Thirteen students from Rogers-Herr Year Round Middle School gained valuable financial information during The Support Center’s 5th Annual Youth Education and Credit Union tour on April 25th. The Support Center invited students from the business computer technology class to celebrate National Youth Credit Union Week. Their teacher, Crysta Hines, schedules the tour each year as a way to demonstrate the importance of financial management and establishing sound savings practices. "I look forward to bringing my students here to expose them to the credit unions and the admirable service they provide to the community," said Hines.

The tour included visits to Generations Community Credit Union (GCCU) and Latino Community Credit Union (LCCU). While at LCCU the class was given a copy of the credit union’s educational movie, Angelica’s Dream from their Director of Marketing, Angel Romero. Throughout the course of his presentation, Romero explained how critical their services are to the burgeoning immigrant population because of the language barrier.

Generations’ Jelani Thompson, VP of Operations gave a short video presentation on the differences between banks and credit unions and the merits of being a credit union member. GCCU encouraged the practice of saving by offering to waive the membership fee for students that opened a savings account that week.

The tour concluded at The Support Center where the students met the staff and continued to learn about the entire network of community development credit unions (CDCUs). During a group discussion, they shared their high aspirations for the future as well as their concerns about financial responsibility as they enter high school, college and adulthood. The event’s features helped the students appreciate CDCUs and understand how to manage their money to meet for their future goals. "I was happy to learn that my money would be safe at the credit union because of their NCUA insurance, said one student." The day ended with them determining if they would start a credit union or savings club of their own. Then, they were given an opportunity to design their own program and present their plan to the group.