Classroom Stats Grow as Credit Unions see Value in Reporting

For the second straight year, statistics collected by the National Youth Involvement Board (NYIB) indicate much greater attention by credit unions to financial education, with record numbers of presenters, presentations, and students reached in the school year 2005-06. Credit union presenters reached 285,730 students in 9,351 presentations—gains over 2004-05 statistics of 11.19% and 10.55%, respectively. The double-digit gains were recorded by 690 credit union presenters, a 12% increase over the 616 volunteers who logged presentations in 2004-05. NYIB Chairman John Faries is pleased with the numbers, which he attributes to efforts by the volunteer credit union network to invite greater reporting at www.nyib.org.

“In the past year, we stepped-up our emphasis on data collection, and included in our mid-year website revision were enhancements to the reporting feature,” Faries noted. “Based on the groundswell of credit union enthusiasm for youth financial education—and on the National Youth Involvement Board’s responsibility for measuring presentations—we expect another strong year to come.”

Current stats, frequently-asked questions, and login instructions for the reporting function are at http://www.nyib.org/presentation_guidelines.php.

At the NYIB 2006 Annual Conference August 1-4 in San Antonio, Texas, NYIB applauded top classroom presenters with awards and scholarships.

For the fourth consecutive year, Kathy Crim of Texas Dow Employees Credit Union (Lake Jackson, TX) conducted the most classroom presentations (946) and reached the most students (32,910). Crim also incorporated the National Endowment for Financial Education (NEFE) High School Financial Planning Program (HSFPP) into 319 presentations.

The NYIB “Top Classroom Presenter”—the person with the greatest percentage increase in classroom presentations over the previous year—was Wanda Busscher of Randolph-Brooks Federal Credit Union (Universal City, TX). During the 2005-06 reporting year, Busscher made 429.55% more presentations than in 2004-05. Likewise, “Most Students Reached” went to Rick Durante of Franklin Mint Federal Credit Union (Broomall, PA), who reached 483.92% more students in 2005-06 than in 2004-05.

American Bankers: Credit Unions do better job in Financial Education

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Study: High schools need to educate youth on finances
 
Oregon study reinforces need for financial education. See link for details.

http://www.cuna.org/newsnow/06/system011006-9.html

New CUNA Desjardins Award Timetable Announced, NC League Deadline Remains 

MADISON, Wis. (10/11/05)--Next year's Desjardins Financial Education Award program timetable will coincide with that of the Dora Maxwell Social Responsibility and Louise Herring Philosophy in Action awards, announced the Credit Union National Association (CUNA).

The new due date for leagues to submit league entries and state-level winning credit union and chapter entries will be Monday, Oct. 2, 2006. As in the past, leagues will set their own deadlines for credit unions to enter the state-level competition in advance of CUNA's submission date for national judging.

"The majority of leagues preferred having the same due date for all three recognition programs," said Philip Heckman, CUNA's director of youth programs.

"The number of Desjardins entries has increased modestly but steadily since CUNA launched the program in 2000," he said. Leagues that favored the change cited the efficiencies of preparing and evaluating three sets of entries at the same time.

The Desjardins Award is named for Alphonse Desjardins, the founder of the North American credit union movement. It considers all activities supporting the personal finance education of young members and nonmembers, including, but not limited to, face-to-face teaching, publicity, lobbying for curriculum requirements, teacher and volunteer training, and promotion and use of the NEFE High School Financial Planning Program (HSFPP).

Each year, national Desjardins winning and honorable mention awards are presented at CUNA's Governmental Affairs Conference in conjunction with the Maxwell and Herring Awards.

NC first Statewide Conference on Financial Literacy and Asset Building a big success

CHAPEL HILL, NC- (9/28/05) The NC Credit Union League was a participating sponsor in the two-day event which attracted 300 attendees in its first year. Attendees were from organizations that share the ideals of increasing financial literacy and wealth building. Ed Agnoli, Financial Education Specialist for the league, presented the NEFE High School Financial Planning Program to a breakout session which generated great interest in participation in the program. North Carolina credit unions were well represented at the event and continued to foster the CU philosophy of "people helping people" through increased financial literacy efforts.

NC General Assembly includes Financial Literacy requirement in state budget

RALEIGH, NC- On August 13, 2005 the North Carolina General Assembly passed a state budget that included two provisions for Financial Literacy. According to part VII, Section 7.59 of the Budget, the State Board of Education has two years to develop and implement a Financial Literacy Curriculum. The Board has been directed to look at current curriculum and courses to determine where the new requirements would be best integrated. Financial Literacy was also included in the plans for a “Virtual High School”. A pilot program is to be developed and implemented in the next two school years.

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