Taking second place
* in the national Desjardins Youth Financial Education award competition, which recognizes a commitment to youth financial literacy, United Educators Credit Union created a Math Market for first graders at an elementary school in the Anoka Hennepin school district, the largest in Minnesota.
The objectives of the Math Market were to teach about 100 young students how to recognize coins, create a shopping list identifying needs vs. wants, budget their money, count money and make change. Each student was given a small amount of play money to use at the Math Market, and credit union employees volunteered as store clerks and cash register attendants to assist students with making purchase selections, paying for their items and helping them make change. Students were also encouraged to save some of their money to purchase a granola bar to be shared with a local food shelf.
United Educators also offers a "Save, Share, Spend" youth account to assist young people in developing a savings habit and responsible money management. Each new youth member is given a Moon-Jar bank, which contains three separate compartments: one for saving, one for sharing, and one for spending. From June 30, 2013 to June 30, 2014, the number of youth accounts grew close to 20 percent (from 1,325 to 1,587) and average balances increased nearly 24 percent ($590 to $734)
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"United Educators Credit Union has been promoting the simple concept of Save. Share. Spend. as a theme for our financial literacy outreach teaching youth of all ages how to allocate their money so they achieve their goals, share with others, and build their dreams," said United Educators Credit Union President & CEO Paul Dammann. "This concept reflects our credit unions values of cooperation, thrift and education. We are honored to be recognized with a national Desjardin award for these efforts."
*The award competition is divided into various credit union asset categories, and United Educators CU participated in the "Between $50 million and $150 million" asset category.
- See more at: http://mncreditunionnews.org/united-educators-cus-math-market-for-first-graders-wins-national-youth-financial-education-award#sthash.13IwQP4J.dpuf
