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Beyond Financial Education

LEAD STORY

"It's not just financial education. It's also media and political education." That's how judge Angie Pidde explained what made the Michigan Credit Union League stand out as a winner of a 2004 Desjardins Youth Financial Education Award.

Last April the league celebrated Youth Financial Literacy Month with an ambitious undertaking designed to raise awareness of the need for financial education in grades K-12. The target audience: lawmakers, teachers, credit unions, and the press.

The league joined state legislators and credit union professionals to present financial education programs in classrooms, co-sponsored a Money Smart Week consisting of more than 30 educational seminars, and partnered with Michigan State University Extension to provide free teacher training for the National Endowment for Financial Education's High School Financial Planning Program??.

This comprehensive approach to preparing the next generation to be financially self-sufficient attracted Pidde (St. Marys Federal Credit Union, Sleepy Eye, Minn.) and her co-judges, Brenda Schneller (Highmark Federal Credit Union, Rapid City, S.D.) and Jamie Varbel (Kansas Credit Union Association) to the top entries.

As members of the National Youth Involvement Board network, all three believe the 2004 Desjardins competition drew the best from throughout the credit union movement.

Pidde cites two additional Desjardins winners for exemplary efforts:

* Since Alternatives Federal Credit Union opened its first of four school branches in 1998, youth membership in the Ithaca, N.Y., institution has grown to 1,046, with $680,000 in deposits. The school branches enhance financial literacy classroom instruction and give students hands-on experience in money management. "With an economically diverse field of membership, Alternatives Federal has found a way to educate students and increase their yearning for more financial knowledge," she says.

* Although credit unions in Maine's Norm Nolcttc chapter already were actively promoting youth financial education, they believed they could do even more as a group. The chapter organized a Financial Fitness Fair for highschool students. Chapter volunteers met with 10 high schools to solicit their support and partnered with a local community college to host the event.

Judges also selected the South Carolina and the Washington credit union leagues as 2004 Desjardins league winners. Credit union winners included Jeffco Schools Credit Union, Lakewood, CoIo.; and OSU Federal Credit Union, Corvallis, Ore.

Desjardins honorable mentions went to the California and Maine credit union leagues; Motown First Federal Credit Union, Hamtramck, Mich.; Chocolate Bayou Community Federal Credit Union, Alvin, Texas; Linn-Co Federal Credit Union, Lebanon, Ore.; DuPont Beaumont Federal Credit Union, Nederland, Texas; and U of C Federal Credit Union, Boulder, Colo.

Winning Desjardins entries will be on display during the Credit Union National Association's (CUNA) 2005 Governmental Affairs Conference (GAC) at the Hilton Washington (D.C.) Feb. 27-March 2.

For more information on the 2004 Desjardins winners, visit CREDITUNION magazine.com

PHILIP HECKMAN is director of youth programs for the Credit Union National Association. Contact him at 608-231-4088 or at pheckman@cuna.com.