Support for Wisconsin Schools
Nearly 100 youth-run, in-school credit union branches statewide help young people develop a habit of saving. Research has shown that credit unions' practice of supporting in-class financial learning with access to savings accounts positively impacts young people's financial behaviors.
Credit unions also provide schools with free teaching materials, assist with classroom presentations and host interactive reality fairs that engage students in financial decision-making.
Support from credit unions has helped school districts implement their own financial education requirements for student graduation or be better positioned for a recent law that requires financial literacy standards and curriculum.
Certifying Financial Counselors
A partnership involving The League, America's Credit Unions, CU Difference, The Wisconsin Credit Union Foundation, and credit unions is helping to certify more financial counselors within Wisconsin credit unions. This effort reduces the cost for more credit unions to certify their staff, extending free financial counseling more broadly and effectively across the membership. Wisconsin credit unions provide more than 500,000 hours of free financial counseling to their 3.9 million members annually to refinance debt, create budgets, help members weather financial setbacks, plan for educational costs, and much more.
National Credit Union Youth Month
This is an annual event for which credit unions provide activities and contests to teach young adults about the importance of saving early.
Money Smart Week
This is a joint effort by partner organizations to hold events, workshops, and presentations that offer financial education. Events are held for all age groups and focus on helping people learn to better manage their personal finances.
Bite of Reality:
Bite of Reality® is a hands-on app-based simulation that appeals to teens while giving them a taste of real-world financial realities. Teens are given a fictional occupation, salary, credit score, spouse and a child, student loan debt, credit card debt, and medical insurance payments. The teens then walk around to various table-top stations to “purchase” housing, transportation, food, clothing, and other needs. Fortunately, the game also includes a credit union to help with their financial needs.
This interactive activity will teach teens how to make financial decisions and give them a better understanding of the challenges of living on a budget. Teens will have to deal with a pushy car salesperson and a commission-based realtor and weigh their wants versus their needs. There’s even a Fickle Finger of Fate that will give the students unexpected expenses or windfalls – just like in real life. To see Bite of Reality in action, check out videos of the program on the
Richard Miles Johnson Foundation website.