Dollar Associates, a consulting firm focused on public policy.
• James Robinson, partner with Human Capital Management, a company that designs training platforms and mentors entrepreneurs and small businesses in the Orlando area.
• Christopher Rivera, capacity building manager for health & safety programs with the Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs, an organization focused on developing highly skilled occupational safety and health educators for agricultural workers and their employers.
• Christopher Rivera, former interim director of the Florida Farmworker Jobs and Education Program and current vice president of business development for AEG Communications Inc. Rivera has direct experience with the Workforce Investment Act (WIA Section 167) program and partnerships and expertise with at-risk populations.

To learn more about the rally, visit www.SavingTheAmericanDream.org. While you're there, sign our petition and learn what you can do to Save the American Dream.

Open Solutions Inc.

Open Solutions Inc.® helps community-based financial institutions around the world enrich their local economies by providing innovative technologies and insights that enable them to operate more profitably, efficiently and collaboratively.

Industry pioneers, Open Solutions revolutionized enterprise technology with DNA™, the first open, relationship-centered core banking platform built for global collaboration. This radically different approach to enterprise technology enables banks and credit unions around the world to leverage the power of community through DNAappstore™, the first-ever collaborative marketplace for user-created core enhancements.

Extending the power of DNA further, Open Solutions offers a full range of complementary payments, item processing, distributed capture, internet banking, mobile banking, CRM, business intelligence, loan origination, financial accounting, account analysis, wealth management, digital document, interactive voice response, and hardware solutions, plus independent industry insight and guidance from Raddon Financial Group.

For more information about Open Solutions, visit www.OpenSolutions.com, like us at http://www.facebook.com/OpenSolutionsInc, or follow us at http://www.twitter.com/OpenSolutionsCC.

There's Power in Community.

Open Solutions Inc. is a registered trademark of Open Solutions Inc. All other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners. Copyright 2012 Open Solutions Inc. All rights reserved.

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